pure-electric - created chaos
created chaos

believer in a better tomorrow (she/her) (21)

197 posts

Fix Your Shit, Or Make It Better Anyway!

Fix your shit, or make it better anyway!

Everyone has had that little something in their life that was just perfect in everyone, suited to it's task, purpose, and the user's personal preference… and everyone has also had that thing break on them, followed by years of white whaling for a better replacement. Learning to fix your shit is essential in an era that lives and breathes e-waste and demands us to be connected, and while the vast majority of cellphones are hard to fix and difficult to even open, there ARE plenty of other devices in our lives simple enough to engage with that the layman stands a chance.

Tools, example projects and places to look for guides under the jump:

Fixing old ipods, restoring butchered record players, game controller customization (or fixing joystick drift), turning your favorite headphones into a cable-swappable gaming headset , or making the perfect version of a computer keyboard are all possible with a relatively small set of tools and a small investment of your time. For almost any given tech project, you only need a few tools to get into, out of, and through the guts of any electronic device.

Tools of the trade:

A soldering iron (A pinecil or a TS100 are great choices for those who need something small. You will see even cheaper irons that look like they plug directly into the wall, but these are NOT soldering irons, they are the end component of a soldering station, a much larger kind of iron for more serious users. They do not have heat control and are DANGEROUS if not used with a soldering station.)

A set of spudgers, picks, and pry tools (Not the cheap plastic ones that come with every single tech repair component, though you'll need those too, they are basically free in the quanitity that you'll need them.)

Most important of all, a solid multi-bit screwdriver set for this purpose. (The ifixit mako kit is the golden god here, but don't be fooled: this array of bits in these sizes can be had for as little as 12 bucks. That said, investing in your tools is an investment in yourself.)

A set of precision tweezers

A bottle of 99% Isopropyl Alcohol And for the more complex jobs:

A basic multimeter (This is mostly used for diagnosis, looking for broken circuits and finding the voltages of various components.)

A Heatgun/hair dryer (More useful for specific tasks, such as removing Surface Mount components which tend to be very, very small.

With these tools, the world is yours. A word about soldering: People act like this is an insane skill to possess, something best left only to the most dedicated techno-wizard and warlocks, but that's simply not the case. It's actually as simple as using hot glue safely. I'll defer to Big Clive for better instructions than I could write. It's pronounced saw-dur, by the way.

I'd also recommend his account for the great resource that it is generally. While he doesn't get into the specifics of repairing any device, Clive does tear downs that show the general techniques you'll use to get inside of different gadgets. Extremely good second screen background noise.

For specific instructions for your device, you should check out ifixit. They have the largest database of tech repair guides online, though something tells me that an open, wiki-style option would be a fantastic idea. They also sell parts and specific tools you may need for a given task.

Sometimes, repairing your tech is as simple as cracking the case and swapping a hidden microSD card for a much larger one, or actually just unplugging one battery and installing a new one (kind of makes you wonder why they say they can't be repaired and glue them down). While I'd argue that most tech can be fixed, there are sadly some things that are just beyond the dedicated hobbyist. Chief among those are airpods and other small devices of that type. While they can certainly be opened and repaired, it's just incredibly fine work and I wouldn't recommend it. If a task seems too daunting for you, try checking with local phone shops to see if they offer repair. The cost of a replacement is usually much greater than the cost of a fix.

If your tech is unusable and in to be replaced, trying to fix it cannot possibly break it more. Give it a go!

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More Posts from Pure-electric

1 year ago

Gentrification creates a stifling homogeneity in urban areas that makes it less suited for the everyday lives of the lower class and more suited towards the leisure and tourism of those with expendable income.

An old, decrepit laundromat gets replaced by an upscale bakery? And people are mad? It’s not that the poor hate organic vegan cupcakes, it’s that most of us don’t have a way to do laundry in our own home.

Run-down corner stores replaced by hand-made designer clothing boutiques? We don’t hate your eco-fabric shawl, but I can’t eat that for dinner after work like I could have a can of beans I grabbed from that corner store when I don’t have time to take the bus to the real grocery store after work.

What gentrification brings in and of itself is not typically bad, it’s that gentrification brings institutions of leisure and pleasure and makes it so that the poor have to go farther out of their way for basic necessities. It turns low-income living spaces into local tourist attractions. It can even create food deserts by putting restaurants, grocery stores, etc. in that the majority of the lower class cannot afford.

