The ghetto mod thread

[dragos2009]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

the star of today mod is a dlink di-524 router that i want to prevent from overheating using as you see in the image attached a ihs from a s478 p4 flipped upside down and stuck to the procesor using ceramique 2 thermal paste in the middle and super glue in the 4 corners of the main processor of the router

[stj]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

superglue vaporises when it gets hot.
i have a big tube of thermal glue for such things

[RCA2000]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

For two SEASONS...I SUCCESSFULLY...used CLOTHES PINS..on the compressor start terminal of my Rheem A/C unit..because the terminals had corroded to the point that you could NOT get a terminal commected to them...BUT the compressor itself was STILL ok. SO...not sure how to fix it..I just twisted some stranded 14 or so GA wire to the post where the lugs WERE as tightly as possible...THEN...to make it TIGHT...I put a WOODEN CLOTHES PIN OVER that...to hold it FIRMLY... It DID work for 2 seasons...THEN..I got some "quik lug" clamps and put them on it a few years back. Still works today.. 94 3 Ton 10 Seer RHEEM condenser.

[dragos2009]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

superglue vaporises when it gets hot.
i have a big tube of thermal glue for such things

even without it doesn't get hot i put that just to be sure it never gets and for superglue i put it just to be sure it doesn't fall of and ceramique 2 also act as a thermal glue it self which i have seen in action in my old belkin router

[goontron]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

In contrast to the post above, here is something that is suppose to get reaaal hot. 175 watt soldering iron. 50w main element 125w secondary.... Notice its a crap $10 soldering iron.
It had a meltdown before I could even post this.... Jeezless!
I need to try a woven ceramic sleeve next time. The kapton let go.

2nd heater is 125w 19v. that's 6.5 amps. The PSU is rated for 19v 6.66amps. (666, fitting, this PSU is a beast! 10 amps when the element went short!)

[momaka]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

and for superglue i put it just to be sure it doesn't fall of and ceramique 2 also act as a thermal glue it self which i have seen in action in my old belkin router

Yes, many ceramic-based thermal compounds tend to become "sticky" when they get heated up and especially as they age. In fact, I once even pulled a CPU out of a motherboard (ironically, it was a s478 CPU too) when I tried to remove the heatsink from it. The AS Ceramique 2 was actually freshly-applied just an hour prior to that, too. And yet, it still stuck. Imagine if it had aged there for a few years with a Prescott HT CPU.

The heat spreader you put should definitely help make the temperature changes more gradual for the IC underneath it. I did this to a motherboard SB. I think the mod is a few (or more) pages back, though.

In contrast to the post above, here is something that is suppose to get reaaal hot. 175 watt soldering iron. 50w main element 125w secondary.... Notice its a crap $10 soldering iron.

Someone needs a better iron here
Kapton tape is heat-resistant, but only to a point. You need mica insulator sheets.

Better yet, just make a new bigger tip out of a solid piece of copper. The iron will then have more "heat reserve", so you won't have to crank it that hard.

Nonetheless, cool mod. I guess whatever works to get those big solder joints unsoldered is all that matters anyways.

[goontron]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

Someone needs a better iron here
Kapton tape is heat-resistant, but only to a point. You need mica insulator sheets.

Better yet, just make a new bigger tip out of a solid piece of copper. The iron will then have more "heat reserve", so you won't have to crank it that hard.

Nonetheless, cool mod. I guess whatever works to get those big solder joints unsoldered is all that matters anyways.

I'm hoping to get a good hakko station around May
The story behind the timeline is for another thread... Or reddit.

[momaka]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

I'm hoping to get a good hakko station around May

This is what I use with a 5 mm bevel tip:
https://www.circuitspecialists.com/l...l-display.html
Not the greatest quality (it's an Aoyue inside, I think), but nothing it can't handle in terms of solder joints.

The story behind the timeline is for another thread... Or reddit.

Looking forward to it

[stj]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

that's a hakko T12 clone, the iron is about as good as it gets for under $200 (that's $200 for the iron, not the base!)

[momaka]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

that's a hakko T12 clone, the iron is about as good as it gets for under $200 (that's $200 for the iron, not the base!)

Indeed! Once you use an iron with T8/T12/T16 tips, you will never go back to those 900M tips.

While on the subject, here's the stand I use for my station above:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1456445392
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1456445392
Why? Because I got the station second hand and it didn't come with a tip holder, which is why I made the above. It also fits my Radio Shack bulb desoldering iron, as you can see .

Materials used: piece of hardwood flooring, steel wire, screws, and the black metal bracket that actually came with the RS desoldering iron.

[stj]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

you should replace that bulb with a pump & footswitch or button on the iron shell

[Compgeke]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

Picked up a $15 Advent AV550S untested as-is. Got it home and frrrrt frrrrrrt. Yup, blown sub. After examining and working at pulling the dust cover I realized the cone wasn't wasn't attached to the foam at all.

After some redneck foam gluing with gorilla glue (what I had on hand) it's now working fine with only some cabinet rattle. Not the best designed cab but unless I'm driving it at stupid levels it's fine.

[momaka]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

Picked up a $15 Advent AV550S untested as-is. Got it home and frrrrt frrrrrrt. Yup, blown sub. After examining and working at pulling the dust cover I realized the cone wasn't wasn't attached to the foam at all.

That's not a blown sub . Just a tiny bit weathered .

