Collaborate Disseminate
A new report issued by iFixit and Greenpeace shows just how user-hostile laptops from Apple and Microsoft are compared to competitors like HP and Samsung. Continue reading Want a Laptop That Easy to Repair? Look Beyond Apple and Microsoft
“The Office recommends against limiting an exemption to specific technologies or devices.” Continue reading The US Government Wants to Permanently Legalize the Right to Repair
The Seadoo GTI Sea Scooter is a simple conveyance, consisting of a DC motor and a big prop in a waterproof casing. By grabbing on and firing the motor, it can be used to propel oneself underwater. However, [ReSearchITEng] had problems with their unit, and did what hackers do best – cracked it open to solve the problem.
Investigation seemed to suggest there were issues with the logic of the motor controller. The original circuit had a single FET, potentially controlled through PWM. The user interfaced with the controller through a reed switch, which operates magnetically. Using reed switches is …read more
Surely a blown light bulb can’t kill a microwave oven, right? You might not expect it to, but that was indeed the root cause of a problem that [mikeselecticstuff] recently investigated; the cascade of failures is instructive to say the least.
While the microwave that made its way to [mike]’s bench wasn’t exactly engineered to fail, it surely was not designed to succeed. We won’t spoil the surprise, but suffice it to say that his hopes for a quick repair after the owner reported a bang before it died were dashed by an arc across the interior light bulb that …read more
Continue reading Unlikely Cascade of Failures Leads to Microwave’s Demise
The shift back to user-upgradable parts suggests that Apple is finally beginning to listen to consumers who don’t want to buy disposable electronics. Continue reading Holy Shit, the New iMacs Have Upgradable RAM and CPUs
New Jersey will push to make fixing your gadgets easier. Continue reading New Jersey Becomes the 12th State to Consider Right to Repair Legislation
I’m always on the lookout for a quality addition to my lab that would respect my strict budget. Recently, I’ve found myself pushing the Hertz barrier with every other project I do and hence desperately wanted a high bandwidth scope. Unfortunately, only recently have 70 MHz to 100 MHz become really affordable, whilst a new quad channel oscilloscope in the 500 MHz to 1 GHz range still costs a fortune to acquire. My only option was to find an absolute miracle in the form of an old high bandwidth scope.
It seemed the Gods of Hand Me Down electronics were …read more
There are persistent rumors that the main ingredient in JB Weld is magic. This two-part epoxy that you would normally find on a shelf next to your basic 5-minute epoxy, Titebond, various cyanoacrylates, and Gorilla glue is somehow different. Stories of ‘some guy’ in the Yukon using JB Weld on a cracked engine block abound. These stories are of course met with skepticism.
Now, finally, we have evidence you can use JB Weld to fix an engine. [Project Farm] over on YouTube gave it the ultimate test: he took the cylinder head off a lawnmower, took a grinder to …read more
Today, it’s fighting terrorism. But drone no-fly zones are a fundamentally new restriction on the concept of ownership. Continue reading Why Is Drone Manufacturer DJI Trying to Fight ISIS?
Nothing says ‘I Love You’ like an old vending machine, and if it is a restored and working vintage Vendo V-80 cola dispenser then you have yourself a winner. [Jan Cumps] from Belgium was assigned the repair of the device in question by a friend. He started off with just a working refrigerator and no electronics. In a series of repairs, he began with replacing the mechanical coin detector’s switches with optical and magnetic sensors to detect the movement of the coin. These sensors are in turn connected to an Arduino which drives the dispensing motor. The motor itself had …read more
Continue reading Vintage Vending Machine Makes The Perfect Gift
