In my opinion...

hidden fasteners are _evil_, especially on a robot.

That's probably because I fully expect to dissasemble all my gadgets at some point. Sometimes for repair, drying, or cleaning. Sometimes to scavenge parts before discarding the carcus. 

Robots are supposed to have visible hardware. The companies that hide them are increasing their parts inventory and product cost for something that I feel reduces the value of the robot for me. 

ScottE -- Member (always) & Moderator (when needed)

The pin in the V2's hand didn't stop me. I was surprised at the time that I seemed to be the first person to have actually opened the hand.

I don't really mind hidden screws and the like, sometimes its more aesthetically pleasing. What I do hate is security screws, and casing that have been specifically designed with the idea of never being opened again once closed.  

RoboGuide - Your guide to hacking all things WowWee

That which does not unscrew, succumbs to my Dremel!

ScottE -- Member (always) & Moderator (when needed)

I really need to pick up one of those plastic case-popping tools. My screwdrivers and knives end up leaving their mark on the snap together cases of cell phones and such.

Just last week my daughter saw fit to dunk her cellphone. I popped it apart and set it up under a lab stand mounted hair dryer. Baked it dry in short order, and she's back to her manic texting.

The Dremel makes some irksome things much easier, though. Yesterday I needed to fabricate a new nylon washer bearing for an aging humidifier. The hardware store didn't have anything with the right internal diameter. Less than 5 minutes with the Dremel got things sorted out very smoothly. 

ScottE -- Member (always) & Moderator (when needed)

Nope, it was the commode with clear water. The town water supply doesn't have many minerals, so I wasn't too concerned about deposits left behind by the evaporating water.

We never did resurrect the one she soaked in the bottom of her bookbag with a burst Gatorade bottle. I think it was the sugar residue that doomed that one.

The only thing to do for salt water or hard water dunked gizmos, is to disassemble as much as possible and flush and soak with pure water. I have little experience with that, as I'm hundreds of miles from salt water.

I've seen case opening tools that look like a flat bladed screwdriver, but they come to a much sharper edge. It's meant to wedge into those case cracks, and run along the edge, popping the snap catches as it goes. The knife edge, and plastic construction, reduce the marring of the case edges.

Here's a picture of a variation on the theme being advertised for iPhone disassembly.

ScottE -- Member (always) & Moderator (when needed)

I told my daughter after the Gatorade episode that it's not the liquid that's the problem, it's the liquid conducting electricity that's the problem. I told her that if such a thing were to happen again, to immediately pull the battery out.

She didn't hear, or didn't remember, because she spent half the day with her 2nd soggy phone trying to get it to work and getting multiple keycodes for one pressed key, etcetera.

We were very lucky that no permanent damage seemed to have been caused by the significant moisture in the phone. Once I dried it, it powered up okay. 

Here's another web photo find showing something advertised for opening motorola phones.

ScottE -- Member (always) & Moderator (when needed)

MrScott said:The only thing to do for salt water or hard water dunked gizmos, is to disassemble as much as possible and flush and soak with pure water. 

Mate of mine was thrown in a swimming pool with his mobile in his pocket. He looked quite suprised when my advice was to wash it out under tap water then let it dry out (didn't have the right tools to dismantle it fully). The phone still works but doesn't get proper reception any more.

Salt-water is a pain. I've two diving torches which leaked and trying to clean up the corrosion and rust on such a small leak was almost impossible. The two torches are out of use just now but I plan on completely sealing them with some sort of shaker charger system built-in (as a backup device).

 Anyhoo, back to the plugs, did you get them out JC?

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