Category: Teardown

I tore apart the Fitbit Surge with the help of some fit men. Together, we used pliers, an eyeglasses screwdriver, an exacto knife, and our muscles/hands.

_{note: no fit men were harmed in the tearing down of this fitbit.}

Parts and Materials List

1. Battery cover (metal and foam)
2. Alkaline button battery
3. Main Printed Circuit Board including:
   • metal shield,
   • touchscreen controller (Cypress CY8CTMA463),
   • microcontroller (Silicon Labs EFM32 Giant Gecko (ARM Cortex-M3) EFM32GG395F1024),
   • flash memory (Micron Serial NOR Flash N25Q064A11ESEA0F),
   • battery charger (Texas Instruments Battery Charger BQ24232H),
   • GPS receiver (MediaTek GPS Receiver MT3339),
   • Bluetooth controller (Texas Instruments Bluetooth Controller CC2564)
4. Lithium Polymer battery (LSSP491524AE)
5. Metal clasps
6. Rubber liner
7. Silicone-rubber band
8. Plastic casing with built-in:
   • charging port
   • pressure sensor (MS5805-02BA01)
9. Small screws:
   • four 2mm torx screws
   • four 2mm Phillips head screws
   • four 1mm Phillips head screws
10. Wiring
11. Glue
12. Plastic buttons with rubber bumpers
13. Metal casing
14. Metal casing with attached wire
15. Connective wiring and chips
16. Metal binding with wiring
17. Foam
18. Plastic papers
19. Tape
20. Sharp thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display screen (TFT LCD) screen
21. Silicone-rubber band belt
22. Metal clasp (nickel and stainless steel)
23. Silicone-rubber band
24. Glass display window with wiring
25. Bluetooth antenna (2 parts)
26. GPS antenna
27. Plastic casing with metal screw bearings
28. Metal casing

Manufacturing the Fitbit

• Material extraction
• Injection molding
• PCB manufacturing (coating, printing, chemical etching, inspecting, soldering, cleaning, plating, laminating etc.)
• Battery manufacturing (electrode manufacturing, cell assembly, and cell finishing)
• Assembly

Design elements of interest:

• The buttons: It was interesting to see how the buttons had little rubber “bumpers” that help the buttons stay in place and are protective buffers against the receptors that they hit when pressure is applied.
• The band: The band is glued to the Fitbit electronic where the antennas are. It thereby becomes very hard to remove the bands without damaging the antennas. After seeing all the protective measures for the other electronic parts, it becomes very odd to see these pieces unprotected and easily damaged. It has me wondering if the device is built for obsolescence by a company wanting their users to break their products and then buy new ones.

Welcome to the Taodown! Otherwise known as the Tao Tao Teardown—brought to you by Becky Stern & PoD.

Today, we took apart a Philips Sonicare kids’ electric toothbrush. The short story? It’s made of metal and plastic. The long story—well, keep reading (and watching) below. Also, click here if you need your own—no commissions, sadly.

Tools & Techniques
To deconstruct the toothbrush, I used (1) my hands (2) a tiny screwdriver (3) a less tiny screwdriver (4) a wire cutter and (5) brute strength. The larger screwdriver was required as a lever to remove the plastic outer base of the brush, as well as dislodge both the control board and Li-Ion battery from the plastic skeleton. The tiny screwdriver was used to separate the oscillating brush head, cam, and gears from the shaft (which also held the motor).

Notable Design Elements
(1) It’s probably no surprise that Philips has made the Li-Ion battery next-to-impossible to remove. While electric toothbrushes are rechargeable, the battery will eventually run out, and if it does, you’ll need to buy a whole new unit. There’s no feasible way to replace that battery yourself. That being said, lithium batteries can be dangerous to handle, which means that until they are safe to handle, they should be kept as far out of reach (and replacement) as possible. In which case, a job very well done.

