Tag: Teardown

by Lauren Wedderburn

The modem is primarily made of plastic for the outer container, and contains metals like copper and aluminum in its internal electronic parts. The circuit board is made from fiberglass, gold and other materials.

The electronics all exist on a single circuit board.

Tools Used:
Hands
Small screwdriver
Pliers

Technique
To me, the takedown for this felt rather straightforward.

1. I used pliers to peel back the sticky tabs (feet) on the bottom of the modem
2. I used the screwdriver to take out the small screws holding the body together. Then I used my hands to pry open the body which revealed the circuit board.
3.I used my pliers to cut the rubber screws holding the Cable Modem chip in place, which released the springs and allowed me to remove it -> pictured below.

Parts
Note: I found it a bit difficult to find the exact model of my modem online, so I used similar devices to try and identify the electronic parts.

_{I inserted the quote below to provide context around the parts that I could not identify.}

“The cable modem chip connects to two memory chips, one a synchronous DRAM, the other a Flash. The flash chip lets the cable company change aspects of the subscriber’s internet service without actually changing any hardware. In that regard, the flash chip holds configuration data and comes into play, say, when a cable subscriber buys more download speed from the cable company.”
– https://www.microcontrollertips.com/teardown-inside-cable-modem/

by Josh Kotel

Overview

To kick off my teardown of the A1673, I needed to remove the screen. I used a heat gun to loosen the glue, while gradually prying off the LCD Assembly using a palette knife. Removing the thin aluminum shield in the top left allows access to four very tiny screws. Once unscrewed, the screen can be detached and set aside. Diving deeper involves more tiny screws, flex cables (careful, they’re paper thin!) and adhesive-backed static dissipative foam.

Every iPad is made by Foxcomm, by both factory workers and machines. The plastic housings are made through precision injection molding.

Tools Needed

Heat gun

Pry tool

Small phillips screwdriver

Components

The iPad Pro’s screen assembly is comprised of the front panel/glass, touch screen digitizer, and LCD display. The glass–believed to be aluminosilicate–is polished with cerium oxide and glued to a plastic frame. The LCD is made from liquid crystals, and is housed between two polarizers.

The back case is CNC milled from a solid block of aluminum. In order to achieve its matte, scratch-resistant finish, the piece is anodized and sandblasted.

Note: Although highly recyclable (and Apple reuses aluminum from disused products when creating new housings) the difficulty in extracting aluminum from the earth means that it uses a large amount of fossil fuel.

The lithium-ion polymer battery takes up more space than any other component, and is pressed into the housing of the iPad by machine. The process of creating these batteries involves combining lithium with a metallic oxide catalyst, a dry solid polymer electrolyte and a metallic current collector. First, a lithium ingot is pressed and laminated until it is formed into a length of thin metallic sheet. The sheet is then spool-wound and baked in a vacuum oven to self adhere. Finally, the battery is sent off to a fabricator to be electrolyzed.

Apple’s A9X Chips, manufactured exclusively by Taiwan Semiconductors, used a 16nm FinFET lithography process.

Full disclosure–the flex cables broke and when removing the power button assembly, and is only partly pictured here. It shares a flex cable with the microphone, power button switch, flash, and ambient light sensor. The home button features a touch-sensor and is sealed with a soft rubber gasket.

Both rear (top) and front (bottom)-facing and cameras use scratch-resistant glass, and are sealed to the frame with either rubber and foam gaskets.

The A1673 features 4 speakers–two are located in either side of a long plastic bar housed below the top frame. All four speakers are housed in plastic, and sit below the same ESD foam-covered aluminum plating used to protect other components.

Apple is notoriously secretive about their manufacturing process, and so it was hard to understand as much as I would have liked about some of the components. I’ve worked on some of the earlier gen iPhones, so had a fair idea that I’d run into plenty of flex cables and lots of glue.

