» MAKE: NOISE — Discuss this article

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• ipod batteries
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  Um . . . am I the only one who found replacing ipod batteries pretty trivial, given the plastic tool?
  
  The problem with consumer-replacable batteries is that you have to add the mass and volume of a jacket around the battery to protect it from grubby fingers and sharp things. (These are Lithium Polymer batteries. Puncture them, and they can catch fire).
  
  Also, if digital cameras are any indication, it's a sure thing that the battery form factor would be proprietary. Instead, you have a fairly generic LiPoly battery mounted in there that everyone and their dog sells replacements for *with* the special tools.
  
  Okay, screws to get into the thing would be nice, it's true.
  
  -Jim

  Posted by Happy-Hacker on February 03, 2007 at 18:54:29 Pacific Time

• This is quixotic in nature
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  You will never be able to meet any of those requirements for most electronics devices. Most if not all electronics devices use SMT which is nearly impossible to solder without special tools that are expensive. To make the parts easily repairable you would have to use through hole components which are much larger (say goodbye to ipod sized objects). Never mind the fact that the no user servicable parts tag is used by companies to prevent death by idiocy. I remember going to take apart the microwave but then decided against it when I read that I could accidentally kill myself even if it's unplugged.

  Posted by technoextreme on November 23, 2005 at 08:36:20 Pacific Time

• Craftsman is very good in Canada
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  The local Sears parts outlet carries an incredible array of replacement parts for Craftsman power tools and machinery We're still able to keep our 15-year-old garden tractor going because of them. Of course, it helps that it came with full parts information and exploded drawings of everything. :-D

  Posted by gordoncampbell1 on November 15, 2005 at 10:02:56 Pacific Time

• Not just for Makers
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  I enjoyed your Bill of Rights and the article that accompanied it. However, I don't understand why this is called a Maker's Bill of Rights. My friend may not be much of a maker, but he has every right to be able to purchase an iPod that's accessible enough to replace a dead battery.
  
  I would prefer you call this something like "An addendum to the Buyer's Bill of Rights", because we all need these considerations, not just Maker's.
  
  Cheers.

  Posted by hypergenesb on November 13, 2005 at 10:48:56 Pacific Time

• Respectfully disagree with your premise
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  a) I don't think we want your rights lists applied universally.
  
  I don't want to pay a premium for a ball point pen to make it user repairable or explorable, because I'm not interested in the innards of ballpoints (others may be) and I'm too cheap. Also, my 68 year old Aunt Ficticious doesn't want to pay a penny extra for her car to enable her to do things she never will.
  
  b) I'm not optimistic that a bill of rights is the right vehicle (pun intended). I don't think manufactures will be inclined to implement these major changes just because we see them as desirable.
  
  c) My proposal would be to have a bill of lading rather than a bill of rights. A, "MF" certification which appears on the label of products, and indicates their degree of maker friendliness.
  
  Here's a first cut: Take the 17 items in your bill of rights, generalize them, masssage as needed, and come up with 16 binary qualities, such as
  1) meaningful and specific parts list is included or on web
  2) users with normal tool set can get access to all parts with a MTBF less than 5 years
  ...
  14) product does not contain a mixture of metric and standard sizes
  15) schematics are included or web accessible to users
  16) usable troubleshooting information is included or web accessible
  
  represent the product's compliance by a hexadecimal string like MF:03AF, and put this on the label. Audit, and certify seller as required. Now I know what I'm getting, and I can decide to pick one product over another based on its MF rating, or one seller over another.
  
  This gives manufactures some incentive to sell products with more MF qualities, because they can sell more of them to geeks like us. And it's more likely to happen if there's monetary incentive.
  
  OK, soapbox dismount, and back to tinkering, eh.
  
  

  Posted by nerdougie on November 12, 2005 at 18:05:05 Pacific Time

• Another good one...
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  I was going to buy a nice Black&Decker electric lawnmower at Home Depot. I asked the price of a spare blade.
  
  "Oh, we don't sell spare blades for that."
  
  WHAT? You gotta be kidding! Nope.

  Posted by Crash_Cash on November 04, 2005 at 13:37:59 Pacific Time

• Sing it brother!
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  I just bought a new motorcycle and INSISTED that the official factory service manual and parts microfiche were included.
  
  They tried to foist a "Clymer's" off on me, and also said the microfiche was "dealer-only" (it's vital for ordering parts and reassembling stuff)
  
  I was going to walk out when they relented.
  
  I learned a hard lesson from my Camaro where the ABS failed, nobody was able to diagnose it or fix it, and it eventually ended me up in a guardrail and a lawsuit.
  
  The ECU diag code meanings were secret. Never again!

  Posted by Crash_Cash on November 04, 2005 at 13:31:42 Pacific Time

• Broken Bits
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  Thanks for the note!
  
  When stuff prematurely breaks, it is so profoundly annoying not to be able to fix it and get your money's worth. This morning I was thinking about stuff that you can buy 'granular level' parts for, e.g. you can buy every tiny component for lawn sprinkler heads. And hose repair kits - for a buck or two you can buy a new hose end and it comes with the tool assemble it.
  
  Your offer of photo sharing is cool. Put it on Flickr, put it in the makepool and tag it ownyourown. I will put up the fuel pump and draw a box around a) the failure (tiny metal tang) and b) what needed to be replaced (whole thing).

  Posted by MrJalopy on October 31, 2005 at 06:31:51 Pacific Time

• Chevrolet not alone, add Craftsman, Sears
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  I had a part failure that would have cost maybe a dollar in a Craftsman Extension cord reel, and could have been replaced in 10 minutes, but they won't sell that part either, nor do they even list it. Instead, a complete replacement of the whole unit and assembly to the tune of about $30 is required. I have a couple of pictures I can share if you like. Good article, and unfortunately, so true. Have a good day and God bless. John

  Posted by ponpilot on October 28, 2005 at 13:23:46 Pacific Time