Ask HN: How to do a proper electronics tear down?

[toomuchtodo]

I have a piece of electronics equipment that is somewhat mass market but has a speciality use case. I intend to blog about it as I tear it down to add to the knowledge graph (besides satisfying my own curiosity). Are there any best practices to follow when performing a device tear down?

Thanks!

[runjake]

If I were interested in doing teardowns, I'd see what others are doing by googling.

The first result is for IFixIt's teardowns[1]. So I'd watch/read their teardowns and decide:

- What I like most about their teardowns.

- What I like least about their teardowns and what I'd do differently.

- Which teardown formats I prefer: videos or step-based, liveblog style with photos.

If you truly want to add to the knowledge graph, I suppose you'd want to use both video, as well as well-articulated and search optimized step-by-step web page.

As an example and addendum, "JerryRigEverything"[2] is another popular teardown person and his style is... quite a contrast from IFixIt's.

1. https://www.ifixit.com/teardown

2. https://www.youtube.com/c/JerryRigEverything

[mikewarot]

I'd strongly suggest you have a good overhead camera rig, with lighting, so that you get well lit stable video and stills from above. If you're doing video, make sure you've got a good microphone so people can clearly hear you.

Back in the 1980s, I repaired industrial electronics for which there was no documentation that was at least 25 years old. I did a number of 480 volt, 3phase, 100+ amp SCR packs. I'd use a legal pad and a mechanical pencil to sketch all the parts, making sure I included ALL of the wires, etc. as I went. I'd disassemble, and keep checking to make sure the parts were in the sketches. I'd then clean the whole thing, and start re-assembling, replacing defective parts as I went. Eventually, I'd have the whole thing together again, make any adjustments and/or tests, and it would be good to go.

These days, I'd take good photos, with multiple views, of everything, but I'd still be tempted to sketch everything, because if you're additively making the image, instead of just annotating it, you can't skip anything. I'd experiment with masking off things from a photo as I labeled them... that might work.

[sandreas]

It depends on the type of device you would like to teardown.

My first rule is to make a video of my teardown so that I can take a look at it, if I try to put it together.

You SHOULD also invest in good equipment, depending on your device (screwdrivers, spudgers, iSesamo, heatplate, etc.) and the amount of "repairs" / teardowns you would like to do.

BEFORE: Looking for another person who did a teardown of this or a similar device (even in BAD quality) it is better than nothing.

Schematics or board layouts are also helpful.

If your device has a battery (e.g. lithium), have a metal bucket with sand and a cover around, best case with a window or fume extractor. Batteries are dangerous!

DURING: Looking for screws is the first step. If there aren't any, I try to think of how the device could be held together. Probably glued, next step is to heat up the device to 80-120 degrees (Celsius), and try to sneak in via iSesamo or suction cup... probably you need a razor for the edges. Heating up can be done with a hair dryer or better heat plate. If there is an lcd, try to heat up the edges, not the lcd itself..

Just some of Ideas :-)