Ridiculous manufacturing technique

[Gareth Magennis]

Blimey, I have just had one of these in for repair:

http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/traktor/dj-controllers/traktor-kontrol-s4/


All the pots and data encoders are soldered to the PCB's as usual, and are
then fixed by the usual hex nuts to the top of the chassis.
BUT, the various top surface metal and plastic plates with all the legends
on are then GLUED over all these nuts.

The only way to remove the PCB's is to remove all these top plates, which
you can't do without severely damaging them as the glue bond is so strong.

These are obviously not designed to be repaired or serviced, unless you want
to buy a complete new set of top decal plates, which you almost certainly
can't cos these will be made in china and spares aren't available etc etc.

And these are not cheap either.


Cuh.

[N_Cook]

does warming with hot air gun weaken the glue bond?

[Gareth Magennis]

"N_Cook" <div...@tcp.co.uk> wrote in message
news:lap3vf$cgv$1...@dont-email.me...

I was going to attempt that but I specifically needed to heat the area
around the 7 segment LED display which has a very thin transparent cover.

This unit is old now, and has had beer spilt in it, there is lots wrong with
it, I don't think I will be able to obtain spare parts for it, so I
abandoned the whole thing as uneconomic to repair.

The owner is going to attempt to send it back to the manufacturers.
Good luck there, mate.



Gareth.

[Cydrome Leader]

sometimes drops of isopropyl alcohol will soften that weird fiber/glue
stuff they use to hold decal down with.

still seems like a shity design, most likely just to be cheap than
anything else.

The entire of consumables for simply opening something up has always
annoyed me. At least with stuff like laptops real makers do offer the
replacement screws and screw cover kits which come with replacement parts
that require their removal.

Ending the use of lead-soft flat headed screws that will cam out after any
use would still be better.

[N_Cook]

for next time , just mask off the display area or even pre-chill with
freezer spray

[Gareth Magennis]

"Cydrome Leader" wrote in message news:lapccv$1et$2...@reader1.panix.com...

N_Cook <div...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
> On 10/01/2014 14:36, Gareth Magennis wrote:
>> Blimey, I have just had one of these in for repair:
>>
>> http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/traktor/dj-controllers/traktor-kontrol-s4/
>>
>>
>> All the pots and data encoders are soldered to the PCB's as usual, and
>> are
>> then fixed by the usual hex nuts to the top of the chassis.
>> BUT, the various top surface metal and plastic plates with all the
>> legends
>> on are then GLUED over all these nuts.
>>
>> The only way to remove the PCB's is to remove all these top plates, which
>> you can't do without severely damaging them as the glue bond is so
>> strong.
>>
>> These are obviously not designed to be repaired or serviced, unless you
>> want
>> to buy a complete new set of top decal plates, which you almost certainly
>> can't cos these will be made in china and spares aren't available etc
>> etc.
>>
>> And these are not cheap either.
>>
>>
>> Cuh.
>>
>>
>
> does warming with hot air gun weaken the glue bond?

sometimes drops of isopropyl alcohol will soften that weird fiber/glue
stuff they use to hold decal down with.

I did take one small metal panel off just to confirm there were nuts
underneath.
It got a little mangled, and it looks like the "glue" is sheets of double
sided (very strong) adhesive medium covering the entire panel area.

I could probably have got it off unscathed with a hot air gun, but the more
delicate plastic panels might be a different story.

If it hadn't been full of beer and needing at least a couple of unobtanium
faders I might have thought it worth persevering.
As it was it just got my goat on a friday afternoon, and I fancied a good
vent on usenet!



Cheers,


Gareth.