Apple's custom screw hullabaloo, hollow-ground bits, and why a vintage sewing machine repair brought me to the gunsmith's

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  EP

  9 years ago

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  Growing up, I was stopped by tamper-resistant screws a lot. Then one day I walked into the parts department of an arcade game store. There on the wall was the penultimate "Tamper Proof Screwdriver Bit Set." It was all of $5 and has been very useful in the years since. Tamper proof slows down "dumb" consumers before they break something. If you know what you're doing, those screws won't be an issue.
  
  As for the Singer screws.couldn't you drill & re-tap the holes for modern machine screws? I know, I know, it's not "vintage," but it's a modern solution to your old problem.

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  DrSpiv

  9 years ago

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  "standards" in the 30's were still pretty loose, which is why singer did what they did. At the time most products were like this- not because they were trying to screw their customers or repair shops, but because the buy in costs to screw manufacturing were not like they are today. These parts were expensive to produce, and the machinery to do so was simple. Companies did it in house with their own tooling. Today it is the opposite, which has brought us to a generation of factories that produce standard things that can be used across many many industries.
  
  Odd example: where 18 guage 1x1" square tube used to be common, and is why it was used for the original Lotuses, this particular format is now considered an "aircraft" thing (due to its difficulty to weld I suspect), and so it's quite a bit more expensive than 16 gauge despite it actually being less metal.
  
  Apple may do what they please, they are large enough to not take much of a hit by using less common parts (because they will make them common enough), but the intent is clear. They want you to buy a new phone, not simply grab a $10 screen kit from ebay to fix your clumsy issues. Again, it's their prerogative. And perfectly fair. It will probably keep one more level of curious tinkerers out of their wares.
  
  It won't really hold up, of course, because like all things it will just make for one more cheap tool set you keep around the garage if this is something you're in to. When they decide to get serious they will start gluing things together with things that require restricted solvents to undo. Try pulling apart a camera lens some time. Without a hacksaw.
  
  It's also fair that some of us think that this is another "you don't own your phone, you rent it from us until we abandon it" issue. Which is how business works these days. That's where people are getting a real issue with it.
  
  It isn't exactly fair to pick on apple alone in this either: my nexus one uses torx screws, which are just a previous attempt at "tamper proof."
  

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