(2) I found myself contemplating the size of the removable toothbrush head. This, of course, is the “consumable” element of the product; the Philips website states that it is “recommended to replace your Philips Sonicare Brush Head every three months of normal use.” Looking at the inner underpinnings of the brush head, I wondered if the replaceable component could be reduced to just the very tip of the brush (just the brush, and no upper shaft), thereby reducing the amount of plastic. However, even if technically possible, Philips would almost certainly ignore this efficiency, because it would imply charging less for their brush replacement packs (a set of three currently retails at $31.96–$42.96).

Electric Toothbrush Components & Materials:
1 – Toothbrush head (plastic + nylon for bristles—most likely Nylon 6-12)
2 – Outer case (plastic)
3 – Charging coil (copper)
4 – Induction charger coil (copper)
5 – Oscillating brush head + cam/gears (steel + plastic)
6 – Screws (steel)
7 – Motor (aluminum + copper)
8 – Torsion bar (steel)
9 -Magnet (iron, nickel, cobalt, +/or steel)
10 – Shaft, cam + gears (steel + plastic)
11 – Circuit board (copper, fiberglass, resin)
12 – Power button cover (plastic)
13 – Button cover / thumb grip (plastic)
14 – Lithium (Li-Ion) battery (lithium, nickel, cobalt, possibly manganese)

Circuit Board Components:
1 – Power button
2 – Programming pads
3 – Coil connections
4 – Chip (#CY8C4247LQI-BL483)
5 – Diode bridge

Chip details
– Type: ARM Microcontrollers – MCU PSoC 4 BLE Integrated Chip; see data sheet
– Manufacturer: Infineon Technologies
– Price: $7.75 (for 1 unit)

Manufacturing techniques & equipment

• Outer casing: These plastic elements are made from plastic granules, shaped while hot in molds along an mechanical assembly line. A computer scans the casing to ensure there are no flaws, and rays of UV light are blasted to make sure the plastic is completely sterile.
• Head and bristles: Bristle color determines thickness (influencing the location on the center or perimeter of brush head). A machine inserts the bristles into holes in the plastic head by folding them around tiny pieces of wire. A blade cuts the tips of the bristles to ensure they’re all the same length, then blunts any sharpe edges. The necks are then attached the the brush heads.
• A machine clamps the gearbox (cam + gears) and motor together. A worker then manually melds them together with the lithium battery, then plugs them into a charging unit to ensure the circuit is connected.
• The inner components are then fitted into the casings via machine assembly.
• A machine then seals the plastic bottom of the casing with a twist.
• A quality controller gives them a final human review, while a subset of the batch are sent off for quality testing (performed by a machine). If that goes smoothly, they’re off to consumers!

TIL:
Maybe we should all just be brushing our teeth with our fingers?

The teardown experience was amazing! To tell the truth, I have always dreaming of disassembling Apple’s products, thinking that its technical content and technological level are unparalleled, which is also the reason why I choose this product.

1.Teardown Process

2. Video Recorded

3. iPhone 4 Teardown

4. Materials

1-Battery: Li-polymer

2-Mainboard: Skyworks SKY77542 Tx–Rx iPAC™ FEM for Dual-Band GSM/GPRS: 880–915 MHz and 1710–1785 MHz bands, Skyworks SKY77541 GSM/GRPS Front End Module, STMicro STM33DH 3-axis accelerometer, Cirrus Logic 338S0589 audio codec……

3-Front glass panel: Corning Gorilla Glass

4-Frame: Stainless steel

5-Wirings: Ferrite polymer composites (FPC)

… …

5.Tools for Teardown

· Adjustable screwdriver kit

· Tweezers

· Open tools

6. Favorite Parts

1. One of the parts I’m most interested in is the vibrator. I was first attracted by its shape, which looks like a cylinder with another half cylinder strung on top of it, and can be rotated around it. It works by using a CAM (eccentric device) to rotate inside the phone, resulting in vibration.