Notable Design Elements

• Ever since Apple introduced flash drives into their products, the interiors only get more minimal and more sleek–it’s almost artistic. No zip-tied cable nests, no loose logic board held in place by a wish. Hardly any component infringes on another’s real estate. The placement of the batteries are reminiscent of an aerial view of midwest crops, and the logic board like that of a city at night. This could be for two reasons. Firstly, because it’s Apple, they over engineer the inside, so that the outside can be simple. And secondly, they know consumers pay attention to the inside of their products, so it’d better be beautiful.
• I always notice the flex cables. Being paper thin makes them ideal for iPads and iPhones, and it also makes them stackable. You can have multiple overlapping cables take up just a few millimeters, and their wide surface makes them ripe for being glued down when needed.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to watch the teardown below 🙂

Tools: Phillips and flathead precision screwdriver

Step 1: Opened the back of phone, and removed the battery

Step 2: Used Phillips and flathead precision screwdriver to remove all screws on the back of phone

Step 3: Removed camera and microsd card

Step 4: Used screwdriver to lift off back, which revealed the wiring and a very strange smell 🤨

Takeaway: It was interesting to see how many moving parts there are within such a small device. I’ve always been curious as to what exactly are the components allowing us to view images, make a call, save data… Doing this experiment has certainly piqued my interest even more than before.

Welcome to the tear down of the Lomi Massage Gun! It is your average 30 dollar massage gun from Walmart. I was excited to figure out how something so uniquely shaped on the outside would look on the inside.

TOOLS:

• Small Phillips Head Screwdriver

To start, I observed six screws on the outside of the gun and unscrewed all of them. The massage gun popped right open, and I was able to carefully take out all of the parts.

Turns out, there are not that many parts inside, making the outside more complex than the inside.

PARTS:

• 3 Different Plastic Massage Heads
• 7 Small Metal Screws

• 1 Massage Control Board (AKA Motherboard)
• 1 Micro USB Battery
• 1 DC Motor

• 1 Silicone Power Button

• 1 Massage Gun Plastic Shell

DESIGN CHOICES

• The massage heads are interchangeable using a Push-and-Pull Mechanism. This allows for ease of use, reliable products, cost effectiveness, and any other push-and-pull head can be inserted into the gun.

• The Massage Control Board was secured in place at the top of the gun by slipping between two plastic ledges that held it. This was interesting because the battery and motor were really heavy, and would crush the motherboard if it was on the bottom.

Teardown Process

The JBL Speaker looks very seamlessly integrated from outside with zero screws. So I used a file and a hammer to pry the curved perforated metal front off to examine further.

I broke off the soft silicon pads on the bottom of the speaker and smashed open one end.

I tried to pry off buttons from the other end to reveal inner structures, then used it as a breaking point to pry open the exterior shell. The exterior shells turned out to have three layers and screwed to the black inner part in an invisible way (screws were hidden behind the two round pads at the ends).

Breaking down the innermost part was very painstaking. I first unscrewed all the screws I could find only to realize the halves of this chunk seems tightly glued along the middle line. I tried to pry it open from multiple angles with no luck. Inspired from the teardown videos of other JBL speakers, I managed to find a hidden screw located at the central back and via here was finally able to break it open.

Here’s what’s at the heart of the JBL Speaker: a tube, some damping foams, two speaker drivers, one main circuit board, and one lithium battery underneath.

Here’s the final look from the JBL teardown with labeling.

Two Interesting Designs

1. Bass Reflex Tube
   • How it works: when the speaker is on, the speaker drivers push air through the tube to the outside. The shape of the tube is also carefully designed to resonate in a way that boosts lower frequencies and improves bass response.
2. Three-Layer Outer Shell
   • The three layers tightly bind with one another and add extra colors & textures to the speaker’s exteriors. They also provide stronger binding for the relatively delicate inner part and protect it from potential impacts. I also think their particular shape acts as a weight balance for the speaker to stay flat on the table with the perforated steel front always facing forward.

