Fixit Clinic founder Peter Mui is this week’s interviewee on Pat Benincasa’s Fill To Capacity! podcast:
https://www.patbenincasa-art.com/fill-to-capacity-podcast
It’s on all the major podcast streaming services or listen online at
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-uwxvv-13c6fb5
Chromebooks have become popular computing devices with school systems and libraries: school system adoption and purchase of Chromebooks rapidly accelerated during the pandemic as school systems needed to support distance learning. However: all Chromebooks have an “Automatic Update Expiry” (AUE) date after which they no longer receive Chrome OS updates. For individual consumers this means that their Chromebook gets less and less useful and less secure over time. However: for organizations with lots of Chromebooks enrolled in Google’s Enterprise Enrollment (e.g. schools and school systems) they have to stop using them immediately.
Message that appears on Chromebooks when they reach their AUE date
Even though they are recent computer hardware (typically under three to five years old) and mechanically and electronically functional they are of little value to computer refurbishers because they have no domestic resale value. My understanding of what is happening at the moment is that computer refurbishers sell Chromebooks to recyclers that send them on to Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam where they are being harvested for the one or two computer chips with residual value: the rest is e-wasted locally. So, sadly, we are exporting our e-waste overseas again from the U.S. Doubly sadly: we are creating e-waste out of items that potentially have lots of useful life remaining.
A school system’s Chromebooks waiting to be e-wasted at a computer refurbisher
It is possible to convert Chromebooks that have reached their AUE date into general purpose computers: usually by removing a “write protect” screw, sometimes simply by disconnecting and reconnecting the battery. However, that requires some physical disassembly and modification that computer refurbishers are unwilling to undertake: they can’t justify the labor cost.
Fixit Clinic will assist schools, libraries, and other agencies in keeping Chromebooks in service in our communities – to keep in our schools, to give to students, to give to the local Library, to give to the economically disadvantaged in our communities. We will do this by teaching students, youth, and residents how to convert Chromebooks into general purpose computers, ideally for use by themselves.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScctDHrbBq1yOsGm8CkICMjBV4iQafv_Tl-9p-FTFxVAugDbw/viewform
Our team will reach out to you with further information and next steps.
Zero Waste Youth USA is having their annual Convergence March 18: Peter Mui is speaking in Track 2 “Upstream Solutions to Downstream Pollution” at 10:55AM PDT; anyone anywhere in the world can register to attend via Zoom at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/zero-waste-youth-usa-10th-annual-virtual-convergence-tickets-512193914787
.png)
Fixit Clinic is honored to participate in a very special world-wide hybrid in-person/online Community Repair event Oct. 23/24:
**An in-person Five Cities Repair Café from iFixit World HQ in San Luis Obispo, California USA https://www.repaircafe5cities.org/
Fixit Clinic Founder Peter Mui presented on Fixit Clinic's efforts towards circular, sustainable consumption at WIRED's RE:WIRED Green Climate Action Conference Wednesday Sept. 28: https://www.wired.com/story/rewired-green-2022-climate-conference/
Here's the recording of his presentation: https://www.wired.com/video/watch/re-wired-green-2022-peter-mui-on-the-right-to-repair-movement
Fixit Clinic was featured on two (US) national media outlets this week:
-Voice of America News (2 minute video): https://www.voanews.com/a/busted-technology-repair-coaches-help-you-fix-your-gadget/6237236.html
-The Pulse (podcast): The stories of the people and places at the heart of health and science from WHYY (PBS affiliate in Philadelphia PA USA)
https://whyy.org/episodes/handmade-tales/
18:17 Segment start
30:54 Segment end
At today's Zoom Fixit Clinic we saw Kim from USA-CA-Oakland: "Battery Operated Pencil Sharpener Panasonic KP-2a I had left batteries in it a few years ago, and it no longer works, even with new batteries I have looked for youtube videos. I managed to take it apart AND I think I have it put back together correctly. I tried cleaning the battery contacts but not sure what else to try. It is a fabulous pencil sharpener when it's working. I've returned 2 new ones in the last 2 weeks, junk."
