The trouble with pocketable devices.
Nov. 22nd, 2005 12:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
growler_southI love my tiny toys: My wee Exilim camera, the size of a credit card, my Jornada 720 with its 9-hour battery life and jacket-pocket size, my Nokia 6100 that usually lives in the change pocket of my jeans.
The problem is that they *do* live in my pockets- along with keys, receipts, change, and vast quantities of lint and dirt. My phone's sound quality has gradually degraded as iron filings get stuck to the speaker, and the screen has become hazy with dust. Dust has settled on my camera's CCD and lenses, causing big ugly blotches on my recent photos. My Jornada's touch screen has been cranky lately too, losing calibration and causing the cursor to dart about.
So this morning I decided it was time for some maintenance, got out my tiny screwdrivers and black velvet cloth (to catch tiny pieces as they fall) and proceeded to disassemble about $3000 worth of toys.
The phone was the easiest, as I've disassembled a few before, like when Rick dropped his into the gutter. It's shiny and new looking now, and I can understand people too! no more buzzing and rattling.
The Jornada was almost as easy- I love it when the casing has wee arrows pointing to the screws you need to undo. Rather than clean the fluff out of the touch screen I just fitted a new one (from the spare parts machine) and gave the keyboard a decent wash too. Its gross how much hair gets into a small keyboard- there was enough in there to knit me a spare beard.
The camera though... oh dear. The casings came off easily enough, and the main board wasn't too difficult to remove (after detaching the 12 tiny ribbon cables and getting zapped by the flash capacitor- ouch!) but the lens unit was clearly never intended to be user-servicable.
The first spring went *sproing!* after I'd removed three of the 12 screws holding it closed. The second waited until I actually had the back removed, and then decided to launch itself at my eye. Fair enough, I'd be pissed off too if some monster with a screwdriver tore the roof off my home. It was as I reeled, half blind, trying not to drop the tiny spring which I had caught with my eyelid, that one of the slim ribbon cables inside the lens mechanism decided to unplug itself, releasing the whole assembly onto the desk, where it burst in a tinkling splash of cogs, lenses and plastic levers.
Ah. Fuck. Oh well, at least cleaning the parts was easy- a can of compressed air and a lens brush soon removed the packed-in lint, and had the CCD sparkling clean. Now to reassemble...
I enjoy puzzles. It came apart, so it had to go back together somehow! A good light and magnifying glass revealed the tiny scratches and wear patterns where the levers and cogs slid over each other, smears of grease on the cogs showed me how they meshed, and the two ribbon cables that snaked their way through the assembly helped hold it all together as I carefully reassembled.
It took me an hour to have it back together and working- there were a couple of false starts and a false finish (when it's all back together and appears to be working perfectly, but you've got a part left over) but I made it in the end. And now it works perfectly- no more dark splodges in my photos, although the zoom mechanism sounds different.
Moral of the story: If it came with a little drawstring pouch, *keep it in the pouch!* (The other moral could be: fi you're buying a camera to live in your pocket, get one without a telescoping lens, like a Sony's DSC-T7.)
The problem is that they *do* live in my pockets- along with keys, receipts, change, and vast quantities of lint and dirt. My phone's sound quality has gradually degraded as iron filings get stuck to the speaker, and the screen has become hazy with dust. Dust has settled on my camera's CCD and lenses, causing big ugly blotches on my recent photos. My Jornada's touch screen has been cranky lately too, losing calibration and causing the cursor to dart about.
So this morning I decided it was time for some maintenance, got out my tiny screwdrivers and black velvet cloth (to catch tiny pieces as they fall) and proceeded to disassemble about $3000 worth of toys.
The phone was the easiest, as I've disassembled a few before, like when Rick dropped his into the gutter. It's shiny and new looking now, and I can understand people too! no more buzzing and rattling.
The Jornada was almost as easy- I love it when the casing has wee arrows pointing to the screws you need to undo. Rather than clean the fluff out of the touch screen I just fitted a new one (from the spare parts machine) and gave the keyboard a decent wash too. Its gross how much hair gets into a small keyboard- there was enough in there to knit me a spare beard.
