How do you pick up a screw that dropped into a deep, narrow hole?Continuing from where I left off the last time, I unfastened the vacuum tube of the TV (really, really heavy), then carefully lowered it onto the floor flat on its face. Then, I encountered a problem... I can't hoist it back up, but an important screw fell in there, too narrow and deep for my fingers to reach.
1. Chopsticks
I'm not sure about you, but the most intuitive thing is to start digging with a tool, then try 'pincering' it with a pair of tools (screwdrivers) - which quickly became obvious to me that it was as easy as a winning a soft toy from an arcade claw machine.
2. Variations of the Handkerchief on Extraction of a Cork
I'd have preferred this method over the 3rd (which I eventually used) because it's faster if I had thread or a handkerchief around me. I'm not sure where I learned this one from, but it's very similar to the way Nathan tried(?) to extract a cork from a bottle on BBC's Battle of the Brains. Prod a rag under the screw, and up to a reachable height, and pull it out.
(Oh, I could actually have taken off my shirt and used it as a rag.)
Alternatively, what I'd usually do is tie to a clove hitch near the tip of a screwdriver, tie a loose thumb knot near the hitch with a long trailing thread end, and guide the screw into the thumb knot. Tighten, and extract.
3. Magnet
I prodded the screw to the side of the casing, then tried to pull it up along the wall using a fridge magnet. But the magnetic field wasn't strong enough. So I needed a magnet that was long enough to reach inside the deep hole.
My screwdrivers are made of mild steel, so I stroked one of them with the fridge magnet to rearrange the magnetic dipoles (induce a magnetic moment), and it soon produced a field that was strong enough to pick up the screw.
Then, I cheerily placed my fridge magnet back where it came from, only to realize (to my surprise) that my magnet looks different now!
I'm not sure about you, but the most intuitive thing is to start digging with a tool, then try 'pincering' it with a pair of tools (screwdrivers) - which quickly became obvious to me that it was as easy as a winning a soft toy from an arcade claw machine.
2. Variations of the Handkerchief on Extraction of a Cork
I'd have preferred this method over the 3rd (which I eventually used) because it's faster if I had thread or a handkerchief around me. I'm not sure where I learned this one from, but it's very similar to the way Nathan tried(?) to extract a cork from a bottle on BBC's Battle of the Brains. Prod a rag under the screw, and up to a reachable height, and pull it out.
(Oh, I could actually have taken off my shirt and used it as a rag.)
Alternatively, what I'd usually do is tie to a clove hitch near the tip of a screwdriver, tie a loose thumb knot near the hitch with a long trailing thread end, and guide the screw into the thumb knot. Tighten, and extract.
3. Magnet
I prodded the screw to the side of the casing, then tried to pull it up along the wall using a fridge magnet. But the magnetic field wasn't strong enough. So I needed a magnet that was long enough to reach inside the deep hole.
My screwdrivers are made of mild steel, so I stroked one of them with the fridge magnet to rearrange the magnetic dipoles (induce a magnetic moment), and it soon produced a field that was strong enough to pick up the screw.
Then, I cheerily placed my fridge magnet back where it came from, only to realize (to my surprise) that my magnet looks different now!
Unlike you all, I've visited Zerland before.My hand was wet with a methylated solvent (I use it to degrease/clean my hands or any surfaces, and it's very useful for removing the adhesive residue of plastic labels/bar code stickers on my pens.). So I was responsible for defacing it. I always forget this one! :(
Disconnecting all of the ports was a slow and careful process. I realized that I didn't need to colour code/number tag the matching ports, because Panasonic already had indices printed in ink on each port. Some of them had faded a little, but can be easily interpreted. After a while of getting used to it, I became more hasty. But the wires were still in a mess. I exercised some weightweenism in disposing as much useless material as I could, and accumulated a bag full of plastic, screws etc.
Disconnecting all of the ports was a slow and careful process. I realized that I didn't need to colour code/number tag the matching ports, because Panasonic already had indices printed in ink on each port. Some of them had faded a little, but can be easily interpreted. After a while of getting used to it, I became more hasty. But the wires were still in a mess. I exercised some weightweenism in disposing as much useless material as I could, and accumulated a bag full of plastic, screws etc.
I should look for my misplaced camera.
The last speaker (or "electroacoustic transducer", but I'll be accused of pedantry). Removed from under the vacuum tube.
Power board.
Not entirely sure what this board does, but it seems to be a power board as well. There are a lot of heat sinks here; and 2 very big capacitors in the foreground.
All of the power goes through here.
High-voltage board.
This should be the audio amplification, visual processing etc. board. Again, I can't really tell at first glance.
The connector ports at the bottom took me a while to disconnect. After 10 years (and more) on its own, the press fits became tight. I became a pro at disconnecting these using the flat-edge screwdriver as lever.
Close-up on one of the heat sinks.
Close-up on the connector ports.
Connector ports between the controls module and the power board.
Another part of the controls module.
No comments:
Post a Comment