Kim's repair was not complete by the end of the Zoom but later in the day she emailed the photo below: "Well, after 2 hours in the breakout room and another hour after, the battery pencil sharpener is fixed. After we figured out that the motor worked, I finally realized that one of the copper strips in a switch that connected when the pencil was inserted was out of place and needed to go into a little hole, which helped the other strips connect. My thanks to the fixers in the breakout room who were so patient and offered many suggestions even as I wrestled with my funky webcam. Not sure I got everyone, but D [P?] Ramoutar, Olivia in Berkeley, Tony, and Des, you rock! Connecting via phone cam might have made it easier for me to show a closeup. I'd show the strips and how they fit but now that all is together and working, I'll leave it be!"
We believe that older items that are fixed (or well maintained) are more and more often of higher quality and durability than items that you can purchase new that perform the same function: Do you agree?
Sunday afternoon's project was a Lasko box fan: not working at all. It was easy enough to disassemble. The problem turned out to be a blown thermal fuse which was nestled deep in the motor near the motor windings.
Saturday morning's project was a Dyson Ball Multi Floor vacuum with two nasty clogs: one in the hose from the brush head, one in the wand.
The wand had a Canadian Quarter wedged deep inside, I was able to yank it out with a wire coat hanger modified with a hook
The brush head vacuumed up a needle that stuck in the soft flexible plastic hose between the head and the main body of the vacuum, I was able to fish that out with a pliers.
Neither item was immediately evident as a root cause for the clogs and poor suction: there was a lot of fluff that had accumulated around both items. After the fluff was cleared both the brush head and the wand immediately had good suction and one might've been tempted to declare victory at that point. However: without further inspection to find and remove the quarter and the needle the clogs would have re-occurred.
From a maintenance perspective this vacuum was designed for relatively easy access to and inspection of the places where a clog might develop. This video was helpful too: https://youtu.be/YgR-hfT2Mhk
We see vacuums with poor suction all the time and the root cause is almost always a rigid or semi-rigid item wedged in a hose that accumulates fluff around it until it clogs the hose.
Fixit Clinic has gone virtual and global with two offerings:
- Zoom Fixit Clinics open to everyone and hosted from around the world
- A Global Fixers Discord Server that's open around-the-clock around-the-world
To join either or both:
Got something broken you want to try to fix? Participant registration: http://bit.ly/fixitcheckin
Want to help fix or just observe? Fixer/observer sign-in: http://bit.ly/fixitcoachsignup
Welcome Guardian Readers*: Want to try fixing something from home like Anya above**? Here’s how it works: show your item to the global assembly of community repairers and get suggestions for things to try; then we move items/participants and repairers to Zoom breakout rooms to implement the suggestions and, hopefully, fix the items.
We also have the Global Fixers Discord Server for synchronous/asynchronous around-the-clock around-the-world repair.
Sign up with things to fix at http://bit.ly/fixitcheckin to get scheduled for an upcoming Intergalactic Fixit Clinic (or to set up repair via Discord); and please encourage your family, friends and neighbors around the globe to sign up too. (And remember: we can look at large things like dishwashers, TVs and furniture now.)
Hope to see you at an upcoming Fixit Clinic (virtually, that is!)
We've added a Global Fixers Discord Server to facilitate 'round-the-clock 'round-the-world repair collaboration.
Unfamiliar with Discord? It is a communication and collaboration platform that is popular with gamers. It supports chat, voice, and video, file and image upload, etc.
Any current local community repair volunteer or aspiring repairer -- anywhere in the world -- is welcome to join: sign up at http://bit.ly/fixitcoachsignup, select the “ONGOING: Repair via Global Fixers Discord Server” option.
Looking forward to seeing you online: either in the Virtual Fixit Clinic Zooms, in the Global Fixers Discord Server, or both!
