DIY hardware repair and customization

I've decided to start a hobby of repairing phones and laptops and I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions. What tools, resources, where to get parts? Especially I've been wondering about what is the best way to go about finding replacement parts, do I just look for them on Alibaba? Please share any experiences on the topic.

Check ifixit. They have tutorials and even repair kits on their site. I've managed to replace a swollen battery using one of their guides.

>>10306 Thats my main resource for guides and I got their toolkit. They dont have that many parts though and what they have is reasonably expensive. Wouldn't it work to go directly for Chinese suppliers, I guess it would be a gamble to get something that works properly with a specific model? Could I get my headphone jack working again (on a not Samsung phone) with something like this: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Mobile-Phone-Headphone-Jack-Audio-Flex_60490984252.html?spm=a2700.galleryofferlist.normal_offer.d_title.405d7ee2ar4C5P ?

>tools try to get something like this as a start: https://www.ifixit.com/products/essential-electronics-toolkit doesn't need to be from ifixit, but just a basic set of tools like that. your picrel will probably be too overwhelming if you are just starting out. if you are willing to replace phone and tablet screens, get an lcd screen separator. for component-level repair, which is more advanced, get a hot air station, flux etc and some practice boards. also, DON'T BUY CHINESE OR CHEAP TOOLS. go to your local hardware store first and do some research. you really don't want to have crappy tools that will get rusted very easily for seemingly no reason. >where to get parts again, check your local stores first. they might have bullshit prices, but it's still worth knowing about them, and maybe knowing people in the industry. you can also get parts from used or broken devices, which can be a better bang for your buck. as a last resort, i don't think getting from alibaba or some other international store is wrong. just be smart and skeptical about it.

>>10315 Okay I'll ask around at the local hacklab and see if I can find any local stores. I'm curious about how much wiggle room is there with these modern devices such as smartphones, do I really have to have the brand name matching part or can I squeeze in something as long as it fits? I'm willing to break things and learn along the way with this.

>>10305 For posterity: Dumpster diving electronics can be a great way to obtain a heap of spare parts, if it's available to you. Visit with a toolkit, maybe a portable soldering iron.

>>10316 typically all these components will have particular model numbers or part numbers. As long as you have the identifying sticker or number on the board or component you can find the same part on the internet or the equivalent that will fit and do the same thing. For Apple ecosystem products though some components like the front IR sensor cannot be swapped out with the same functionality as the original part, due to software restrictions.

>>10315 I don't think it's overwhelming at all, I'm finding it very useful. One thing I came across immediately is that one also needs some heating solution to remove glued parts, but a hair dryer seems to be working fine.

>>10306 >>10315 >ifixit.com Really good guides, great to learn by example so that you don't break stuff along the way >>10307 If I remember correctly in a lot of sound/audio related stuff impedance and resistance are important to match so always test before changing. And check that it has the right number of pins, a few of those jacks have an extra pin for earbud mics unlike classic stereo sound.

Well the parts came a bit earlier than expected, problem is that the other part wasnt quite the right model which I then tried to force fit, which wasnt quite successful, I guess I'll have to wait again. Also the touch screen seems a bit slow, and do be careful handling them as they break very easily.

>>10305 >What tools, resources, where to get parts? For electronic part a Multimeter is very useful. There are plenty online 'How to use a Multimeter'-guides. I ordered AN8009 from Aliexpress for cheap and followed the guide. Measuring Voltage, Resistance. Testing Continuity, Diode. That is how I learnt. Before Multimeter I did put electronic parts in oven and baked them. Unforunately I don't remember anymore how long and at which temperature. First time was a GPU and this method did really work. I couldn't believe a baking would fix. Later I tried the same method with a PS3 Mainboard. A plastic part that I couldn't remove did melt a bit but it was alright by me. Well... I wouldn't recommend this method to anyone because the smell while baking was possible toxic. Of course I did clean the oven after that and there was no trace of this smell but I am still concerned if toxic substance merged with grease in oven where is unreachable for cleaning.

