Sunday, March 16, 2014

DIY Android Repair

About to try to fix a busted phone
You can only cheat fate so many times, and my luck had just run out.  I've been carrying smartphones since 2008 and never put one in a protective case.  The holster is more my style.  The nature of my job as a Telecommunications Manager has me carrying a host of different phones.  All my Blackberry's have tasted tarmac and iPhones have taken a tumble.  My favorite is the unplanned swim that a Blackberry 9180 took with me in Lake Cumberland.  After drying out the 9810 for a week and a installing new battery, he kept chugging along until the Z10 was born.  Unfortunately, the latest fad, a new Galaxy S4 jumped out of my hand after riding go-carts and faceplanted directly on the pavement.  Imagine the horror on my face as I turned the phone over, only to see a web that any spider would love to call home.

At this point, the choices were limited. 
  1. Bleed to death while swiping through Facebook.
  2. Buy a box of Band-Aids to use after typing a text.
  3. Apply packing tape and hope the sensor can detect my fingers.
  4. Put the phone in a ziplock bag and order some parts off the web.
#4 was my choice.  The usual suspects (YouTube, Amazon, etc.) were employed to look at alternatives.  A new S4 runs about $650, sensor plus new glass $200, tools needed for replacement glass $45, and replacement glass $5.  That's right, the part that breaks all the time is only $5.  I opted for the $45 solution and worst case was spending another $200 to get a new sensor.

The glass on your phone only has one special property.  It conducts bio-electricity from your finger to the sensor on the phone.  The sensor has all the smarts to know if you clicked, pinched, or zoomed.  Under the sensor is the display, which was my downfall in this repair.  The glass is simply glued onto the sensor.  Warning: YouTube make this look easy, but it's not.

Here are all the tools necessary for a glass repair.
  • Heat gun:  About $25.  Don't use a hairdryer, or you'll be trying to get your glass off until this time next week.  A heat gun is hotter, and more powerful.  Mine was just fine on the low setting.  I already had one of these for the unwritten "boat blog".
  • New glass:  $5.  If you already have the tools.
  • New glass kit:  The $15 kit on Amazon had glass, guitar picks, a suction cup, and screwdrivers.  Go ahead and throw away the screwdrivers, because you'll tear up your phone with them.  Since I only used the guitar pick out of the kit, it would be cheaper next time to just buy the glass and pick up a handful of guitar picks at a music store.
  • UV Glue:  $10.  Also called LOCA.  The glue doesn't harden until you hit it with UV light.  The best ranked glue on Amazon had enough glue to fix about 5 phones (10ml).
  • UV Flashlight:  $10.  Used to set the glue.  This one had plenty of power.
  • Sunglasses:  $20 at Wal-Mart.  UV light is not good to get in your eyes.  Put these babies on when setting the glue.
Heat Gun








     
Use guitar pick to push between
glass and sensor.  Don't pry!!! 

Carrying a Galaxy G4 in a ziplock bag is totally uncool.  After all the parts arrived, I jumped all over it.  To start, remove the back cover and take out the battery, SIM card, and any memory cards.   Hit the glass with a heat gun about 3 inches away, low setting, for 3-5 minutes.  Hairdryers will work, but take much longer.  Heat guns are much faster, and all the patience you can muster is necessary for the job.  The next step was my worst mistake on this repair.  I used a tiny screwdriver to get under the glass to start pulling it up.  Don't do this.  The best way to start is in a corner of the phone.  If the glass doesn't come up, keep hitting it with the heat gun.  Also, never pry the glass out.  Go in with a guitar pick flat against the glass.  If the glass is badly shattered, put a strip of packing tape on it to keep the glass in one piece.  You'll need to hit the phone with the heat gun several more times and go sloooooooooooooooooooooooow.  Don't pry, just keep working the pick between the glass and sensor and peel it off like a sticker that you don't want to tear.  Some phones have buttons that are attached to the glass via a small ribbon, so be careful to pop them off the glass to avoid breaking the ribbon.

Old glass.  What a mess.










Once the glass comes off, use Windex or alcohol to clean the sensor.  This was the longest part of the journey.  I kept rubbing the glue into a ball and wiping it off with a paper towell.  When the sensor is clear of glue, it's time to get LOCA. 