Imagine if someone totally renovated your house and turned it into a mini theme park - they took away your sleeping space, where you prepare food, where you clean yourself and get ready for your day, and replaced it with things that will please people who are visiting, who have their own homes they can go back to, who are here not for their entire life but just as a distraction from their otherwise mundane existence. It’s not that you hate theme parks, it’s not like you’ve never been to a theme park and vow to never visit one again. It’s just that you need to live! To survive! And the leisure of those who have more than you should not invalidate your existence.


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1 year ago

puppy want a treat?

puppy want a fucking break from it all

1 year ago

like i feel like im going absolutely insane with how much intentional self infantilization im seeing women my age doing.. and then acting like im a wackjob for being like “i don’t think thats cute and i find it insulting” i want to be taken seriously i want to be regarded as intelligent and bright and capable. i dont want to act like a high school sophomore when im a 24 year old woman with loans and bills and wisdom to share and learn. im a human being and im tired of being roped into this weird culture of “20-something teenage girls” it’s time to fucking grow up and if you can’t or won’t do that then leave me absolutely out of it and speak only for yourself. your female ancestors would find you an embarrassment.

1 year ago

~an introduction to ecobricking~

a kid with short hair holding three plastic bottles densely filled with multicolored plastic

hello fellow solarpunks! i've been interested in ecobricking for a while but i recently invested some time into researching them so here's a guide! it's a responsible way to sequester plastic from the environment, but making them is slightly more involved than just stuffing plastic in a bottle, if you want to use them for construction or weight-bearing projects like furniture. I'm mainly using information from GoBrik, which had the most comprehensive guide, but feel free to comment or rb with supplemental information.

FAQ:

Isn't it better to recycle plastic rather than ecobricking?

There are many plastics, such as food wrappers or packaging, that can't be recycled and end up degrading rapidly. Ecobricking sequesters those kinds of plastics from the ecosystem and also reduces the surface area exposed, which limits plastic degredation over time.

How do you use ecobricks?

You can use ecobricks in many applications, from furniture to structures. The long-term environmental impact of using ecobricks is still speculated on, but responsible upkeep mitigates their potential environmental impacts, which are still far less than the impact that plastic would have were it not sequestered.

a graphic of a person tamping down plastic in an ecobrick with a long stick

How To Ecobrick:

Find a plastic bottle. The bottles that you use for ecobricking should all be the same variety, which will help in any building projects that you may choose to use them for.

Find some plastic! Make sure to wash and dry your plastic, as any food residue or moisture could make your brick moldy or structurally unsound. You can cut up larger pieces of plastic, like food packaging (think bags of shredded cheese or frozen berries, or the plastic bags inside cereal boxes)-- just pack em in. If you want to be fancy, GoBrik recommends making the bottom layer of your ecobrick all one color, for aesthetic purposes later on. But it's really up to you. Please avoid putting biodegradable material, such as cardboard or paper, as well as glass or metal, in your ecobrick-- it'll affect the density and preferred composition. Plus, you can recycle those!

Calculate the density! This is the only part that involves math, I swear. You want to aim for a density of about 0.37 grams per milliliter; it shouldn't be under 0.33 g/ml or it'll be structurally unsound. It's also good to aim for a density less than 0.7 g/ml, or your bricks might be too heavy to move comfortably. The equation is just the weight in grams divided by the milliliters of the container you're using, so, for example, if you used a bottle than was 1250 ml, you would be aiming for about 475-500 g of plastic (including the bottle). (a kitchen scale is great for weighing, and you can thrift them pretty easily) Of course, if you're ecobricking to sequester plastic and not necessarily to build, you don't need to worry too much about the density, but if you wanted to donate your ecobricks to a project in the future I would encourage you to try to keep track of density.

Cap your bottle tightly, leaving 1-2 cm at the top of the bottle (basically, you don't want the cap to bulge, because it will make the cap degrade rapidly and crack). Label them with the density of the bottle (if it's relevant) and the date (so you know how long the brick has been around so you can maintain it if needed)-- nail polish works the best. Keep them out of the elements (especially the sun) and off the ground until you plan to use them.

There are tons of ways to use ecobricks! I'll link a few ideas below.

https://ecobricks.org/en/build.php

https://ecobricks.org/en/modules.php

anways, happy bricking! i'll post a picture of my finished ecobrick when it's done (hopefully not soon!)

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecobricks

https://ecobricks.org/en/how.php


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1 year ago

animal shelters should let you do dabs with the dogs as long as they seem chill as fuck/real