Tools & Techniques during Teardown

Tools	Techniques
Pliers of different sizes	Screwing/Unscrewing
Cutting plier	Prying
Files of different sizes	Smashing (attempted)
Philips screwdriver

Component & Material & Manufacturing

Component	Material	Manufacturing Technique
Perforated Steel Front	Perforated Steel	Sheet Metal Punching, Stamping
Outer Shell (Three-layered)	Plastic (ABS/Polycarbonate)	Injection Molding
Round End Caps	Plastic (ABS or Polycarbonate) with Rubber Inserts	Injection Molding, Overmolding
Speaker Drivers	Diaphragm: Mylar/Polypropylene, Frame: Metal (Steel/Aluminum)	Stamping, Thermoforming
Passive Radiator	Rubber, Metal Disc	Rubber Molding, Stamping
Bass Reflex Tube	Plastic (Polycarbonate or ABS)	Injection Molding
Main Circuit Board	Fiberglass (FR4), Copper Traces	PCB Manufacturing, Surface Mount Technology (SMT)
Battery	Lithium-ion, Plastic casing	Cell Manufacturing, Ultrasonic Welding
Wires and Connectors	Copper, Plastic Insulation (PVC)	Wire Extrusion, Connector Assembly
Acoustic Foam/Damping Materials	Foam (Polyurethane or Polyethylene)	Foam Extrusion or Molding
Buttons and Control Interface	Rubber (Silicone), Plastic (ABS)	Compression Molding, Injection Molding

For this exciting assignment, I’m tearing down the Wemo Maker. It looks like a WIFI Extender but it’s actually a device for smart home integration. It allows DIY enthusiasts to remotely control low-voltage devices through an app, such as blinds, sprinklers, powered gates, etc.

Here is a list of tools I used and the process:

1, Wire cutter (failed):

The casing of this device consists of a box and a cover plate with no screws on it. So, I first tried using a wire cutter to cut open the casing, but the plastic had become brittle, and I could only cut off the edges.

2, Drill:

Then I tried using a power drill to make holes onto the casing so that I would have a place to pry it open. After succeeding, I found that the cover plate was glued into a precise slot in the casing, making the device appear seamless and preventing people from opening it.

3, Utility knife:

The PCB board and some wires were fixed inside the box with hot glue, and I used a utility knife to separate them. (I was surprised that they use hot glue. Such a convenient way, isn’t it?)

4, Hex screwdriver:

Next, I removed the screws that were securing the PCB board to the casing.

5, Hands:

I pulled some wires connected to the board by hand. This step was easy.

6, Wire cutter again:

Since some electronic components were soldered onto the board, wire cutters were perfect for cutting off their pins.

And here is the knolling outcome!!

The material is listed below:

PART	MATERIAL
casing	plastic (PC or ABS, not sure)
cover plate	plastic (PC or ABS, not sure)
PCB board	fiberglass
LED lights	gallium arsenide
relay contacts	copper
switches	ABS
screws	steel
light conductor	ABS
UFL connector	brass, stainless steel, PTFE
cable	silver-plated copper, PVC

Manufacturer and part number	DATASHEET
F: Winbond 25Q128FVSG	https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pdf/506517/WINBOND/25Q128FVSG.html
G: Ralink RT5350F SoC	https://www.datasheets.com/part-details/rt5350f-mediatek-73807877
H: 2R2 Resistor	(unknown)

To be continued:) Or maybe not;)

Before & After:)

So it started with removing something that doesn’t need a screwdriver, here they are ⬇️

Lens, Memory card, A piece of rubber

Then I got 2 simple small screwdrivers tools and started trying disassemble the camera with them⬇️

The problem at first⬇️

1. Too hard to unscrew then I messed up the screws. 2. Didn’t find the hiding sneaky screws🥲🥲🤬

So should I just break it from now⬆️?

But I decided not to break them yet

So I opened the middle part FINALLY!

