Repairing a Targus Laptop Cooler

I was visiting with our friends Amy and Ryan the other day and noticed a laptop cooler in their garage (a Targus Lap Chill Mat). I asked whether it was any good (as I’m considering getting one for my laptop) and Ryan said that it was but the cord was broken. He was going to repair it eventually (as he’s certainly qualified) but hadn’t found the time. So I took it home to see if I could repair it.

The laptop cooler.

The broken cord, right at the grommet junction. The Amazon reviews show that some people have this problem.


The screws for the cooler grill are inside the case…


Ryan had started to pry it apart but experience led me to believe this was the wrong way to start.


The cover seems to just be a round sleeve.


So I tentatively started peeling it up. The adhesive was not strong.


I was particularly careful when peeling the narrow bits.


The top and bottom pieces that tuck under the grill have a toothed piece attached.


All peeled up.


The USB cable goes through this notched piece that slips around the grommet.


Naked cooler. There are two rows of four screws top and bottom.


Top row.


The screws removed and the fan housing exposed. It is held by 5 screws.


The USB cord strain relief at bottom. 5 screws removed from the housing.


Two dirty fans.


Untangling the cord from the various strain relief posts and tabs.


The fans are liberated.


The grommet doesn’t seem to move on the cable, so I snipped it off at both ends of the grommet.


Done.


I drilled out the bit of cable left, it seemed to pop out.


Slid the grommet onto the USB plug end. Notice the fans have been cleaned…


Stripped the cable ends. This is a power cable so it only had two conductors. There was annoying nylon stranding with the copper that I had to separate and cut off.

Twisted together and ready for soldering.

Testing!


I insulated the soldered wires with little pieces of electrical tape. I need to buy some tiny shrink tubing.


I used shrink tubing over the whole length of the splice.


I reassembled (in the reverse order of disassembly) and massaged the cover back into position.

All done. It works.

Philomath Classic Car Show 2011

Time for the Philomath Classic Car Show! I can’t really add anything to the pictures with text, so just enjoy the sights. That’s what we did.

After the show we went over to Amy & Ryan’s for Lauren’s fifth birthday party. Henry took a ride on the zip line.

The Awesome Button

Henry noticed a Staples Easy Button while we were perusing the wares at Goodwill last week. He immediately remembered the Make: Online “"Awesome Button” project and told me we should buy the button.

When we returned from our shopping trip I fired up the internet and reviewed the video. Apparently I needed a Teensy USB development board. So I ordered two, one with pins for breadboard prototyping and one for the Awesome Button. Honestly I’m itching to order a couple more now that I know how AWESOME they are.

The Teensies (Teensys? Teesii?) arrived and I collected the rest of the needed items from my hoardings and downloaded the needed software from the Teensy and Arduino sites.



Henry disassembles the Easy Button.



The button is exposed.



Testing the button with an old Radio Shack 300 in 1 project kit (bought years ago at a yard sale and hoarded for just such a use).



Henry’s new favorite tool, my Ideal wire stripper. He also learned that horseplay and soldering irons don’t mix. It was some good father-son time and I didn’t take any process pictures because we were having too much fun (and trying to keep him from burning himself again on the soldering iron.) I do need a better soldering iron and soldering station, a small gauge wire stripper and I could stand to buy some more fun electronic components. I’m almost as new to electronics as Henry so it’s nice that we can learn together.



Testing…



It’s Awesome.



Still making him smile.

I Cleaned Max’s Keyboard

How-To Geek just posted on cleaning your keyboard in the dishwasher. I decided it was time to clean Max’s keyboard. As you can see it’s somewhat filthy.

Ok, it’s disgusting. But what do you want, he’s 6 and has been using it for at least 3 years.

I took apart the keyboard. I decided to not use the dishwasher and instead manually wash it. I only cleaned the top half as one of the commenters in the How-To Geek article suggested. The bottom half I just wiped clean with a damp rag. I scrubbed all the keys and surfaces with a toothbrush and dish soap. After that I hosed it off outside. I shook all the water out and allowed it to air dry.

I’m glad I didn’t put it in the dishwasher as I almost lost the clear plastic bezel for the LEDs. I found it sitting on the ground outside.

Much better.

See the difference? Now to clean the rest of our keyboards.