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Tag: repair

  • Coronavirus: iFixit Creating Medical Device Repair Database

    Coronavirus: iFixit Creating Medical Device Repair Database

    iFixit is working to create a database of information on how to repair medical equipment.

    iFixit is well-known for their detailed and informative breakdowns of various phones, tablets, computers and other electronic devices. The company also publishes repair guides for individuals who want to brave repairs on their own.

    As the coronavirus pandemic sweeps the globe, iFixit is endeavoring to bring their expertise to medical and hospital equipment. The company’s goal is to create a database to house repair information, information that can be used to help keep critical equipment running.

    “Biomedical technicians (biomeds for short) are the repair experts at hospitals, and in many regions they are stretched thin,” writes Kyle Wiens, iFixit Editor-in-Chief. “There are a wide variety of machines made by a number of different manufacturers at hospitals around the world, and there is no single resource for how to repair all of them. We don’t know how many machines will fail once hospitals are truly taxed. We don’t know which parts of those machines are most at risk.

    “Some manufacturers heroically host service manuals for their equipment on their website, and some make them more challenging to locate. There is no single source of information for biomeds to access. Biomed forums are frequently populated with requests for specific PDF service manuals. The closest thing to a central resource is Frank’s Hospital Workshop, a fantastic website run out of Tanzania with hundreds of manuals and very helpful how-to resources for maintaining medical equipment. But Frank’s site is a one-person operation, and a single point of failure, should overwhelming traffic come calling.

    “We’re going to change that. Our biomed technicians’ time is too precious to waste on internet Easter-egg hunts. iFixit is building a central resource for maintenance and repair of hospital equipment. We need help from fixers everywhere, medical professionals, and biomedical technicians to make sure this is as robust, relevant, and useful as possible.”

    iFixit is to be commended for their efforts to help overwhelmed hospitals keep their equipment running. Anyone who has knowledge that might be helpful is encouraged to add to iFixit’s database.

    Those who wish to participate are encouraged to “find or create a device page for the medical product” and “upload a photo of the device and attach the manual.” If someone does not have time to go through those steps, or needs to send documents in bulk, they can email the information to moderation@ifixit.com.

  • Motorola Razr Is a Nightmare to Repair

    Motorola Razr Is a Nightmare to Repair

    iFixit has done one of their famed teardowns of Motorola’s new folding Razr and one thing is clear: users needing repairs should let Motorola do them.

    Motorola’s Razr is the company’s re-entry into the premium phone market. While reminiscent of the iconic flip phone of the same name, the new Razr is reimagined with a folding touchscreen design running Android.

    iFixit has made a reputation tearing down new phones, tablets and computers, rating them based on how easy or difficult they are to repair. While Motorola’s phone may have an innovative design and aesthetic, it also has the distinction of earning iFixit’s lowest possible score for ease-of-repair.

    The phone did score a point for only requiring a T3 Torx to break it down, but that’s where it stopped scoring. The outer covers are glued on, replacing the batteries (yes multiple) requires almost complete disassembly, multiple flex cables get in the way and the charging port is soldered to the main board.

    iFixit summed it up by saying: “Motorola’s nostalgia-stoking Razr officially wins the award for most complicated phone-based contraption we’ve ever taken apart. We’re impressed with the numerous feats of engineering that Moto pulled off to resurrect their iconic clamshell.”

    Any users who need to replace the batteries or screen would do well to pay Motorola’s service fees. Whatever the company charges is a small price compared to the nightmare involved in cracking this phone open.

  • NASA Spacewalk Finishes 1.5 Hours Early

    NASA Spacewalk Finishes 1.5 Hours Early

    Without a doubt, the most awe-inspiring and visually stunning movie of 2013 was Gravity, a movie concerning space starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. In Alfonso Cuarón’s film, both Clooney’s and Bullock’s characters are sent hurtling through space after their spacewalk goes awry following collision from space debris. Luckily for NASA, Saturday’s spacewalk saw none of the complications Clooney and Bullock faced.