I want to learn computer repair. I've got a broken motherboard I can train my unsoldering/soldering skills on, but I'm not sure what tools I need. Do I need a heat gun, or is a soldering iron good enough? Which (european preferably) brands are good? I already have a cheap soldering iron but it's underpowered and sometimes struggle to melt solder.

>>12057 Heat gun is quite necessary. Especially on a motherboard, you can see there are components that require heating up larger area at once to desolder them which is super tedious if not impossible with the iron. I'm also europe based and in every repair shop I've seen they had chinese rework stations like yihua or wep, and never really had a problem with them. I cannot help if you are asking about europe-based brands.

>>12063 Thank you for your reply. I asked for european brands because people tend to recommend american brands that can't be found here in those sorts of threads. I don't actually mind the origin. A shop I'm used to buy parts from sells Velleman, Uick and Zhongdi heatguns (from 80€ to 250€). Are those reputable? Maybe a price range would be more useful. How much do I need to spend to get something that will work reliably for several years of moderate usage?

>>12064 That's Quick, not Uick. Shitty unreadable logo

>>12064 I've never had an experience with those exact brands. I use a $50 yihua 902a at home and we have $70 wep 852d in repair shop. I never really operated more expensive station than ~$100, I just never found the need for it, even when assembling pcbs or other precise stuff.

>>12066 That's a pretty large price difference (the 80€ one I found doesn't include a soldering iron). Seems like they are only sold through amazon sadly. Do I have to suck it up?

>>12067 >Do I have to suck it up? You would know Jay Menard, sucking is your expertise.

What's the best place to buy iPhone parts in the US? I'm willing to go cheap, don't mind replacing things multiple times, but I also need specific things; e.g. I think my charging port is too jacked up and needs to be replaced (it's really touchy and keeps breaking the circuit when I'm charging), in addition to the backglass and battery.

If you wanted to change the camera on a phone to a better one or change the screen to something different in size or screen type what is needed? Just a custom rom? If so why havent I heard of anyone modifying phones?

>>12182 Alibaba for new parts, ebay for second-hand. It might be relatively cheap to buy a broken down phone and salvage the parts yourself (not for battery though). >keeps breaking the circuit when I'm charging It's your charger that's fuarrrked up. >>12188 There is no standard for phone parts, so good luck finding anything compatible with your board. And making "just a custom rom" is hard enough since it's all proprietary.

Not sure if this is the right thread, but I was thinking about taking an old android phone and turning it into a portable linux machine. How feasible is this? I know how to install linux in a PC, but how the fuarrrk do you get the bios to launch a bootable usb in a smartphone? Can you even install a linux distro instead of the default android flavor for that phone? This is a xiaomi phone in case it's relevant

>>12191 I'm sorry dude, you can't run a basic linux os on any random closed android phones. It would require a soykafton of extra work (as in writing lots of extra code), a work that takes months and sometimes years even for seasoned distro maintainers, and only possible.if they get details about the hardware, from the manufacturer. If you want to make use of that phone i recommend lineageos, if you want to have a small portable linux computer, look into SBCs, like pine64 and raspberry pi and their countless clones and competitors.

>>12192 Thanks lainon! I feared as much. I'll have to take it to a recycler. It's a shame, it's a waste of good parts :(

>>12191 Closest you can get on a random android device is termux and using ssh to connect to your desktop pc. Not that bad imo, you could even eun xorg through termux and use a couple gui apps that way, plus no need to learn to use a multiplexer that way

Please explain how i am supposed to find out whats wrong with a phone if it doesnt boot and how to identify the broken stuff (especially if the phone is not exactly very popular/known, so there isnt much about it) I've got a soykaf multimeter and some cheap chink tools (screwdriver with removable bits, soldering iron (came with multimeter, both are chinesium)), and a heatgun that i am pretty sure i cannot use on electronics

>>12192 What about postmarketOS. Isn't that Alpine for smartphones?

