Friday, February 21, 2014

Razor Maintence

Taming of the beard is an ongoing battle.  About ten years ago I ditched the blade and invested in a more cost effective method.  I bought a Braun 8595.  This unit came with a base that charged and cleaned the razor.  The cleaning is basically an alcohol rinse while the blade turned on and off.  Coming up on a decade of use, my razor was starting to run a little sluggish.  This seemed like reason enough to take apart. 


It was gross, the amount of hair trapped inside of the body of the razor.  The picture only shows 5% of what I dumped and brushed out.  The base needs a better seal between the motor compartment and the blades.  The hair was acting like sand in the motor.  I can see why it was struggling.  After cleaning it all out and re assembled, it was really hummin'.  Maybe it will last another 10 years now. 

Monday, February 10, 2014

Ready For a Ride Through Those Radio Waves

It's Official.

Call me KK6JIH

A couple weeks ago I passed the Amateur Radio Exam, the Technician round.  The FCC has dubbed me with Kilo Kilo 6 Juliet India Hotel.  Feeling good about that.  Now I need to invest in one of those wood cutouts with my call sign.



Or maybe I should buy a radio first.  Decisions...

Saturday, January 18, 2014

iPhone Blowout, Join the Revolution

Disasters lead to challenges and in turn become victories.

My daughter is the proud owned of a hand-me-down iPhone 4 (sans SIM card). With her own iPhone she's free to play games, do princess makeovers, and enjoy learning the way we wish we could of when we were kids. Unfortunately, iPhone aren't as tough as the need to be. A spill out of the car onto the asphalt, claimed a screen, resulted in a 4 year old broken heart.

 Luckily she's got a fix it yourself daddy to save the day.

As it is known, Apple wants to keep you out of the innards of all their devices.  The only way to open up the iPhone is by using a 5-point Pentalobe Screwdriver that's smaller than a pinhead.  Once inside, you need to know what you are doing, otherwise you'll strip screws, tear ribbons, and kill your phone.  An amazing website, that is on the forefront of the anti lockout revolution, sells these specialty screwdrivers and has loads of step by step tutorials to help you repair the "unrepairable".

iFixit.com "Repair is Freedom!"


As I tore the iPhone apart I soon realized that the most important things were to move slow and catalog the screws and parts as you move along.  In doing so, it made the reassembly that much easier.  And after 2 hours of surgical grade work, I successful put a smile back on my little princesses face.  Enjoy sweetheart.


Monday, January 6, 2014

PS3, Meet the Hair Dryer

It's no surprise anymore that the PS3 has an overheating issue.  But, how hot does it really get?  Turns out it gets hot enough to desolder it's own CPU and GPU.  Actually, these chips are generating enough heat to reach the solder's liquidus temperature, separating themselves from the mainboard.  Luckily there is an easy fix. 

My brother-in-law is a game junkie and when his PS3 threw up the "Yellow Light of Death" he went right out and bought a new one.  Although he was back to his gaming, he still had a major problem, in his eyes.  He needed to retrieve the saved data from his dead PS3 and transfer it to the new one.  All of those hours spend dominating were lost.  Naturally he came to me for help.  His deal was, if I could fix it and retrieve the lost data, the old PS3 was mine.  No sweat!

PS3 repair
 
First, I stripped the PS3 down to the mainboard, free of peripherals and cooling unit.  Next I gave the mainboard a good dusting and, with the help of rubbing alcohol, cleaned off the old thermal paste on top of the CPU and GPUs.  Now it's time to bring the heat.  I knew a hair dryer wouldn't cut it, so I pulled out the Harbor Freight ads and made an investment.


Score!  $7.99 (plus tax) for a PS3, not a bad deal. 

Now that I was armed, it was time to make it happen.  Having a duel heat setting, I started off on low and applied heat to the entire board for about a minute.  Once the whole board was warmed up, I flipped over to high heat.  I elevated the board using a couple sets of helping hands and applied heat directly below the two chips for another minute.  The key is to always keep the heat moving around and to keep the board level.  You don't want to keep the heat blasting on one spot for too long, this will only damage the board and it's components.  Also, if you don't keep the board level, once the solder liquefies, the chips will move and their pins will not lineup with the pads. 

Once the board was cooled, I applied new thermal paste to the two chips and packaged it all back up. Now for the moment of truth.  I plugged it in, turned it ON, and said hello to my new PS3.







Tuesday, December 31, 2013

My Laboratory


Hunched over and sucking down solder smoke, here is where I waste hours upon hours of my current life.  Built out of an Ikea EXPEDIT (TV Storage unit) I scored in the defective department.  I added a desktop, legs, drawer units and some small shelves where the TV would fit.  This is a limited view free of mass clutter.

Meet my assistant... Ms. Lola Plum