    Saturday’s spacewalk was the first of three planned missions to replace a faulty unit on the exterior of the International Space Station. Ten days ago, a flow control valve malfunctioned inside of a pump module which controls the external and internal temperatures of the ISS. After the initial malfunction, NASA attempted to fix the situation from the ground by rerouting the mechanism through a different valve.

    While the solution worked temporarily, the situation was urgent enough that NASA elected to schedule a series of spacewalks to resolve the issue. The urgency to make the repair stems from the fact that the ISS is about to reach the point in the year where it receives the most direct sunlight, which runs from December 30 to January 9 this year. During this time, the ISS must perform barrel rolls (hopefully by tapping Z twice) in order to avoid overheating. Due to these evasive maneuvers, spacewalks and cargo shipments are not permitted, and hence the urgency of the situation.

    Originally, the astronauts were simply supposed to prep the pump module for module. Astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins were able to finish the prep work in 3 hours, though, and were given permission to actually remove the module with their remaining 3.5 scheduled hours.

    Spacewalk Astronauts

    Leaving the astronauts out much longer than necessary was a potentially difficult decision for NASA, seeing as Hopkins was wearing the same suit which sprung a water leak last June when worn by Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano. Luckily for NASA and Hopkins, the repairs made to Parmitano’s suit held up and were of no concern.

    The only concern which did occur during the spacewalk had to do with temperature control: “The only issue that I personally am having is it’s very, very cold,” stated Mastracchio. In particular, it was Mastracchio’s toes that were cold. While Houston was able to warm Mastracchio’s little piggies by blowing warm air into his boots, Mastracchio ultimately called it quits 1.5 hours early due to the chilly conditions.

    The situation faced by Mastracchio and Hopkins Saturday was not unique. In 2010, astronauts Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson performed an almost identical procedure to repair the ISS’s cooling system. Due to their prior experience, Wheelock and Dyson were in Houston aiding Mastracchio and Hopkins during the repair efforts: “It’s a little bit [of] a different failure we’re facing this time around, but the spacewalks to remove the old pump module and replace it with a new spare is exactly the same as what we did in 2010. We’ve had a lot of lessons learned back then, and so we’ve implemented those changes into our procedure in the way that we prepare our suits and our tools, so we’ll be ready to go on Saturday,” stated Wheelock.

    Wheelock also spoke about the familiarity of the situation for Mastracchio and Hopkins, adding, “We practice all of these skills, just rehearse them over and over again in the pool. The crew has done these particular skills. The skills are the same, but space always has surprises for us, especially when we go outside.”

    Space may have had some unusual surprises for Hopkins as this was his first-ever spacewalk. Fortunately, he had an experienced partner to help out. This spacewalk marked Mastracchio’s seventh. His previous 6 spacewalks have totaled 38 hours and 30 minutes, placing him 14th on the lists of astronauts documenting the most hours of spacewalking.

    The next spacewalk is scheduled for Monday, December 23rd, while the third is currently scheduled for Christmas. However, due to currently being ahead of schedule, the third walk may not be necessary. If it does occur, the spacewalk on December 25 will be the first spacewalk to ever occur on Christmas.

    Images via YouTube

  • Don’t Break Your iPad Mini: iFixit Finds That It’s Hard To Repair

    The iPad Mini launched today and has already been put through its paces in a drop test. The iPad Mini came out like a champ, but it still suffered a cracked screen. That may happen to somebody’s iPad Mini this weekend though and they’ll need to fix it. That’s where iFixit comes in.

    Punctual as always, iFixit has posted its teardown of the iPad Mini today. The team found the iPad Mini to not be easily repairable. It’s a bit unfortunate considering the iPhone 5 was given a score of seven out of 10 on the repairability scale. It seems that Apple wants to make the iPad Mini like the new MacBook Pro – annoyingly hard to repair.

    The folks at iFixit gave the iPad Mini a score of two out of 10. They note that the iPad Mini does get some things right, like the glass and LCD are not fused together which makes replacing the screen an easy task. The problems come in when you get to taking the entire device apart. All of the components are attached via “copious amounts of adhesive” which makes any repair extremely difficult.

    If anything, iFixit’s teardown should convince all iPad Mini owners to be very careful with their new device. It should survive a few falls without much damage, but you might not want to push your luck.