How would you remove the glue on the backside of a keyboard? (There was a backlight I wanted to remove)

I made a meme, after not being annoyed by tiny SMDs

I teared my headphone down to try to fix what I assumed to be a broken wire (couldn’t track it down yet, could have been a bad solder). I noticed that each earpiece had a separate ground, that were only connected when a jack was connected (the female connector has two grounds). Is there a reason for that design? If not, could it cause issues? There is no electronic at all, only the earpieces and wiring.

Dropped phone in water for about a second and pulled it mid fall so not much of any impact. Seemed fine and I shook it off port side down thinking Id shake the water out if any in it. Turned it off but turning it back on after about 4 hours thinking it may be dry enough I noticed it has dimming on one edge of the screen so it may have water in it still. What is the best desiccant for that kind of situation or is there a better method to dry it out other than having to dismantle the entire thing? I also very briefly after having turned it off again put in a vacuum sealer but only for a second so the vacuum would be light and gentle not anything that would damage anything Id think. I loosened the back panel so it has an easier time to have moisture escape and have it sitting in a warm room. I cant afford to get another phone right now and have some important files I need on it that have not been backed up yet I need so I need to make sure the phone is properly dry and operational. Didnt think I need a new thread for such a simple question and not sure where else to ask anyone with experience.

>>13582 Put phone in a bag of rice

>>13583 >Rice That's just a meme. Doesn't work that well as a desiccant. This is first time anything like this has happened to me so Im not one of those idiots that drops their phones in the toilet or something. I was just going to buy some desiccants online but need to know what material I should look for and the quantity and a good brand. I know this is DIY but that doesn't mean having to use the wrong tools for the job. Ones claiming to be for phones I assume are price hiked compared to more general use beads or packets. Is silica best or are ceramic desiccants better? I think a packet might reduce risk of breakage of beads and ceramic might have dust that could get inside. I saw some people had said they breakage on some brands where the beads just bust apart making a mess. Using the vacuum sealer again might be too risky without a gauge to measure the actual vacuumed atmospheres level even though I assume that plus a desiccant will have the best results but I could be entirely wrong on this.

>>10305 It depends on what you want to do. You will need a fine-tip soldering iron, I'm happy with the JBC C245 system, there's also good china clone options, depends on your budget. They're good in the hand. Hako and Weller also offer good stuff, though I have less experience with them. If you want to do lots of SMD soldering, or want to do stuff involving many-pin parts, or BGA packages, you'll need a hot air station. I recommend starting with the cheapest used one you can find, just be careful as they're pretty much all a fire hazard, umplug when not in use, never leave unattended. For better stuff, I'd take a look at what louis rossmann recommends. You'll need a roll of thick diameter solder for ATX sockets, inductors, and other bigger stuff, and a very fine roll for fine work. Flux, hand-operated desoldering pump (Engineer SS-03 is very good), solder sponge, fine tweezers, magnification if you don't have excellent vision, something for the fumes (especially if leaded solder, flux or both is involved). Then, in addition, an adjustable power supply with adjustable current limit, multimeter, for advanced debugging a oscilloscope (don't get it too early in your journey you'll get little use and quickly kill it), and something to hold your project in place while working on it. Good light and a sturdy workbench always help, but for this kind of fine work they're extra nice to have. Part sourcing from Mouser, DigiKey, AliExpress, LCSC, eBay (in that order in my experience) Don't kill yourself working on mains powered stuff, start small with things that take 5V/12V/USB jacks and the like. Take apart your old phone, try to replace the Battery with a hotwired DCDC converter for infinite wall power without lipo explosion risk, make it a security camera to spy on your neighbours dog. Desolder and resolder a motherboard CPU power connector to experience the power of hunk-of-copper-technology (also called "big ground connection takes your heat away making soldering hard), order some cheap SMD soldering kits from aliexpress to get better and up your blinkenlights per square meter. Don't burn your house down, always turn off the heat when taking a break, however short. Make sure you don't leave your tip untinned when hot, hot things oxidize faster and without tin you'll ruin it. Lipos are your enemy, even the small ones will short circuit, running 10A through whatever shorted them, destroying pliers and tips. Only work on stuff you removed all power from. The cheapest way to protect your health is a old PC fan hot glued to a broken PCB as a base plus 9V battery (or random power cord, it's no filter but costs nothing and at least blows the concentrated cloud away from you. Don't ruin your tables, put a wooden board or something down. And most importantly, have fun. >>12225 Use a hot air gun or hair dryer to get it warm, slightly pry, and insert a plastic tool (such as credit card) to slice the glue. >>12191 Take a look at postmarketOS, if they don't support your device you're probably out of luck. The random ARM SOCs in all the smartphones require more proprietary licensing-infested vendor blobs than you could imagine.