After some redneck foam gluing with gorilla glue (what I had on hand) it's now working fine with only some cabinet rattle.

Gorilla glue for the rescue. Nice!

You sure the rattling is not coming from the speaker? Any rips in the foam or tiny spots left unglued to the cone or basket will produce a ton of rattling and/or creaking noise (I know this from my paper surround experiments). Try playing a very low frequency - something along the lines of 5-10 Hz, and see if you can hear any bad mechanical noise coming from the speaker itself. If yes, then it needs more Gorilla glue.

*edit*
I just noticed, but isn't the subwoofer supposed to have rubber feet on those legs? That could be causing the rattle as well. Try putting it on a rug.

Speaking of ghetto speaker repair, I think I might make a new thread for my paper surrounds experiments. I've been trying out various paper materials and latex paint, and I feel that I am getting closer and closer to coming up with a decent DIY surround replacement material.

you should replace that bulb with a pump & footswitch or button on the iron shell

Yes, I could... but I hardly use even as it is anyways. I only bought it to desolder flybacks from TV boards and ICs on single-layer boards.

[Compgeke]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

Basically the problem was the surround not attached to the cone and when the cone hit the surround (because it wasn't attached) it was making the vibration fart sound. Once that was reattached the problems are all gone. Working fine in the living room now.

It probably is supposed to have rubber but I'm just ghetto modding, not going for ghetto car stereo as well. Doesn't start to rattle until it's at beyond reasonable listening levels (aka drowning out everything else).

[Dan81]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

^ Very cool blue light.

Now, I haven't posted anything that is "proper" in a long time. So...

Ladies and gentlemen, brace yourselves!
I present you the next generation of headphone and headset design:

Yes, that head-strap piece consists of two pieces of crude steel wire twisted together and bent to fit over the head. The wire for the right ear piece is twisted around that.

This is how the ear pieces are held on the wire:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1415496679
Basically, a small piece of thin galvanized sheet metal (30 AWG maybe? if not thinner) was cut and folded around a screw driver. It is held on each ear piece with a single screw (the screws were actually part of the original headset there - they held the behind-the-neck strap to the ear pieces). The clear tape on the steel wire is to kill some of the loose fitting, because I made the holes on the steel sheet straps too big. I could have used electrical tape to try to "match" the color of the steel wire, but electrical tape is not good for places where a lot of movement is anticipated. Plus, I hate the sticky residue it leaves after a year or so. Masking tape was considered too, but it tends to catch hair and dirt too easily, so was rejected. Thus, mailing tape it was .

Now, onto the ear cups for the ear pieces. Originally, my idea was to make big "stylish" ear cups, just like on many modern headphones . The white plastic is actually thin vinyl. It was cut from some leftover vertical vinyl blinds scraps (due to a former roommate trashing our old dorm apartment ). The fabric that goes on top of the ears is made from a pair of shorts I used to wear for many years (those shorts finally gave out about two years ago and ripped to pieces, so I stashed them in the garage to use as a "rag"). The fabric is simply hot-glued to the vinyl piece. Finally, all that was left to do was to find a soft filling material to go between the fabric and the vinyl piece. It would have been nice if I had some cotton or scrap foam... but I didn't. However, thanks to my sloppy former roommate again, there was a lot of fluff accumulation in the dryer's fluff collector. Yeah . So... there goes that . If this is not ghetto enough for you, I don't know what is.

That said, the results came out surprisingly good. First off, those ear cups are quite soft and comfortable. They also seem to do quite well at blocking outside noise. Moreover, I think the "fit" is what made it work this well. The steel wire does have some springy-ness to it, but not too much. As a result, the headset fits well on the head - not too tight and not too lose. And the steel sheet straps that attach the ear pieces to the steel wire allows the ear cups to rotate up and down freely around the ear. Here's what I mean:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1415496679

The only sad part is that headset makes for some very poor headphones. But this was so prior to my handy work. The drivers are just run-of-the-mill standard 32 Ohm impedance cans. Bass response is not great (though not as bad as on some other sets I've seen), the mids are muddy, and the highs are nearly non-existent.

So why all of this work then?
Simple: I needed a headset with a mic to use with Skype, and since I already knew we had this crappy set in our house doing nothing (the behind-the-neck strap was broken), I decided to make something out of it. And also free time and the desire to create something shitty .

Hope that brought you all some joy as much as it did to me when I made these. I almost literally made this as a bad joke. Except, now I am using that .

This quite reminds me of a mod I did recently,which consisted of gutting some Genius headphones that were broken and I put them inside my Compaq Armada 110 to replace the crappy small speakers. The only thing I can say now,is that while the sound they make is a bit quiet (I think I need something to amplify them a bit...),I can hear the bass perfectly while Windows 98 SE (yes,a old Pentium 3 laptop) plays its logon sound.

[goontron]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

C1000a died... Got a replacement a version older, made sure it wasn't going to cook or crash!

[goodpsusearch]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

I hope it's not too loud

[goontron]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

I hope it's not too loud

12dba, 32cfm at 1700RPM... The fish tank next to it is louder!

[goontron]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

I just noticed something... "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that!"

[eccerr0r]

Re: The ghetto mod thread

I was about to say... yes that red circular glow...

I have a Q1000 as well, and for a period of time it kept on crashing. Apparently Centurylink can remote update firmware in these modems and they don't tell when... which is annoying.

For the past couple of weeks it's been OK. Not sure what was up.