The old glue was a big mess and time consuming to remove

Watch a couple of YouTube videos before applying the glue.  The good guys take about 30 minutes, lowering the glass onto the phone an pressing all the bubbles out.  Apply way more glue that what you think is enough.  I put on 2ml with a big blob in the middle and used an X pattern going out to the edges of the phone.  Probably 2.5ml would have worked better.  Be careful not to get any glue on the buttons on the bottom of the phone.  They're real buttons that need movement and contact, so don't glue them down.  Once you work out all the bubbles, wipe off the glue from around the phone, and use some Windex to clean any glue off the top of the glass.  Mine was a big mess and took a long time to get the glass clean.  The "pro's" make it look simple, and it's really not.

New Glass
Now put on some sunglasses and fire up the UV flashlight.  The kids and I had some fun in the basement shining the UV light on their toys to make them light up funny colors.  The Nerf bullets and my shoelaces were the coolest, because they glowed really bright.  This flashlight can damage your eyes just like the sun, so be careful.  Mine is kept high up on the shelf, so the kids won't play with it.  Hit the glass for 3-5 minutes, and the  UV rays harden the glue before you know it. 


So how did the phone turn out?  Not so great.  The job was about 2 hours and $45.  The initial place where I pried up the glass with a screwdriver now glows with a pinkish hue.  The ping blob runs 3/4" into the phone, which totally sucks.  The touch screen functions perfectly, but there are a few air bubbles in the glue.  The bubbles aren't so bad, but the phone looks a little less than professional.  What about fixing broken phones for all my buddies and charging a bottle of bourbon?  Not going to happen.  The next repair would only need a $5 piece of glass, but my dreams of opening up a phone repair shop in the basement are about as cracked as the glass that came off the phone.  The pink blob could probably be avoided on the next one, but the job is tedious, time consuming, and more skill is needed to do a good job than the average person possesses.  I just don't have the experience or patience for the job, so my recommendation would be to pay an expert $100 and ship off the phone.

Am I bummed?  More than a little, but the phone is functional with minimal spend, and the ziplock bag is in the trash.  Is a new sensor on order yet?  No.  Pink is my new favorite color.

Not my best work


I don't recommend this job for DIY




Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Small Engine Tune-Up In The Cloud

Small Engine Fleet

The same thing happens every spring at my house.  The weather starts warming up, so all the lawn equipment needs a tune up and oil change.  Just figuring out what is necessary for the job is no small feat.  Six pieces of equipment need various parts from Lowe's, Wal-Mart, or Advance.  The weedeater and chainsaw need a spark plug and the air filter checked out.  The lawnmower, tiller, pressure washer, and generator need that plus an oil change.  It was taking me around an hour to write down all the spark plug models, filter models, oil capacities, torque specifications, etc.  There's got to be a better way to do this, and I didn't even need a Google search to tell me what to do.  Time for a  Dropbox account.

Dropbox is a service that let's you store files "in the cloud".  "The cloud" is a goofy marketing term that everyone's latched onto that just means that a service is hosted on the internet.  You can't sit through an IT meeting anymore without a vendor wanting to put something of yours in the cloud, even though most times it ain't cheap.   In less advanced times, people pretty much built all the tools they needed themselves and hosted applications in their data center or home.  Home users just carried around paper and pencils.  These days, there's a ton of services to pick from, and Dropbox is a file storage service.  The great part is that the first 2 gigs of storage are free.  Dropbox also has an app for just about every device including iPhone/iPad, Android, and PC.  How in the world does Dropbox help me work on engines?  Read on, and head to the shed with me to find out.

The shed
 Man, this shed is a mess.  My next blog entry may cover the topic of "de-cluttering".  Well, anyway, all the equipment and manuals were pulled out, and the pertinent data was recorded via old school pencil and paper.  I wrote down model number, engine type, spark plug, oil capacity, air filter, and just about any other thing that could be needed.  Then, after firing up the computer, SmallEngine.XLSX was born.





