Nick's Computer Repairs

The last job I had was a black toner printer in which the drum and toner cartridge were force out of the printer and jammed so badly in the printer they would both not come out. After dismantling and attempting to remove both I set the job aside with one last idea to try. To loosen screws on both sides of the printer after taking the side covers off and seeing if they would come out. My buddy came around and we both used a little force to prise them out. The owner of the printer was going to replace both so breaking either was not going to be a problem. The toner cartridge cracked but my buddies advice was to do some plastic soldering and this closed the two cracks in the cartridge ends. Problem solved, owner very happy, two coffees coming up. Good job.

I have been using Teamviewer for a few years now to help people here in New Zealand and overseas for free to get the old computers and laptops up and running. Teamviewer recently showed me a message I have reached business level use and prevented me using the computer remote application. The problem there is me now paying something like NZ$45 each month to keep Teamviewer for this free help use and that is (lol) way over the top so I have decided to learn how to use Microsoft Windows Remote Application I think it may be called. This will allow free use of Remote Control to help people with their computers. Free is better.

I bought a new genuine Hakko soldering iron and soldering station and it is a 120 Volts so I need to use a power adapter to convert the 120V to 240 Volts. I purchased a low cost power adapter and it has only the two power plug pins with no third Earth to Ground connection. So I opened the adapter to consider adapting the adapter adding a ground pin because the soldering station soldering iron has a three pin power plug which means the soldering station and iron can be properly grounded. Then I found some bad things inside. Some of the wires are squashed flat most likely when the adapter case was closed and screwed tight.
Now my task is modifying the adapter case to accommodate a 3 pin international power adapter to give the necessary ground pin for the station.
Photo 1: is the soldering iron station Instruction booklet along with the opened SW-S12 power converter from 120v to 240V. The adapter is switchable from 120v to 240v and from 240v back to 120v.
Photo 2: is a closer look at the inside of the SW-S12
Photo 3: shows how there is an earth connector inside the voltage adapter and Photo 4: shows there is no earth pin out from the power adapter so the soldering iron power plug which has an Earth power plug pin will not be grounded when in use.
Photo 5: shows how I am modifying the adapter case to provide holes for the travel power adapter plug can fit into the case and
Photo 7: shows the modified case.
Photo 6: shows how some of the wires were squashed flat when the adapter case was closed and screwed shut.
These wires may be damaged and i am going to replace those wires.
The wire is tin and so I will replace all the wires with copper wire for better conductivity which will make the Voltage Adapter more efficient.
These kinds of repairs I do after researching from home ow to do these kinds of electronics repairs.
It may interest you to know sometimes there is Manufacturers Replacement guarantees for electronic equipment years after electronics devices are sold because they are found to have a kind of fault which not always as simple as the end user might imagine and so the electronics goods get thrown away when they can be replaced for free or repaired.
HP computers have been known to have free replacement laptops up to 5 years after purchase because of unrealized faults in maufacturer which had not become apparent until long after the goods were sold. Also Audio goods manufacturers have done the same kinds of free repairs and free replacements. I research the goods I am given to repair to find these things out and if free replacement or repair is possible I see the process through for the client.

A few more short jobs. It is like this most years for me btw. Kind of funny. No jobs for months and then 5 or 6 or more jobs one after the other. Fun. My last job was getting a lady's email application to start working again and that worked out ok. Another job was similar, getting email to work on an elderly man's new laptop and that went ok too. Meanwhile the fella who brings me old laptops and clothing and shoes left behind by Apartment building tenants when they leave the large apartment building he works at, brought me two older but rather fancy laptops which were not working well. I removed the original owner and made him a new Administrator and he now has a flashy older but rather nice Windows XP Professional (I think it is) laptop. The second laptop has a sound issue which I have not tackled yet.