Stuff breaks. For no reason sometimes. We broke the little USB hub for our Rock Band controllers last night, and we have no clue how we did it. Assuming that those little gizmos aren't too expensive to replace (we might eat our words when we go to do research in a second), we went ahead and did what any person desperate to get their drumsticks onto those rubbery little pads would do: We took the thing apart! A little peep inside proved that we had no idea what we were doing taking it apart, but had we seen the blog TakeItApart.net earlier, we might have been a little more aware of what we were doing...
Broken Gadget? No Warranty? Take it Apart!
A disclaimer on the site warns that they are not liable for personal harm, damaged electronics, or warranties made void as a result of following the information contained on their site. Even stating that they recommend against the dismantling of electronic devices.
Whatever. We're going to scour through the pages and see what kind of stuff we can get into with our screwdriver... MacBook? Guitar Hero Controller? iPod? Power Drill? Hand Mixer?
On second thought, maybe we'll just watch and learn the inner workings of our gadgets with their dissection videos. Because you know, if it ain't broke, don't go fixin' it.
[ Image from L.Marie@Flickr ]
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Be careful of capacitors -- I *think* that might be one on the bottom right here, in black.
They can pack a punch long after the item has been unplugged.
view kvh's profile
The capacitors can actually be deadly and yes, that black cylinder is a capacitor. I am all for taking things apart but I dont know enough about voltages yet to risk my life over a 160v capacitor. It is hard to tell how long these babies hold their charge. Be very careful.
view maximumHOTbottom's profile
A plastic handled screw-driver and a steady hand can usually take care of the problem (short circuit it while not touching anything conductive), but it's probably smart to ask someone more in the know than myself or M.HotBottom up there for advice.
view kvh's profile