Then 7 hrs disassembling started…⬇️

Yay! keep messing up the screws and keep adding tools to this whole process.

Some progress⬇️

It was actually pretty satisfying when I saw I there were more and more parts coming off.

Then I decided to take a dinner break🤭🤫🤪⬇️

Kept going ⬇️

Was getting late ⬇️

Was me in the studio at 9:30pm, but it was almost there😎

Then finally! It was 10:24pm

Yea, nice to meet you in this way, Canon:)

TWO: Parts

1.Surfaces and screws

2. Front screen and front bottoms

3. viewfinder and lens connecting parts

3. Exterior and led screen penal on the top

4. Everything in the middle and chips

THREE: Materials & Manufacturing

A lot of Google works here⬇️

Part/piece	material	manufacturing tech applied
Body and Frame Materials	Magnesium Alloy	CNC Machining
	Aluminum Alloy	Die Casting and Forging,
	Glass Fiber Reinforced Polycarbonate Resin	Anodizing
Internal Components/Chips	Copper and Gold Alloys	Surface-Mount Technology
	Stainless Steel	Injection Molding
	Plastics/Rubber	Injection Molding
Lens Mounts and Contacts	Stainless Steel
	Brass	Precision Machining
	Gold-Plated Contacts	Gold Plating
Shutter and Mirror Mechanism	Carbon Fiber Reinforced Materials	Laser Cutting and Micro-Machining, High-Speed Actuation Mechanisms
	Steel	Injection Molding
	Aluminum	High-Speed Actuation Mechanisms
LCD Screen and Viewfinder Materials	Gorilla Glass	Precision Glass Molding
	Tempered Glass, Optical Glass	Multi-Coating Techniques
	Plastic	Injection Molding
Exterior Surface Finish and Coating	Rubberized Coating	Thermal Spraying
	Anodized or Powder Coating	Powder Coating
Sealing and Protection	Rubber	Over-Molding Technology
	Silicone Seals	Gasket Compression Sealing
Sensor and Electronic Components	Silicon, Copper Wiring	Photolithography, Etching and Deposition, Backside Illumination (BSI) Technology, High-Density Interconnect (HDI) PCBs, System-on-Chip (SoC) Design
Optical Engineering and Glass Manufacturing	Aspherical Lens Elements	Precision Glass Molding
	Ultra-Low Dispersion (UD) and Fluorite Elements	Multi-Coating Techniques

Four: Culculating

Achievements…⬇️

Teardown Instructions

• Tools Needed: mini precision screwdriver, nimble fingers

• Part 1: Remote Control
  1. Unscrew the lid covering the batteries and remove
  2. Unscrew the remaining two screws embedded on the left and right sides
  3. Pull apart the top and bottom of the external case to reveal the control circuit
  4. Pop out the 2 toggles and 3 button caps
  5. Layout the pieces
• Part 2: Drone
  1. Pull off the kickstand featuring the product QR code
  2. Pop off the 4 plastic propellers
  3. Remove 4 screws and pull apart top and bottom of plastic casing
  4. Extract the
  5. Layout the pieces

Materials / Components / Product Information

• Plastic
• Metal
• Fiberglass
• Dimensions 7.5cm x 7.5cm x 3cm
• Flight time: 6/7min
• Battery : lithium polymer 3.7V 120mAh
• Technology: quadcopter
• Working frequency: 2.4Ghz with anti-interference circuit
• Gyroscope: 6 axis
• Control: 2.4Ghz radio control 2 x AAA

Interesting Design Elements

1. The circuit board in the drone matches the shape of the drone with holes on each of the 4 ends to hold the tiny motors in place. It catches your eye when you’re used to seeing a rectangular PCB.
2. This is more a grievance than interest – the screws were so tiny it was almost impossible to reach them and open the drone! I’m sure the rationale behind that decision is 1) so that the screws don’t distract from the overall design and 2) user’s are not encouraged to take apart the product.