The camera though... oh dear. The casings came off easily enough, and the main board wasn't too difficult to remove (after detaching the 12 tiny ribbon cables and getting zapped by the flash capacitor- ouch!) but the lens unit was clearly never intended to be user-servicable.
The first spring went *sproing!* after I'd removed three of the 12 screws holding it closed. The second waited until I actually had the back removed, and then decided to launch itself at my eye. Fair enough, I'd be pissed off too if some monster with a screwdriver tore the roof off my home. It was as I reeled, half blind, trying not to drop the tiny spring which I had caught with my eyelid, that one of the slim ribbon cables inside the lens mechanism decided to unplug itself, releasing the whole assembly onto the desk, where it burst in a tinkling splash of cogs, lenses and plastic levers.
Ah. Fuck. Oh well, at least cleaning the parts was easy- a can of compressed air and a lens brush soon removed the packed-in lint, and had the CCD sparkling clean. Now to reassemble...
I enjoy puzzles. It came apart, so it had to go back together somehow! A good light and magnifying glass revealed the tiny scratches and wear patterns where the levers and cogs slid over each other, smears of grease on the cogs showed me how they meshed, and the two ribbon cables that snaked their way through the assembly helped hold it all together as I carefully reassembled.
It took me an hour to have it back together and working- there were a couple of false starts and a false finish (when it's all back together and appears to be working perfectly, but you've got a part left over) but I made it in the end. And now it works perfectly- no more dark splodges in my photos, although the zoom mechanism sounds different.
Moral of the story: If it came with a little drawstring pouch, *keep it in the pouch!* (The other moral could be: fi you're buying a camera to live in your pocket, get one without a telescoping lens, like a Sony's DSC-T7.)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 12:31 am (UTC)I know of almost nobody else that tears their stuff apart with confidence. I'm not sure I've got the balls to take apart the camera... but then mine hasn't filled with lint either.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 12:57 am (UTC)Working on the car gives me a stiffie when I get covered in dirty grease and oil and sweat. Hmmm, it seems the *thought* of being covered in dirty grease, oil and sweat gives me a stiffie too. BRB...
I'd advise against disassembling your camera, its a little more complicated than mine! My camera was at the stage where wrecking it would only make it marginally less usable, so I had nothing to lose, but I've pulled SLR lenses apart before and been unable to reassemble them...
no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 07:24 am (UTC)But I'm also guessing that some of the lenses (the prime, non-zoom lenses) are a good deal simpler than a compact power-zoom camera.
I never managed to get far into car repairs, because anything major requires having a garage to work in. Once I had a garage... I could afford cars that worked, and had no time for a hobby. Now I have plenty of time... and no garage.
Though I did have fun getting the motorcycle ready for sale the other year. Always wanted to try bleeding brake lines.
Apple's stuff in recent years frustrates me. The power bricks and AirPort Express and the clear mouse - all appear to be held together with ultrasonic welding. So they're impossible to take apart without completely destroying them. Grrr. Lemme see inside!
no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 12:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 01:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 02:05 am (UTC)Wait... not ALL my toys :)
no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 02:34 am (UTC)The best I have heard repeatedly is that people see me with my big awkward looking paws hunched over some tiny victim should not be able to do such fine work.
The last camera I had apart was my old Olympus C2000 which got dropped on it's (extended) lens, knocking loose two tiny guides. The entire lens mechanism had to come apart, the pieces located and cemented back in place and the whole ordeal reassembled. In a cylinder about 1.2x1.8 inches was three motors, two solenoids, a double planetary gear reduction set the tiniest I have ever worked on, plus a number of sensors, not including the CCD assembly. I got it all back together, timed and working like new. Amazing what is inside those cameras.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 02:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 03:34 am (UTC)Such self sufficiency is something that I think more people should practice. I'm not saying everyone should tear into their gear, but instead, try their hand at fixing some minor problems instead of automatically throwing stuff away. The learning process is worth it in itself, even if you dont succeed in repairing whatever it is.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 06:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 02:43 am (UTC)Real moral of the story: read the endlessly fascinating blogs of handsome butch men.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 03:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 04:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 07:19 am (UTC)The thought of you diddling with tiny things with those fingers gives me a big chub.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-23 09:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-23 12:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-23 01:53 am (UTC)