SmallEngine.XLSX was then handily deposited into the Dropbox folder on my PC.  The app immediately sent the spreadsheet to "the cloud".  WARNING: I can't vouch for the security of Dropbox.  Seems like everybody and Target are being hacked these days, and it's only a matter of time before people get you junk on Dropbox.  That's why things like passwords, legal documents, and social security/credit card/bank account numbers should be closely guarded and perhaps closer to ground level than clouds.  Better that a hacker gets pictures of kittens, the manual to my new TV set, or all the data points necessary to tune up a few small engines than something really important.

Supplies
Next, Dropbox was loaded on the iPad and both Samsung phones.  Armed with a Galaxy S4, the trip to Wal-Mart was a breeze.  I opened the Dropbox app on the phone, clicked on SmallEngine.XLSX, and Documents-To-Go launched the spreadsheet.  After a few pinch and zooms, the shopping cart was full of spark plugs, air filters, straight 30 weight oil, Stay-bil, and a tiny bottle of 2 stroke oil.  If you can stand to read on for a few more minutes before going Dropbox crazy, hang around for some tune-up tips and a minor tiller repair.


Tiller Repair

The neighborhood tiller (AKA - my tiller) had a pretty irritating problem.  Basically, you had to pull the thing to half throttle, wait for RPM's, and then till as best as you could.  Full throttle killed the little Troybuilt.  Last year, three of my neighbors borrowed the neighborhood tiller, and nobody complained after they got the special instructions.  It used to be worse.  The neighborhood tiller didn't start at all when he first washed up on shore.  After cleaning out the carb, the motor started, but the half throttle thing was the best repair that could be done by the mechanic who lives in my house (AKA - me).  Unfortunately, carbs that are smaller than a Kennedy half dollar are difficult to get working right.  The jets are so tiny, finding the issue with the naked eye (or readers in my case) is nearly impossible.  My advise the for these pint size carbs is to just buy a new one if it isn't delivering the proper air/fuel mixture.  Yes, the repair shop can also help, but ours is not in a handy place, and new carbs are about the same cost as paying the mechanic.

New Carb & stud installed

While taking the old carb off, I ran into something totally new, E-socket studs.  Grrrr.....  To take the carb off, yet another tool was needed.  An E-socket bolt looks just like the head of a Torx screwdriver.   One other piece of advise, don't try to unscrew an E-socket with a set of pliers.  In my case, the head of one stud stripped off with the greatest of ease and so did the threads needed to remove the nut.  The carb was stuck on the tiller, and a hacksaw was needed to get the thing off.  Additionally, the airbox took some collateral damage in the process.  Luckily, www.troybiltpartsonline.com store sold a carb, stud, and airbox for the tiller, and they took my $90 via Paypal. 


New airbox installed
Note: E-socket bolts really stink!

When the weather warmed up enough for some outdoor work, the tiller's new carb and airbox were installed.  After 2 pulls, the thing ran like a scalded dog!!!  All the gardens and flowerbeds in my neighborhood better watch out, because you can flog the throttle now. 


Tune Time



Pun intended


The "new" sub
Everyone's garage needs tunes for a tune-up.  Mine is a "Battlestar Galactica" rag-tag fugitive fleet of leftover parts.  Lucky for me, the $188 TV upgrade freed up an old school Phillips subwoofer that really makes the garage pound when you need some volume.  Let's get some iTunes rolling before we begin and hope the neighbors aren't napping this afternoon.




Spark Plugs

Does your weedeater or lawnmower take 100 pulls and 15 curse words to start?  This one is an easy fix.  Just put in a new spark plug.  You never want to be running a spark plug as old as the mustard in your refrigerator.  Am I the only one who's been using the same bottle since moving into the house?  That stuff never goes bad does it?  Anyway, my opinion is that a new spark plug should go in every year.  $2 is a small price to pay for not throwing out your back when pulling the cord.  Having the plug type in Dropbox makes it even easier.