I compared it with the vibrators of other products and found that its volume is actually much smaller than the usual products. I believe that in the future, with the improvement of the accuracy and requirements of mobile phone manufacturing, the production of vibrators will be more compact and precise.

2. The other part I’m interested in is the wiring. Because when I disassembled the parts, I actually sighed that all the lines were very precise and neat. It is hard to imagine how they are produced and assembled, and their role is so crucial in the production of mobile phones that I look forward to learning more about them and even learning to use them.

To Conclude / To Continue

” If you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.”

Looking forward to the next!

Completed Disassembly

Tools

• Mosaic Spatula
• Mosaic Double Ended Hook
• Tweezers
• Precision Screw Driver

Steps

1. Use the Mosaic spatula and double ended hook tool to poke at the slight gap between the casing.
2. Separate the top casing from the motherboard and HDMI cable. The casing will have a heat sink pad with some thermal paste residue. Use the Double ended hook to help in taking it apart from the EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) Shield.
3. The EMI Shield is not soldered shut so we can use the Mosaic spatula to remove it from the circuit board.
4. Using the precision screw driver unscrew the two T-5 screws holding down the connector bracket which is connecting the HDMI Cable to the the motherboard. This will also separate the motherboard from the bottom casing as well.
5. Using the Mosaic spatula remove the EMI Shield on the other side of the motherboard as well, to reveal the motherboard by itself. The motherboard has 5 chips:
   • Marvell Avastar VHT WLAN, Bluetooth, NFC, and FM Receiver
   • Samsung 4 GB DDR3L SDRAM — Memory, need constant power to hold memory
   • Marvell Armada 1500 Mini Plus dual core ARM cortex-A7 Media Processor — Digital streaming in real time
   • Toshiba 2 GB NAND Flash memory– Memory that can be rewritten, doesn’t need constant power
   • MRVL Semiconductor DC-DC Regulator- Converts voltages for two connections working at different voltage levels

My thoughts

1. The motherboard is the heart of the device, and would be more interested in understanding the connections between the different chips. Through some research I was able to understand most of the differences between the chips, but I am still pretty amazed by the speed of these things and how fast they communicate to each other.
2. Thermal paste can get messy, and seemingly anywhere? Even with the casing, it seems like the paste was a little over the motherboard, I was able to clean up using my tools. I wonder if this could be causing overheating within a device and have led it to not working ? Although I didn’t have a TV to try and see if it would work initially but just a thought.

1. Before opening the iPod, ensure that the hold switch is in the locked position.
2. Carefully insert a small flathead screwdriver in the seam between the metal casing and white plastic top. Use the screwdriver to pry up the white plastic top bezel(A).
3. Lift the top bezel(A) off of the iPod.
4. Carefully insert a small flathead screwdriver in the seam between the metal casing and white plastic top. Use the screwdriver to pry up the white plastic bottom bezel(B).
5. Use a flathead screwdriver to pry out the metal retaining bracket(C) beneath the bottom bezel. Free the bracket by first pushing in the metal arms on the corners and then lifting the bracket.
6. Lift the metal retaining bracket(C) out of the iPod.
7. Use a tweezer to disconnect the orange click wheel ribbon from the logic board(J).
8. Remove the two tiny screws securing the headphone jack to the casing(I).
9. Carefully slide the iPod out of its casing by pushing on the logic board near the bottom edge of the click wheel(H).
10. After pushing the logic board(J) out, grasp the logic board on either side of the display, and continue to slide the iPod out of its casing(D).
11. Lift the battery off of the logic board and lay it to the side of the iPod.
12. Disconnect the battery(E) from the logic board. Make sure to pull only on the connector and not on the battery wires.
13. Use a tweezer to carefully pry up the headphone jack board from the logic board. Be careful to pry up near the connector to prevent unnecessary strain on the board.
14. Lift the headphone jack(I) board off of the logic board.
15. Use a tweezer to flip up the black plastic tab holding the orange display ribbon in place. The black tab will rotate up 90 degrees, releasing the ribbon cable.
16. Note the location of the four white plastic tabs securing the display(F) to the logic board. These tabs must be released before the display can be removed.
17. Use a tweezer to free the four white plastic tabs indicated.
18. Turn the iPod over and lift the display(F) up and slide it out of its connector.
19. Use a tweezer to disconnect the orange hard drive ribbon from the logic board.
20. Lift the hard drive(G) out of the iPod.
21. Peel back the black tape securing the two blue bumpers to the hard drive near the orange ribbon cable.
22. Slide the two blue bumpers off the corners of the hard drive.
23. Disconnect the orange hard drive ribbon cable(G) from the hard drive. Make sure to apply even pressure while pulling to prevent any bend pins.

