Interest in a thread on Opening Devices that frustrate repair?

[cdev]

I'm sure we have all been in this situation one time or another, where we had some device we wanted to fix but could not get it open without risking its destruction, and didnt want to do that.

I have three devices, one is a lowly 12 volt power supply Ive had literally since I was a child. I would be happy to photograph all six sides of it, hoping one of you can give me an idea how to get it open. Just to replace whatever cap it holds.

It is probably in danger of blowing up due to dry caps, its that old. (40 yrs, just guessing) I want to open it so I can remove the caps and replace them before I apply power. But there is no visible way that I can see to open it.

It was made I think by Clifford Industries and its a Vista IV 12v four amp almost certainly totally unregulated supply. I remember it was able to power almost any 12 volt device that I threw at it. (although its unfused, would be great if I could open it in order to add a fuse to it).

Frankly, I cant imagine why the manufacturer built it to be so difficult to open!

 The other two devices are CD/DVD drives that I cant open and both have discs stuck in them. I wasnt able to figure it out from the documentation I could find, how to get them open,  so they are riddles.. enigmas.. Ive revisited the problem repeatedly several times.

One is just a CD/DVD drive.
It has a windows CD/DVD in it. I don't remember the story of what happened to lock it shut.

 The other is a Technics disk changer and it has a Curtis Mayfield CD in it I really like so would like to preserve it. Its a disk changer that can play five CDs on a loop allowing almost endless music. It has the 1 bit DAC so has nice sound. It also has sentimental value, because it was a gift, even though I dont use CDs much any more I do have a bunch of them which I do play.

[fzabkar]

Many optical drives have a tiny hole in the front fascia. You just stick a long needle into it to open the disc drawer.

[cdev]

I tried that first thing, and it didnt work. I used a stout piece of straight wire exactly the right size, with a loop on its back that was intended for cleaning out my solder sucker. It looked like and was indeed the perfect tool for CDROM drive opening. Arrggggh..

[cdev]

Its so frustrating getting these kinds of hardware apart, I almost think they deserve being blown up!


The power supply is a real enigma. Okay, I am going to upload some photos of it. I may have done this before, forgive me if this is a duplicate. Ive certainly thought bout it, but it's embarrassing.

A stinking power supply dating back to the era of 8 track tapes, (I remember using it for them) and CB radios! God that was a long long time ago

OMG, there is one on ebay! its being sold for $25.00   Maybe it is regulated, another closely related PS appears to be regulated. They have photos. There are feet on the box that would be where I would have expected to see screws allowing case opening, but there are rivets in them.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/294355470711

https://www.ebay.com/itm/362371976358

[BreakingOhmsLaw]

Philips Electric toothbrushes. Man i hate these when we get them in the repair café. You have to distort them in a vice(!) to get them open.
After that, they are usually not waterproof any more. So if the battery is dead, you can throw them away.

Other brands have a screw in the bottom or you can twist the bottom off in the charger.

[GLouie]

My technique to open glued plastic cases is to use a chisel and small hammer, tapping into the plastic seam. Sometimes a surprising amount of force is needed, but I have had good success releasing the plastic halves with minimal damage.

The CD-type drive, as noted some have a tray release hole for a wire pusher. Usually this needs to be a good, stiff, long piece of wire. Most small screwdrivers are too short. A large, unbent paperclip often works. Some have a screwdriver hole where you can turn the tray gear manually. If you can open the case, usually you can see what kind of emergency release there is. Most seem to have a rubber belt drive, and the belt breaks, so you need some sort of emergency release.

[cdev]

(my wife and I use those sonicare expensive high frequency oscillating toothbrushes..

and although they last an awfully long time with daily use, they do wear out. We're on our third set of handles..

My wife knows that I would like to try to fix them so she buys a new one and replaces the handsets in the dead of night, and makes sure the old ones are GONE so the next day when I brush my teeth, the handsets charger have just magically changed out.

BTW, she, not I, is the engineer. (no, she's not an EE) I am the person who grew up trying to repair and fix everything.

 But she likes to repair things kind of.. Often she tries to repair electronics, in the past usually headphones and audio wiring.. We have a real lot of gadgets between the two of us.


I think there is definitely a chance tht she may decide to die further into it, if I present new skills in the right way.

[cdev]

The CDROM is a Samsung that supports printing a label on some kinds of (all white) CD-DVDs (with special software) But its an old ATA type drive, pre-SATA. Still, it would be neat to be able to make graphical labels (just black and white, it doesnt make irridescent lettering in the CD-DVD itself, like some Ive seen). I wonder how that is done? That is very kewl..

