At the time, we didn’t feel right tearing down the rental tools so we went ahead and bought our own.
Now that these are ours, let's see if we can find what makes these gadgets so
precise when it comes to Apple repair. Enough chit chat. Let’s do the thing.
First things first, the Screen Press. This contraption is supposedly able to restore a
devices IP rating by applying the correct pressure to ensure a good bond between the adhesive,
screen, and iPhone frame.
It’s a thing of beauty. I watched Luke Miani’s review of this device and he clearly loved this
contraption too. I thought he was doing a bit, but I promise you, it really is that
satisfying to operate. It’s like watching a swan take flight every time it glides up.
The first thing to do is to check behind these two security screws where we find
the battery compartment loaded with - what's this?! - a replaceable battery!!!
Truly groundbreaking. This is a double A size lithium battery rated at 3.6V,
likely a nickel-metal hydride composition given the voltage.
The battery powers the board which in turn controls the LED display on the device.
Pulling the lever down rotates the gear and that lump of metal makes contact with a switch
underneath the PCB. This closes the circuit and engages the countdown timer which will
eventually set off the buzzer when the counter hits zero. Simple so far.
Let’s take that board off and have a look at it. Relatively simple design.
The three buttons here are designed to adjust the timer settings but it seems they are inoperable.
This suggests that the board is an off the shelf part.
Take a look at the battery holder. Same story here, this is designed for a 1.5V C-type battery.
As we continue to tear into the guts of the Screen
Press we can clearly see that it’s not as simple a machine as it might seem.
Take these spring loaded pads for example. These are all loaded with different spring tension:
this ones rare, medium here,
and we have well done on the corners. Apparently the corners can take more compressive force
than the sides or perhaps they require the additional pressure for an adequate seal.
I’m curious to see what’s sitting behind this column. Removing these four screws allows us
to lift the plate away and we can finally take a look at the mechanism that makes this machine so
satisfying to operate. As you can see, the action is incredibly smooth and there’s no
perceivable resistance. How did they achieve this? Ball bearings. This is the reason why
the motion feels buttery smooth. This swan isn’t flying, it's roller skating.
The bearings are held in place by a thin metal brace and sit on an elongated oval track.
This is pretty darn impressive. It’s quite a bit of effort to design something like this when they
could have left an open shaft and relied solely on the geared system to lower and raise the plate.
Let’s take a look at our least favourite tool: the battery press.
If I had to sum this machine up in one word it would be “boring”. Sure it’s shiny,
and the precision engineering should be commented on…probably. But when you look at what it actually
does - the same job the side of your hand would do - it becomes apparent that this
thing is nothing more than a shiny, immaculate, polished lawsuit prevention system. That’s what
this is. A cheap lawyer. We’re not setting the bar very high here, are we Apple?
The Heated Display Removal Fixture (HDO) caught us all off guard. The exterior of this machine
suggests something between the lawyer press and the swan press. Its janky looks paired with the
repurposed iMac cord doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in its advertised abilities. And
this isn't helped by the fact that it has a tendency to produce error codes,
sometimes at random and other times when you fail to follow the instructions correctly.
But, remember what mum and dad taught you. Don’t judge a service tool by its cowling.
So we ripped off the cowling to dispense judgment.
I did not expect to see this. The inside is more intricate than I would have thought.
Look at all these thick wires; I guess you need a hefty flow of current to heat things quickly.
Now this thing…is a “Hot Pocket”. Can we just take a moment to appreciate this. Someone at
Apple has a sense of humour. No no, my mistake, Apple still remains humourless. This is what
the manufacturer - Kunshan Myzy - calls it. Also, why didn’t we receive this manual with our tools?
There’s useful stuff in here like an error code reference table, information on consumable parts,
even a full blown diagram of the components. Probably an oversight and one which will no
doubt be corrected. Could we also have the service manual please while you’re at it?
It also seems that Kunshan Myzy is making an
iPad Hot Pocket to fit the HDO Fixture. How interesting. Note that the illustration here
pairs the new Hot Pocket with the “HDO 2.0” which sports the model number MZ22.
It looks compatible with the model we have but who knows, this may be an internal only tool.
Using some strength we disconnect some hefty cables and remove
four screws to be able to lift the top plate from the HDO.
We figured out early on (and without the help of a manual) that inserting a Hot
Pocket into the machine without a phone would generate an E05 error. No phone, no service.
So how does it know? Well it seems the solution is pretty simple. Let’s take a look at it.
When you insert the Hot Pocket with a phone you can see that the spring loaded
mechanism here fully engages this center pin. This pin is a button and it signals
to the mainboard that the Hot Pocket has been inserted into the machine.
On this side you can see that the brass heating bar for the top of the phone is depressing another
button, this one signals to the mainboard that a phone with the correct dimensions is also
present. Both buttons must be activated before the machine will begin heating the Hot Pocket.
Let’s see what happens if we load an empty hot pocket.
We can see the center pin is engaged but the brass heating bar hasn’t moved.
This will result in an E05 error and you’ll need to remove the Hot Pocket to clear the error.
Here’s the button that shuts off the buzzer warning thats triggered when the Hot Pocket
reaches the correct temperature. The button should engage sooner than it
does on our machine, I can only assume it needs to be calibrated.
Moving back over to the case. There’s an antenna here which
lines up with the RFID tag on the bottom of the Hot Pocket.
Underneath that appears to be the mainboard. It’s controlled by an ARM
Cortex-M4 microcontroller. There’s a reset switch that isn’t utilised,
hence the reason we need to power off and on to clear errors. Theres also a switch
housing with 3 switches in the off position and one labeled “BT” in the on position.
This board next to the microprocessor is also interesting.
The two chips on there are the NXP RC522 (RFID transponder) and an 8-bit 16mhz EEPROM IC.
Unless we’re mistaken, this appears to be the 1.01 update that added RFID functionality. And it kinda
looks a bit like it was added to the board at a later time, it sticks out like a sore thumb.
We also have a USB mini going into the board.
Everything we’ve seen and heard so far suggests that this USB
connector is meant for servicing this machine.
Its possible that its used for firmware upgrades or to set parameters for the screen.
We removed the LCD just out of curiosity. It turns out
that this is a TJC 4.3” display and may possibly have a capacitive touchscreen.
They haven’t removed the screen protector on it which is interesting. It’s hard to say whether
this is an oversight or intentional. Regardless, enjoy this unpeeling.
Let’s take a look at these last bits of hardware inside. It looks like the power supply feeds
directly into this power board here. Remember, power supplies are dangerous. Those capacitors
can hold a massive amount of charge, don’t mess with them unless you know what you’re doing.
While the battery press was pretty boring, the screen press more than made up for it. Hat’s
off to the engineers that created these tools, I certainly had fun poking around the internals.
There’s still plenty of mysteries inside the HDO, like the purpose of the USB
port and exactly what information is being exchanged between the RFID and the machine.
I’d wager that some fun could also be had with that TJC screen by loading custom animations.
All in all, the tools turned out to be more complicated than we initially anticipated
and presented us with some interesting insights.