30 Jan
2002
30 Jan
'02
10:17 a.m.
On Wed, 30 Jan 2002, Tony Duell wrote:
Speaking as somebody who's rewond DECwriter motors, rebuilt HP battery
packs, swapped surface mount chips on HP flexible PCBs, rewound
horizontal driver transformers in MDA monitors, replaced 3.5" floppy
drive heads, and generally repaired stuff to a much lower level than
the manufacturers intend, I guess what it comes down to is :
Never throw away a subassembly. If it looks like it was made from
separate parts, then it probably was, and it can be taken apart again
and individual parts replaced. Even if you can't get the parts, you
might be able to make one good unit from 2 dead ones.
I've done a considerable amount of this myself, and have some very
"unusual" stuff in my junkboxes. (If I can ever find them again.) Lots of
folks think I waste my time on stuff, but repair is often the only option
when it's a one of a kind part, or would cost way too much for a
replacement.
And as a last resort, if I can't repair something with my current tools
and skills, it goes into a box for later repair by myself or someone else.
One good example of this kind of item is the floppy drive used in PS/2
systems. I found just recently that they commonly often fail due to bad
surface mount electrolytic capacitors. Once I have a hot-air soldering
station, I have at least 5-7 of these drives that will be repaired.
-Toth
For that reason, never throw out an old HP battery
pack (even though HP
never considered them to be repairable). It's _always_ possible to
rebuild them. and you need some parts from the old pack
It's getting that way with old laptops and portable computers these days
too. Replacement "packs" are either not available or are way to expensive.
More often than not, the batteries inside those things are standard
(usually still have to be ordered) NiCad or Nimh type cells.