Forum :: Lounge :: Inside The Technician's Workshop

I retired from this community full time a little over a year ago. Prior to that I held various roles, including community administrator and moderator of both EOHax and EOSERV, so stepping down wasn't a light decision to make. My reasoning however was simple - I wanted to focus on my life and profession as a computer repairer.

Since I started almost 6 years ago have made leaps forward in perfecting technique and service. I started as a Windows PC technician, performing system maintenance and low level hardware servicing. I eventually branched into Macintosh servicing and acquired an accreditation as a Certified Mac Technician from Apple Inc. As repairs and parts from Apple tend to be costly, I continued to perfect new techniques and unique methods of repairing that meant parts were refurbished rather than replaced. I successfully performed my first in-depth circuit level repair on a Macintosh 512Ke (the yellowish color vintage Mac in pic #1) by building a new power supply and replacing integrated circuits on the logic board.

Fast forward to the present day. As circuits and mechanical components don't last as long as they used to and machine costs have come down, the market floods with damaged and non-functioning systems regularly. Many are simply thrown away, the remainder end up in the hands of people like myself, who refurbish, restore and revive computers like these. While some of them are now old, many of them are still current, supported systems of 2007 manufacture or later. Reviving them is an art form, not different to being a professional in any other field, and I'm thankful to have had mentors teach me everything I needed to know, to have developed my own techniques and had the opportunity to pass those on to newcomers in the field - and some who have been doing this for decades already.

This year I will transition out of my role working for an IT services company. Doing this professionally under contract limits when I can do and how much I can explore it. Eventually it would be nice to explore modification and manufacturing, which would allow me to design and manufacture my own hardware entirely, and software development to write applications and tools for others to use. Perhaps I will eventually take this to an online service providing information to everyone via a site not all that different to this one, or take my experience in this field and apply it overseas. As I will be studying for a business degree this year as well, I can see it being beneficial in more ways than one.

As I recently took inventory of my current repaired systems, not counting the ones I have since sold or moved on, I decided to take a few photos of what it's like inside the technicians workshop. Still, this is perhaps only half of the systems I currently have in storage and only a fraction of my current service parts inventory.

1. A selection of repaired and serviced machines.
   
2. Stock of Hard Drives & Optical Drives
3. LCD Displays for Testing & Resale
4. Two MacBook Pro Logic Boards being prepared for the reflow oven
5. The repaired MacBook Pro Logic Board started up in its host machine

(Click the images to enlarge.)

  

 

Cheers,

~ iMic.

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EOSERV.net Academy Of Trolls, Satirists & Sarcastics
5.5 Years Former Site Administrator / Moderation Team / Member (Retired)

wow :) great for you :D

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| Main player | Mapping artist | Alternative artist | Godly karma | Oldbie | i have my
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Pretty inspiring, I just actually got some acceptance letters for a computer technology program at a few colleges.

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Eoserva.

Awesome inventory, what kind of LCD screens do you currently have? 

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CN:BH 4 lyfe

I'm working from memory here, but in external displays...

• 1x Hewlett-Packard 4:3 17-inch LCD, Matte (1280 x 1024 Native)
  
• 1x BenQ 4:3 17-inch LCD, Matte (1280 x 1024 Native)
  
• 1x Soniq 15-inch 16:10 Widescreen LCD, Matte (1280 x 800 Native)
  
• 1x LG Flatron 4:3 19-inch LCD, Matte (1280 x 1024 Native)
• 1x Apple Studio Display 17-inch ADC LCD, Matte (1280 x 1024 Native)

In terms of laptop and other internal spare displays...

• 7x Apple (LG / AU Optronics) 13-inch MacBook Pro Panels, Glossy (1280 x 800 Native)
  
• 1x Apple 17-inch PowerBook Panel, Matte (1440 x 900 Native)
  
• 2x Apple iMac (LG) 17-inch Panels, Matte (1440 x 900 Native)
  
• 1x Apple iMac (LG) 20-inch Panel, Matte (1680 x 1050 Native)
• 5x Unknown 15-inch Widescreen and 14-inch 4:3 Notebook Panels (To Be Determined)

That's not counting the ones currently fitted to machines of course. If it did the list would be much longer. I also have 3 Apple MacBook display assemblies that will be repaired and possibly sold in the coming weeks or months.

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EOSERV.net Academy Of Trolls, Satirists & Sarcastics
5.5 Years Former Site Administrator / Moderation Team / Member (Retired)

sblord posted: (9th Feb 2013, 11:16 pm)

I'm working from memory here, but in external displays...

• 1x Hewlett-Packard 4:3 17-inch LCD, Matte (1280 x 1024 Native)
  
• 1x BenQ 4:3 17-inch LCD, Matte (1280 x 1024 Native)
  
• 1x Soniq 15-inch 16:10 Widescreen LCD, Matte (1280 x 800 Native)
  
• 1x LG Flatron 4:3 19-inch LCD, Matte (1280 x 1024 Native)
• 1x Apple Studio Display 17-inch ADC LCD, Matte (1280 x 1024 Native)

In terms of laptop and other internal spare displays...

• 7x Apple (LG / AU Optronics) 13-inch MacBook Pro Panels, Glossy (1280 x 800 Native)
  
• 1x Apple 17-inch PowerBook Panel, Matte (1440 x 900 Native)
  
• 2x Apple iMac (LG) 17-inch Panels, Matte (1440 x 900 Native)
  
• 1x Apple iMac (LG) 20-inch Panel, Matte (1680 x 1050 Native)
• 5x Unknown 15-inch Widescreen and 14-inch 4:3 Notebook Panels (To Be Determined)

That's not counting the ones currently fitted to machines of course. If it did the list would be much longer. I also have 3 Apple MacBook display assemblies that will be repaired and possibly sold in the coming weeks or months.

Interesting, do you currently do shipping? Just curious

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CN:BH 4 lyfe

At the moment I'm not shipping, but only due to time constraints and being under increasing amounts of stress as of late. I suppose that may change at some point.

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EOSERV.net Academy Of Trolls, Satirists & Sarcastics
5.5 Years Former Site Administrator / Moderation Team / Member (Retired)

sblord posted: (10th Feb 2013, 02:18 am)

At the moment I'm not shipping, but only due to time constraints and being under increasing amounts of stress as of late. I suppose that may change at some point.

Ah understandable, Good luck with everything :)

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CN:BH 4 lyfe

His posts are so well organized x_x my OCD just had an orgasm

Sorry to post this off-topic reply :<

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“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its
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Ramy posted: (10th Feb 2013, 02:30 am)

His posts are so well organized x_x my OCD just had an orgasm

Sorry to post this off-topic reply :<

Ahh, but I wouldn't call it off topic. I share some OCD traits myself. It's why I serviced a PowerBook a few nights ago and only closed it up on the fourth attempt, entirely because I wanted the internal layout of the cables inside the machine - as in, obscured from view - to be neater and more space efficient. 

I think attention to detail is important, and if I'm not happy with something myself I will do it over and over until I get it right. I think it pays off regardless of what you do, be it an artist, a chef, or even a computer technician. 

That includes my forum posts.

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EOSERV.net Academy Of Trolls, Satirists & Sarcastics
5.5 Years Former Site Administrator / Moderation Team / Member (Retired)