Jane Andreas wrote: > I am thinking of dissasembling my Ben, but would like input on possible > reasons.
Curiosity should be reason enough ;-) > What would qualify me? Dexterity, patience, and normal vision. Prior experience with taking apart electronics and good fingernails help. Compared to other devices, the difficulty of disassembling the body of the Ben is about medium. It's not designed for easy disassembly, but it could be much worse. Things to be aware of: - there are a number of loose parts: screws, rubber covers, etc. Make sure you have a place to put them. - the upper part of the bottom shell is joined to the bottom part with 4 (?) screws, and the two parts snap together. First, remove the screws. Then I found it useful to slide a credit card around the Ben to force the two parts apart. The snap-in mechanism is fragile and you may break something. That's usually not a problem. Here's a picture of some of the elements of the ben: http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/ben-scans/ben.jpg The PCB is between the keyboard (green) and the bottom part (cyan). - the upper part of the bottom shell (yellow) doesn't unsnap easily near the hinge. (If encountering resistance, always make sure you haven't left any screws.) - the speaker is covered with some glue that sticks to the upper part of the bottom shell. It can just be pulled off, but may also appear a surprising obstacle. - the cable connecting the display is fragile and needs to be treated with care. The connector works as follows: - removal: - put one or two fingernails between the brown bar and the beige body of the connector and gently slide the bar out (it moved by about 1 mm) - then gently pull the cable out without bending it. It should come out without mechanical resistance. - insertion: - make sure the connector is fully opened - put the cable in front of the connector, then gently push it into the connector. This is best done by pushing with a fingernail against the edge of the white metal on top of the cable. Or you could use flat tweezers. The cable should enter without perceptible force. If it gets caught somewhere, don't force it but pull it back and try again. - push the brown bar back into the connector - to remove the PCB, locate the hole in the center of the PCB, near the battery. There's a plastic nose sticking through it. Push it to the left to release the board from the bottom plastic. - the display is a bit harder to disassemble and also less interesting. Furthermore, the hinges holding bottom shell and the display together are not meant to be disconnected. > However, unlike some electronics, I believe there is nothing to be > "done" on the Nanonote, Unless you're interested in soldering things to the various test points, there's indeed not so much to do. But it's nice to know what's inside anyway :-) - Werner _______________________________________________ Qi Hardware Discussion List Mail to list (members only): [email protected] Subscribe or Unsubscribe: http://lists.en.qi-hardware.com/mailman/listinfo/discussion
