Plastic toolkit for disassembly - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: kcs
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2018, 11:50:24 pm
content: I am looking for a basic toolkit of plastic tools designed for disassembly. I have foundthis onemade by iFixit. Is it any good and is it worth its asking price? Some people praise iFixit toolkits, some say they are so-so. Are similar toolkits sold on eBay for much less worth considering?I have searched for similar threads, but did not found any. Maybe I have used the wrong keywords.

author: Mr.B
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 12:01:55 am
content: There are plenty of cheaper kits on Aliexpress.They are all basically junk and wear out quickly - they are only plastic after all.They are so cheap it does not matter if they wear out quickly.Search Aliexpress for "Cellphone ipad phone repair kit", or words to that effect.

author: kcs
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 01:16:05 am
content: I see. I thought some are made of better plastic and last considerably longer. For example, I was consideringthis onemade by 3M. They advertise it as: "tough glass-filled nylon plastic makes this tool durable and long lasting. "

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 01:27:21 am
content: The 3M tool (I've also seen similar tools from Jonard Industries) looks like it was designed for more traditional electronics rework, which does present somewhat different problems compared to modern ultraminiaturized cell phones and tablets etc. They can be useful but I wouldn't rely on them for every disassembly task. Jonard makes a kit along these same lines:https://www.jonard.com/Products/TK-AT5-Alignment-Tool-Kit(available from Mouser, Digikey etc).Somewhat more flexible are kits like this that contain different shaped spudgers and prying tools:https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PHNMEMCThey aren't quite equal in quality to Jonard, but it helps a lot to have a wider selection of shapes to pick from.

author: Mr.B
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 01:34:15 am
content: Sure the 3M ones are probably better, however they are more than an order of magnitude more expensive.The 3M ones are NZD 6.48 each.At Aliexpress I can get a pack of 10 for NZD 2.41The Aliexpress ones are glass reinforced plastic, but are unlikely to be the same quality as the genuine 3M ones.Entirely up to you...

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2018, 09:41:08 am
content: The trick then is to work out if the 3M one will last as long as 27 of the cheap ones at the same total cost

author: stj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 25, 2018, 11:30:27 am
content: one of the most usefull things is a bag of assorted thickness plastic guitar picks.i use them far more than the pry-tools sold for phones.

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2018, 12:04:07 am
content: QuoteThis is a funny thing, though. I have seen this even on Amazon where an business can buy certain 3M products at lower cost than end consumers. They have listings which you have to certify that you are a business/industrial user, or something like that.So when a pro swear by X or Y, maybe in some cases they were getting the stuff cheaper and doesn't realize how much more expensive it is at the consumer level. It might be these tools are slightly better, but that 90% of the sales are at a price much lower tha 27x higher. To businesses that reorder them, pay, and beyond that not make a peep. It's end consumers who complain and return even $5.00 items that drive prices crazy.

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2018, 12:07:35 am
content: Look for spudgers or spudging tools on eBay for a few bucks. You can get extensive sets and they work quite well. If you break anything it barely costs anything to replace, but I never broke anything.The only things I damaged since were damaged because I was too lazy to get the spudgers out.

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2018, 12:19:14 am
content: Quote from: kcs on August 24, 2018, 01:16:05 amYou don't want glass-filled or tough tools for this job! The tools are supposed to be less durable than your workpiece so the spudger will give before the much more expensive workpiece will. You don't want glass fibres scratching it up either. Soft plastic is what you want.Having though tools means a bigger chance of damaging the workpiece.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2018, 12:45:49 am
content: the bullshit we have to own to deal with plasticsI usually end up violently dismantling something and using glue or double sided tape to fix it, I hate those fucking clips. They can eat shit. My monitor is still stable because of gravity alone. My wavetek 50MHz awg front panel is held on by tape due to this too.If you are gonna get em, get like 30 of them, because you will end up using like 18 at a time as wedges to keep all the latches decompressed while you are working on the other ones, for instance removing the front of a shitty LCD montior. There is like 4 clips per side or more sometimes. Otherwise you can get stuck going in a circle or having them randomly relatch just when you are ready to pull. This phenomenon makes me boil.I bet you need like 40 wedges to open up a modern wide OLED screen, they have them like every 3 inches probably.I thought about training crows to deal with those clips, they might be decent at it. They can also probably make the tooling themselves too.It;s pretty ridiclous but then again, you need crazy equipment to do any kind of serious repair nowadays anyway (like BGA rework equipment).. just something you need to adapt to I guess because you won't stop those fucking plastic molding bastards no matter what you do... its the future.Thought you just need a screw driver with some bits to take something apart? not anymore, hot sir station, plastic thingy, wedges, screw driver, hot air gun at a minimum.Then you need to pray that the adhesives will relatch, or you need to reapply them if you wanna be sure its gonna be good...BTW the loctite plastic superglue kit at home depot is a god send, I think you can use any super glue (the shitty little tube dries out no matter how you store it) but you get a little marker that you sensitive plastics with for cyanoacrylate adhesion.. you just paint it and let it dry for 30 seconds prior to bonding. Makes the glue bond on stiff plastics so much better. I had one of those markers for 3 years and its still wet.

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2018, 01:08:00 am
content: Let my just bring up devices that are glued together and take a step back.

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2018, 02:50:09 am
content: Sometimes you can crack them open with a bit of a flex by hand or by vice.If not, time for a visit from Mr Dremel.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2018, 05:15:01 pm
content: I literarly had a dream about having to fix the most shitty thin and brittle plastic panels that cracked last nightThe worst I have seen is the little standoff for the LCD in the old Fluke thermocouple meter I have. I think it broke into like 12 different pieces when I opened it to change a battery.

author: kcs
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2018, 12:07:51 am
content: Mr. Scram, thank you for explanation, it does make sense now to avoid any durable/abrasive tools. I have not thought of that before.Generally, I like to work with good quality tools and I try to avoid purchasing cheap alternatives. I do not care if a good tool lasts less than a couple of cheaper ones, but that is just my preference. I will try to order Jonard tools and see how good they are, but it looks like they do not sell triangle and other pry tools separately and the ones that come in a kit are very limited in variety.Out of curiosity, I have purchased a cheaply made (but not cheap) opening kit at the local shop. I was not impressed by its quality. Chrome plating is already coming off the metal pry tool and now it can easily scratch the plastic. Quality control was also bad for plastic tools, but we will see how good and how long they will serve me.

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2018, 12:18:26 am
content: I too like to purchase good tools, but I consider spudgers as expendable as wipes or other consumables. If it serves me to buy more expensive spudgers, I will.I haven't had issues with the chrome plating coming off, but I tend to avoid the metal tools for reasons mentioned.

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2018, 01:05:07 am
content: A lot of cheaply made overseas tools have poor quality plating, sometimes it more closely resembles silvery paint rather than chrome. Chrome does not adhere to steel, so it must be plated first with copper, then nickel, then chrome.

author: Leiothrix
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2018, 12:58:59 am
content: Quote from: stj on August 25, 2018, 11:30:27 amI was going to suggest the same thing. Personally I like the Dunlop Tortex range. They are stiff and strong enough to be useful, but soft enough to not mar the work surface; and they don't have any "grip" bumps on them.Nylon are too floppy, celluloid are too fragile.

author: stj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2018, 11:14:10 am
content: i like cheap chinese nylon ones,they deform to the shape of the joint so you can slide it along through all the clips.