iPod Component Repair
Background
Before my phone was the most important thing that I kept in my pocket, I had an iPod. Inevitably, it fell out of my pocket and the screen shattered. For a time, the digitizer was still operational, and I could use the iPod, but the responsiveness slowly fell off and I knew that it would drive me insane. Rather than give up and buy a new iPod, I searched the internet for cheap replacement screens. I discovered then that the digitizer and screen were separate assemblies, which I hadn’t considered before. This meant that I could buy a five-dollar replacement digitizer and leave the LCD in the iPod, as it had taken no damage. When it arrived, I looked up a few videos explaining how to take apart an iPod Touch 3rd Generation without risking damaging the components, and within 10 minutes I had my iPod touch screen working perfectly again at an extremely small cost.
I thought that the story of reviving my iPod was a good one to talk about with friends in case they wanted to do the same with their own broken devices, but it quickly brought people to me instead hoping for me to replace their screens for them. The first time that I attempted fixing someone else’s device, I was terrified of messing up and potentially ruining the hardware. I got through the screen replacement without any issues, but the process was much more difficult the second time because the iPod was a newer model than my own. On every model following the iPod Touch 3, the digitizer and LCD have been manufactured with a strong adhesive binding them together, so the entire assembly needed to be replaced.
Friends and “customers” of mine spread the word that I would repair their Apple devices for far less money than Apple could through AppleCare. Eventually just about everyone who knew me was aware that I could repair their devices. Aside from mowing lawns within my family, screen repair was my only source of income, so I always welcomed people requesting for me to repair something. It slowly spread from iPod screens to all iPod components, to iPhones and iPads, to Android phones, tablets, computer screens and internal components, keyboards, mice, and even headphones.
Repairing things in general is enjoyable for me and makes good use of fine motor skill and mechanical/electronic intuition. I’m glad to have helped many people restore their broken products and to have been able to form a small wholesome business out of it, and I’m grateful for the income that allowed me to fund my projects. Over the years I believe that I have repaired around 30 phones, iPods and tablets, and hope to repair many more in the future.