Design elements that was interested:

A) Logic Board: There were many elements in the process of disassembling this vintage iPod, but I found this logic board very interesting. I think the most important role of this iPod is the logic board, not the exterior case. This is because all the elements that help the iPod operate from the inside out are connected to the logic board, and the logic board itself is equipped with important elements that are unknown.

B) Hard Drive Cable: It was very interesting that the hard drive cable was covered in blue bumpers everywhere and wrapped in black tape. It also makes me think about how important element this is to be careful not to trip pins while disconnecting cables from the drive.

Outlook

I’m going to disassemble the Jabra wireless headset. Externally, it comprises two headsets, each equipped with earbuds, two ear wings, a USB cable, and the NFC region, located on the button side. The construction materials predominantly encompass plastic and rubber.

Tools used to take it apart:

Tweezers, screwdriver, and 2-piece plier set (flush cutter and needle nose plier).

Process

1. Clean the earbuds meticulously using moistened wipes.

2. Detach the ear gels..

3. Start from the left ear. As the housing was sealed and therefore I had to be cut with pliers. The housing appears to be plastic made via injection molding.

4.The headphones have microphone on the shank. the shank is made of rubber and can be pried off with a screwdriver and separated from the built-in plastic.

5.The front cover of the left ear is equipped with a dust grill, LED indicator, left and right ear indicators, and the speakers (a diaphragm/cone, a voice coil, a permanent magnet, and a cabinet).

6.There are two built-in button batteries, which are soldered together with the chip and therefore cannot be separated. Additionally, the back cover houses a magnet, the separation of which is impeded by adhesive bonding.

7.The right ear has a slightly different design. It has a charging cover with a charging port inside. There is a rectangular magnet after opening the back cover. Inside is a motherboard which connects to the charging port and the circuit board underneath.

8.The front cover of the right ear also contains a dust grill, left and right ear indicators, and speakers.

9.The NFC zone comprises two volume buttons and a multi-function button, and its plastic framework is crafted through injection molding. The multi-function button encompasses a range of capabilities, including powering the headset on and off, initiating music playback, answering incoming calls, and initiating redialing. The volume buttons serve the dual purpose of adjusting volume levels and facilitating track navigation, both forward and backward.

Knolling

Design elements that interest me and why the designers make it that way:

1.The headphones come with built-in magnets, aimed at keeping those pesky cables from turning into an unruly mess and ensuring convenient storage. Through my research, I found out that the earbuds will power off after 5 minutes when the magnetic earbuds are separated and the headset is not connected to a mobile device. Also, the headphone cable is shorter and therefore prevents the cable cord from tangling.

2.The headphones have two built-in batteries that are meant to increase the battery life. Based on both manufacturer claims and user feedback, it’s safe to say these headphones boast an impressive battery life.

References: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple+EarPods+Teardown/10501

http://www.2wired2tired.com/jabra-rox-wireless-headset-review-giveaways

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Fairphone+True+Wireless+Earbuds+Teardown/146449

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Apple+EarPods+Disassembly/114815