Top, bottom and opened tray (left to right)
I found a LaCie DVD player at Goodwill that you can simply connect to your laptop with a USB cord. Once it’s connected to the laptop, it blinks with a green light that indicates the button to open the DVD tray.
How I broke it apart:
Step 1. Have the DVD Player plugged in and eject the tray to the open position.
Step 2. Gently pry open the grey face of DVD player with a chisel.
It was tricky at first because there aren’t any screws. After opening the CD tray, I was able to use the open area to chisel back and forth to open the case.
Step 3. Unscrew the screws on all sides that holds the silver writer model.
Step 4. Unscrew three black screws that hold the green Control Board. Then, remove it by unplugging it off the silver writer model.
The silver metal connector supports and holds the USB connection on the Control board and the writer model.
Step 5. Remove the black sponge tape that holds the silver trays of the writer model in order to access the CD tray. Then unscrew the screws that were hidden underneath the black sponge tape.
Step 6. Flip the writer model and unscrew 6 screws to open up and see the Control Board, which is at the bottom of the CD tray.
Step 7. Detach the inner part of the tray.
All the parts disassembled!
- Tools Used: Screw drivers, Chisels
- Select two design elements that interest you and describe why you think the designer(s) made it that way
- The DVD Player itself did not have any screws on the surface. It was tricky to figure out how to open it. As I open the parts apart, some screws were hard to break apart and it seems like the whole player itself was designed so that it should not be broken apart.
- Another interesting design element is the laser assembly of the DVD tray. The action of the tray opening and closing is led by the flexible flat cable that is attached to the laser assembly. Where the DVD gets mounted also has another smaller assembly with a flexible flat cable and this assembly has the photocell installed on it. I think this is called closed loop control switch which has it stop based on time. The switch resets every time the tray opens and closes.
I also found a useful video that helped me understand how a DVD player works!