[wraper]

OMG, there is one on ebay! its being sold for $25.00   Maybe it is regulated, another closely related PS appears to be regulated. They have photos. There are feet on the box that would be where I would have expected to see screws allowing case opening, but there are rivets in them.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/294355470711

https://www.ebay.com/itm/362371976358

It looks like they probably used pop rivets inside the legs. If that's the case, you need to drill them out.

[rsjsouza]

HP48S, SX, G, GX. If anything is bad, opening the calculator is a one way trip as it is held by plastic rivets inside the case. The calculator is great, but the repairability is crap.

Quite a few different documents showing in one way or another how to open this thing.
https://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/docs/opening/

Ah, Philips toothbrushes also suck to be opened.

[jdragoset]

If those feet are held on with 3/16" Aluminum pop rivets, they also hold the cover to the bottom chassis.

[EHT]

Philips Electric toothbrushes. Man i hate these when we get them in the repair café. You have to distort them in a vice(!) to get them open.
After that, they are usually not waterproof any more. So if the battery is dead, you can throw them away.

Oh yes! It one thing that we get annoyed with the odd piece of esoteric test equipment, but this is *billions* of devices getting chucked into landfill because the mfr would rather sell you another one. Another similar thing are TPMS (tyre pressure monitoring system) sensors which are now in all car wheels. Great idea, but they have potted coin cells in and just get chucked away. They are even marketed to tyre shops as a way to make profit by replacing them early. Both should be outlawed if any eco rules had teeth.

The thing I want to fix but shy away from taking apart is the LCD screen in Fluke 196 Scopemeter which could do with the backlight replacing.

[Aheld]

@ breakingohmlaw
Hi, there are some nice videos on youtube, how to open this tooth brushes.
I used a pipetong (german: Wasserrohrzange) and a piece of an old bicycle tube or thick cardboard to protect the tooth brush.

Works fine and without demage.

Good luck.
Aheld

[PartialDischarge]

HP48S, SX, G, GX. If anything is bad, opening the calculator is a one way trip as it is held by plastic rivets inside the case. The calculator is great, but the repairability is crap.

Quite a few different documents showing in one way or another how to open this thing.
https://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/docs/opening/

I never understood why they did it that way, because cost-wise didn't make much sense, they keys and overall enclosure was good quality.

[rsjsouza]

HP48S, SX, G, GX. If anything is bad, opening the calculator is a one way trip as it is held by plastic rivets inside the case. The calculator is great, but the repairability is crap.

Quite a few different documents showing in one way or another how to open this thing.
https://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/docs/opening/

I never understood why they did it that way, because cost-wise didn't make much sense, they keys and overall enclosure was good quality.

Indeed. The cost was pretty high back then and four screws wouldn't make any difference. I can't imagine it was to discourage hacking or repair as well - back then the complexity was quite tall for the regular hobbyist.

[1audio]

A relative of mine worked at the building where HP made the calculators in the 1970's. They were welded (plastic) together. They figured the cost of the case was trivial and the welding was reliable. When they had to repair one the put a new case on it. Those concepts exist today in may products. its great if you are the manufacturer and have unlimited housing supplies. You can be confident that the case won't open in the field accidently and no fasteners to deal with. However a real PITA  if you are not at the factory with the ultrasonic welding stuff.

[peteru]

Yamaha AVR remote controls. Those silver ones, like RAV472 or RAV553. I have a couple that could use a clean and membrane / battery contact reconditioning. I've had a couple of goes at opening them up and always gave up for the fear of damaging them. Other brands of remote can be tricky too, but I've managed to get all the others open in non-destructive ways. These Yamaha remotes are trickiest.

[rsjsouza]

A relative of mine worked at the building where HP made the calculators in the 1970's. They were welded (plastic) together. They figured the cost of the case was trivial and the welding was reliable. When they had to repair one the put a new case on it. Those concepts exist today in may products. its great if you are the manufacturer and have unlimited housing supplies. You can be confident that the case won't open in the field accidently and no fasteners to deal with. However a real PITA  if you are not at the factory with the ultrasonic welding stuff.

Thank you for the information. It is indeed interesting to know the reason behind it.

Despite this, my HP48SX was proof that the method was not 100% perfect. Since brand new, my calculator had a slim gap between the front and the back that could be felt by pressing the top left corner. Pretty sloppy assembly for such expensive product at the time.

A few screws would have solved this quite swiftly.