well i'm going to start again because i didn't have the language ready
hey everybody adam savage here in my cave with a tool tip
but today's tool tip is not a specific tool no no no it is a whole
array of tools what category does this array of tools fall within well it falls
within the tools made by a company near and dear to my heart
i fix it full disclosure ifixit has sent me many of their toolkits i have done
some stumping for them over the years i'm a big believer in
their tools and also their mission and i'm going to talk about that
in this video but their tools supply a a very specific bandwidth of
utility and that is taking apart and repairing and improving
your electronics your computers your laptops your
phones uh all of these things are now an integral and completely
indispensable part of our lives we're using them for longer and longer they're
getting more and more expensive their batteries are inbuilt so
you can't just swap them out when your iphone gets really old what do you do
well you can spend a bunch you know you can spend 70 bucks and get
someone to swap out the battery actually i have no idea how much it costs
now um or
you can repair it yourself and if you want to repair it yourself
ifixit is the company whose products you want to use and i have
replaced the batteries on over a dozen iphones and ipods over the years using
ifixit's incredible line of tools um i appreciate their tools it is it is
hard to make tools that are feel good and will
last uh and especially when you get into the tiny screwdrivers the little tiny
phillips the little torx bits all those tamper-proof specialty
bits um many companies that make them make them out of
absolutely shite metal and i would imagine that the micro machining
required to make those bits really really accurate and
also super hardened is non-trivial uh there
is definitely like a a cost ratio that is being worked out here
ifixit generates a really high level of product
um they're not the best uh possible tools out there but then
they're also not the most expensive um they seek to give you the ability
to modify your electronics now this is both a practical
and a political frame because companies like apple
don't want you repairing or modifying their phones in fact
they want to consider you opening your phone a violation of your warranty
i bought this thing i own it i can destroy it if i want to
no one disputes that but i can't fix it i can't repair it i can't
do anything with it what what kind of ownership is apple trying to redefine
well apple isn't the only one john deere is another great example
john deere they're brand new tractors uh are not repairable by your average
farmer and they really they won't let you repair it they
don't they want those they want to sell tractors that are
black boxes and when you need to get it fixed you have to go to a licensed
certified repair person well come on farmers are d are the original
diy seed of the pants engineers they are out there every day slogging
through the most caustic conditions outdoors in the sun
in the rain the ultraviolet all of that uh all of that wear and tear
on your equipment you've got to be able to fix it
and there is a movement afoot that counters
this stance of apples and john deere's and other companies like them
and it's called the right to repair movement and what it seeks to do
is it seeks to define because it needs to be defined apparently
what ownership means and what rights we have to
modify and adjust and repair the things that we have
purchased um apple and john deere would like there to be kind of a
they want to try and draw a new line in the sand about what rights you have when
you buy something and ifix it takes a solid stance
against that and they don't just do it with their tools which i'm going to
cover in a second they also do it with lots of political outreach uh and
truth be told full disclosure i have done some political outreach for ifixit
i know those guys they have sent me many of their tools um
yeah no they're great i'm gonna cover i fix it's
line of tools in just a second but i want to talk about my radicalization of
this in the early aughts or the late 90s
leatherman came out with a wave a sea change of multi-tools i instantly
fell in love became a lifelong adapt of of
leatherman's line of tools i built this belt holster in my shop on
bartlett street and i wore this on my belt for the better part of a decade
but when i wanted to modify my leatherman
i was hindered uh the screws the eight screws that you can
see that hold this leatherman together four on each side
look like torx bits but they've got a little
uh pin in the middle of the torx bit here you can take a look there and see
see that little pin there in the middle yeah
that little pin is what's called a tamper proof pin
you can't just stick any torx bit in it you need a torx bit with a hole in it
well they they make those they sell those so i went to the hardware store
and i looked asked where the bin was for
tamper proof torx bits and they sent me to it and i went looking for one that
fit this and none of them did and that's when i noticed
i mean i'm going to hold this up again that
and i'm not even sure if you're going to be able to see this
but what i noticed was this is not a torque spin
no no no because a torx bit has six lobes
this one has five i would later learn this is called
a pentalobe torx bit a pentalobe tamper proof torx bit
and here's the rub when i went online looking for a
tamper-proof pentalobe torx bit i found out that i was not
allowed to buy one in fact the company that makes the bits and the screws
requires you to register with them as an original equipment manufacturer in order
for them to send you either the screws or the bit now they do this
for reasons that i don't agree with i want to be able to modify
and repair my equipment um eventually i was able to find a
pentalobe tamper-proof torx bit and it was given
and gifted to me by my friends at ifixit um and let's just take a look at the
kind of amazing stuff this is my sort of master ifixit kit with all of
the stuff that you could ever need and this is
what i use to repair my my airpod my ipods and my iphones
um and so it's it's not just just to be clear when you purchase one of their
kits it's not just a set of the bits there are also uh the spudgers and pry
tools for removing the cases there are suction cups for pulling the
screens there are these little different thicknesses of
guitar picks they've really made many many different
formulations of tools to assist you in the
complex and super difficult task of replacing
batteries in a modern smartphone
i recommend their entire suite of tools they have
many many different toolkits for all sorts of different repairs for computers
phones and other electronics i believe in them both
for their output and for their political stance
and that is why today i am recommending that you obtain yourself one of ifixit's
toolkits at at the very least everyone should have
one of their screwdriver bit kits of all these esoteric and strange tamper
proof bits in their collection uh there's nothing
worse than taking something apart and getting to a piece of it
that you can't touch because you don't have the right bit
that is my tool tip today thank you guys for joining me
i appreciate you letting me talk just a little bit of politics
have a great day and i'll see you next time stay safe