>>12057 There's three types of devices you'd find on PCBs. >THT (through hole technology) Sometimes called THD (through hole devices). As the name says they have long leads and go through the board and are soldered to the other side. You won't find much of those on computer MOBOs, but you will on stuff like power supplies. They're the cheapest, easiest to work with, very easy to source (I only have to order online for oddball stuff). Just because they aren't used on MOBO, doesn't mean you can't use them to jerry rig stuff. Learn on them first. Those are best worked on with an iron. >SMD (surface mount devices) Those are similar to some THT chips but with their legs come out sideways, like a squashed spooder. They're soldered on to the same side of the board as they're placed on (hence the name). They can be quite tricky to solder with an iron, but doable. >BGA (ball grid array) Similar in looks to the SMDs but instead of having legs, those have tiny pads under the chip and a matching pattern of pads on the board they go on. You place a tiny ball of solder on those pads, put the chip on top and melt the balls under it with hot air. Those require hot air, you can't do them with irons. Those are also very common on computers and specially on notebooks. >the iron You don't need to go fancy but you do need something with temperature control and ideally one that allows for changing the tips. Doesn't need to be some quick switch mechanism, I never change them mid job. Tips come in all shapes and sizes, for some reason manufacturers insist on shipping with a conical tip, which works as a jack of all trades but isn't the best for anything. You'll want to get yourself chisel and bevel tips, those are the most useful. Sometimes you need to solder something hard to reach and needle tips or bent tips can make that job easier, but don't worry about that now. When soldering you must heat the thing you're trying to solder not the iron itself, the solder pad must be hot or the solder won't flow and stick to it. Chisel/bevel tips are good because of this, you can have good contact with the pad and transfer heat faster. If you're soldering larger components, they will act as heat sinks, so you'd need more heat. How much heat? Depends on the solder. >the solder Solder can be leaded or unleaded. Lead is framed as the devil nowadays but you're not a chinese sweatshop worker, you won't be soldering 24/7 so get yourself some leaded solder. It flows much better and requires less heat, much easier to learn on and also much easier to use. Depending on where you live that can be harder to obtain because of bullshit lead rules or something. Get yourself some solder flux too, it is the cheatcode for making solder flow (sometimes unnecessary and remember to cleat it off the board if you do end up using it). Once you get the solder, experiment around with your iron to get a feel for temperatures. Working temperatures go from 190 °C or so up to whatever your iron can do. Keep in mind you're also heating everything around your work piece, even stuff you don't want to heat. >air I don't have an air station of my own so I can't give much info on those. You're generally better off having a dedicated iron and a dedicated hot air instead of one station that can do both, the later is often mediocre at one or both. The note about heating your surroundings is triple important here, you gotta make sure you won't melt or desolder the rest of the board while you work, kapton tape is your friend. >brands I'm not european so I can't help, but check out fourth chin's /csg/. Mine's from YiHua and it's good enough and pretty cheap. >>12182 >>12188 CrApple does parts pairing/serialization, the phone will most likely complain about a new part for another phone and either refuse to work or lock out some functionality. >>13585 Good info post. I'd emphasise the importance of taking good care of your tips and keeping them well tinned. You can easily run a tip if you don't take care of it. Also guitar picks make excellent prying tools.