Repair.IT or not – Dell U2412Mb 24″ Led Monitor

This Dell Ultrasharp U2412Mb 24″ Led backlight Monitor came in yesterday. It has a cracked screen so it is not economical to repair as the Lcd panel would need to be replaced. I have seen a few 24″ Dell monitors recently and I thought it would be an opportune time to create my first video for the web. In order to keep the file size down, I would need to convert it to a smaller resolution. So here goes…

I took the video from my Sony Nex-5 camera at VGA resolution which is 640×480. When I downloaded the video to my computer, my Pinnacle Studio 10 movie editor would not handle the MP4 file because it needed a H.264 codec which did not come with my old version of Pinnacle Studio. In order to work on it, I used the Sony Picture Motion Browser to convert to wmv at 320×240 resolution. Then I accessed the converted file in Pinnacle Studio in order to edit it. The result is a 15.3MB file. Ok – so I say “ok” a lot, that is not a good habit, so I will need to brush up on my on-screen technique, however it is a good attempt without having a written script. I decided to do this video because of the internet. The internet is fantastic for finding information on how to do this and that. The downside is that much of the information can be misleading, i.e. the blind leading the blind. Even the manufacturers service manuals can give an incorrect procedure. I found out when opening another monitor and determined that the manual was wrong and I needed to pry on a different part – which I eventually did, but the damage was already done. That screen though had a panel problem – a green vertical line was always lit on the screen. Ok, again – the Dell 24″ monitors like this one, the 2407WFPb, the 2408WFP – will all open the same way, using fingers to seperate the bezel, then turn it over on a soft cushion, remove the four screens screws and voila! the back comes off. Nice and easy – a couple of minutes work, and importantly – without damaging the plastics. It isn’t nice to repair a monitor for a customer and they get it back with scratches all around the bezel. This technique also works for some laptops where the bezel is not held on by screws. The Fujitsu Lifebook with the 12″ screen in particular is like this, but just be careful when putting the bezel back in. Getting back to the Dell U2412Mb – the panel itself is cracked. It is quite a new monitor with manufacture date January 2014. The panel is a LG LM240WU8 (SL)(D1) – it isn’t available on eBay but can be found on Alibaba, Aliexpress and on Dhgate. The prices appear to range from around $80 to $150, so I won’t actually repair this monitor. The power supply and controller board, bezel and switch panel, monitor back would still be useful if another one of these monitors come in for repair. Alternatively, the parts can be sold off on eBay.

Recycle.IT, Repair.IT – Black & Decker GL570 Line Trimmer

Our local councils have regular clean-up days for disposal of household goods – that can often be good working items or be just plain rubbish. Anyway, I scrounge around for interesting things that can be recycled – and sometime last year, I came across a Black & Decker GL570 electric line trimmer. Knowing that electric line trimmers like this basically consist of a switch and motor – chances are that they can be easily fixed, as long as the motor itself hasn’t failed. The motor can also be reused for other purposes – this would allow me to “recycle.it“.

I grabbed it and once I was home, I checked it – it would spin very slowly but with a loud rattling noise – ok, not good. Anyway, it was put aside for a while, and when I had some time, I opened up the motor housing – the end bearing of the motor had come adrift and was loose inside the housing. That explained the slow spinning – it was a matter of a minute to push the bearing back on, then reassemble the motor housing. Testing it again, gave a good spinning line – fantastic – another item saved from the trash heap. Do you know that households generate tons and tons of rubbish that include lots of things that can be fixed, just like this?

Ok – this is not the end of this post, far from it. The line trimmer would work and would cut well, and then sometimes the line would not advance. This occurred occasionally then more frequently until a few days ago when the line would break after cutting a foot or so of lawn edge. Not good! I took the spool out, then saw that the actuator has a pin that allows the spool to advance the line – this pin was worn, such that it was likely to be the cause of the problem. You can see the end of it which should have this round pin but is very flattened.

So, what to do? Buy a new one, of course – checking the manufacturer spare parts gave me a part number – 806474 – good. I rang the nearest service agent at Clyde, ring ring, ring ring – no answer. Ok, try the next one at Lidcombe – they answered, and was put through to spare parts. Are you sure that is the part number? – I am asked, it should have a dash 01 or something similar. I explained that the part number came from Black & Decker’s website from the parts listing for this line trimmer. Anyway, they got my mobile number so will get back to me. By the way, eBay shows that I could get a pair of these from the UK for about $14 – and if I order now, it should arrive by January 2, 2015.

Now what? I have a machine shop in my garage, so maybe I should just “repair.it“? I could cut the pin out, drill a small hole then make another piece that would fit in place. I have some nylon sitting around and some HDPE – anyway, I made a pin out of nylon – it is slightly longer so that it will engage with the spool a bit better, which will help with the wear, but it it will be slightly heavier.

The extra weight might cause problems, but it is worth a try. All I need to do now, is to mill the pin off, then drill a 2.5mm hole dead centre of where it should be and just push the new pin in. I could glue it, but it would be best to try it out first.