c/electronics-repairers

Finally bit the bullet and bought a $200 thermal camera for my phone. It just saved me three hours of guesswork on a dead power supply.

Shoutout to the guy who told me to just replace the whole logic board on that 2015 MacBook Pro

I ignored him, spent 8 hours and $30 on a new capacitor array from a supplier in Chicago, only for the machine to boot once and then fry the replacement part, proving his lazy advice was actually the right call for once.

Fixing my grandma's old radio led to a capacitor surprise

I dug out my grandma's old AM/FM radio from the attic last weekend. I thought it would be a simple clean and recap job. When I opened it up, I found a bunch of bulging capacitors, which was no shock. I swapped them all out with new ones, but now the tuner is all fuzzy and won't pick up stations right. I read online that old radios need alignment after cap replacement, but I don't have the gear for that. Has anyone here fixed a vintage radio without fancy equipment? I'm loving the project, but this hurdle has me scratching my head.

Local gadget amnesty day showed a simple fix for dead PS4s

Our community center had an electronics amnesty day last weekend. I went to drop off some old parts and ended up staying to help. There was a whole box of PS4 consoles people were tossing out. Every single one had the same problem, overheating from bad thermal paste. It's a ten minute fix with a cheap tube of paste and some isopropyl alcohol. I took a few home and had three running by dinner time. The others just needed a fan clean, which took another five minutes. It's kind of funny how often the easiest fix gets missed. Now I have extra consoles to give away or use for parts.

A weird hum in my amp led to an easy fix with foil tape

My guitar amp had a constant buzz that was driving me nuts. I found a loose ground wire and just wrapped it tight with some aluminum foil tape, problem solved.

Fixing a friend's remote at a movie night was more tense than I expected

I was just trying to watch a film, but when the remote died, my buddy handed it to me like I was on call. It hit me that my repair rep follows me everywhere, even during downtime. (I used a spare battery from my keychain, by the way.)

DAE grab a fridge magnet when tiny parts go missing?

I was working on a speaker and a spring flew off. A fridge magnet found it quick, how do you handle small parts?

Update: Tablet repair demand is rising in my town

In my local repair shop, tablet repairs have doubled this year. We see mostly cracked screens from falls and worn out batteries that won't hold a charge. A customer brought in an old tablet she uses for her online classes. It would not turn on after a year of heavy use. I found the battery was swollen and needed replacement. Parts for some models are getting cheaper, which helps. But newer tablets have glued parts that take longer to fix. This trend keeps us busy and learning new methods.

Showerthought: Fixing vintage cassette players is becoming a regular thing now

I just finished repairing a Sony Walkman from the 80s for a teenager. She said she loves the sound quality over digital music. It took me a bit to find the right belt drive, but it was a fun challenge. I've done four of these in the past two months. Are you getting more requests for retro gear fixes too?

Appreciation post: I never toss a circuit board without stripping it first.

Those components can breathe life into other broken gear.

Showerthought: Removing SMD parts always feels like a gamble without the right tools.

I've had mixed results with just an iron and some flux. Take this with a grain of salt, but does anyone have a reliable method?