Pressure washer plug  RJ19LM
Air Filters

News Flash: Small engines have air filters, and you can pretty much look at them to see if the need to be replaced or cleaned.  The filter material will be made of either paper or foam, and maintaining each is a different deal altogether.  The foam ones are a little bit of work.  Spray them out with the hose, wring them out a few times, and set them in the warm sun for an afternoon to dry out.  Most manuals will tell you to drizzle 30 weight motor oil on a dry filter to help keep the dirt out.  I think it's much easier to use filter spray oil that can be picked up at a motorcycle shop.  Uni-Filter and Bel-Ray both make good products.  Just put on a pair of rubber gloves, spray oil on the filter, and squeeze the oil into the foam.  Don't soak the foam with oil, just coat it evenly and pop the filter back in.  Paper filters are easier, but need to be replaced every time.  Wal-Mart or Meijer has the best prices on Briggs and Stratton paper filters.  If your lawnmower is always running in dirt, dust, and muck like mine, then best practice dictates that she needs a new filter every year.  The pressure washer doesn't, and gets minimal use, so she isn't getting one this time.  The gen doesn't need one either.  His was replaced over the winter just before the storm of the century almost hit.

Oil Change

Time to change the oil.  I'm a firm believer in changing oil in all the small engines every year, and Valvoline is my favorite.  They all take 30 weight, and all the motors combined take just north of 2 quarts of oil.  That's pretty cheap motor insurance, and changing the oil isn't a tough job.  Check your repair manual to see how to get the oil out.  My lawnmower and pressure washer have drain plugs.  To get to the drain plug, you usually need to take off a few parts.  Note, make sure you pull the spark plug wire before messing under a lawnmower.  That way it can't start accidently.

 
The drain plug on the pressure washer
is accessible after the water pump is removed.
Same deal on the lawnmower
with the blade off
The lawnmower blade was in bad shape.
I hit it a few times with the Dewalt grinder
to put a sharp edge back on the blade.
If you don't have a grinder, a new one is about $10.

 
The lawnmower needs the blade removed, and the pressure washer must have the pump taken off (3 bolts).   See the note on the lawnmower line in SmallEngine.XLSX?  Please, please, please make sure that you get the correct torque on your lawnmower blade. 

50 ft-lbs = 1 foot + torque wrench + 1 grunt


It's not a good idea to save money on an oil change, only to chop off your foot when the blade comes flying off.  Don't have a torque wrench?  Easy, head to Harbor Freight or ask for one for your birthday.  Before draining the oil, warm the motors up to operating temperature.  That'll help get any sediment out of the motor when the oil drains.  If you're baffled after looking for the drain plug, please understand that not all motors have them.  To drain the oil on my generator and tiller, just turn the things upside down.  Pretty low tech, but it works.  If you have a riding lawnmower in the shed, stick the oil filter model in Dropbox and change it every year.

Before leaving, I want to give you one more piece of advice that'll save you time and money in the long run.  The main cause of small engine trouble is either a spark plug or a gummed up carb.  Spark plugs are an easy fix, but the carb can be tricky as you've seen above.  Today's gas with ethanol isn't really made to sit around in a carburetor.  When it sits, the fuel separates into regular gasoline plus a small helping of super glue.  Small carbs are full of tiny holes that get clogged easily and unclogged with hours of work.  The best way to counter the ethanol problem is to use a fuel stabilizer.  My favorite is Stay-Bil, and every gallon of fuel that goes into these engines gets treated.  Treating the gas costs more in the short term, but saves time, money, and trouble over time.  If you want to go one step further, drain the gas tank and run all the gas out of the carb at the end of the season.

So to summarize:

  • Get a Dropbox account and stick stuff in there that you need to reference on the fly (like spark plug models, vacation pictures, or your grocery list).  Never in a million years put confidential stuff in "the cloud".  Well maybe "the cloud" is OK for secret stuff if you use 2-factor authentication, 1024 bit encryption, and at least a 16 character password.
  • Change oil and spark plugs every year for easy starting and long engine life.
  • Change/clean air filters in your high use equipment or if the gear is operated in dusty/dirty conditions.
  • Treat fuel with stabilizer to keep carburetors gum-free.
  • If someone else in your neighborhood owns a tiller, understand it's much easier to borrow the neighborhood tiller instead of owning one. 
That one was almost too easy.  Not counting the tiller repair, the tune up parts were about $30 and took an afternoon of.  All my lawn gear is ready to go for the spring.  What, no bourbon in this article?  I'm having one now.