I simply needed to remove the shell of this thing.
They cannot simply use screws because that would make it easy to disassemble quickly and non-destructively. So they invented some obscure bizarre clips that require special tools and specific /unpublished/ knowledge. So I was forced to pry around the seam of the plastic until some clips broke. I guessed correctly that a sliding motion was needed but this made no difference because they apparently have hidden latches that must be manipulated before sliding.
Since there are no clues about what prevents us from sliding it open, it’s tempting to pry off the power button in case that is blocking the sliding. The button turns out to be spring-loaded and non-removable, so plastic breaks and shrapnel of small parts scatter when removal is attempted.
After ripping the motherfucker apart, of course clips are broken and the plastic around the edges is chewn up and malformed. Hitting it lightly with a heat gun makes the plastic edging get closer to its original shape by exploiting the “memory” of plastic but it’s never quite right.. always melts and shrinks a little.
I find no videos on disassembly. Folks should really post a video showing the frustration of triggering the booby-traps just as a warning to people.
Of course there are no useful docs for this other than the user manual which pretends that repair is never needed.
Assholes!
A lot of modern crap is snap together assembly . It is not made to be taken apart, you will break tabs if you do. Glue works, or tape if you don't mind it being ugly. Glue makes it harder the next time it needs to be repaired though.
I have made a couple tools to depress the ears on tabs, but my success rate is maybe 60%. You still need to know exactly where they are, and there may be a few screws in there too. It's still better than when the manufacturer uses epoxy, or worse, Ultrasonic Welding.
It can go either way. Recall the story of Dell. All their PCs screwed together. Europe complained, saying that screws slow down the disposal disassembly process. Europe forced Dell to make the PCs so that they quickly snap apart. Dell management was outraged at first. They were opposed to being nannied. But Dell had to concede. What they discovered was by making the machines easily snap apart, it incidentally made assembly cheaper and faster. So they realised it saved them money and they should have been doing it all along.
Anyway, snap together clips can be designed for easier disassembly than screws -- or they can pull an asshole Bosch move and design the clips to be complex and self-destructing.
Oh, they can be engineered to come apart. The profit is better if you are one of the few people who actually take things apart, but you destroy it in the process.
I recently fixed this clock/Bluetooth speaker thing. All clips, except for two screws hidden behind the thick faceplate. The only way to know they were there was to feel that it wasn't coming apart. Pressing the faceplate to feel for indentations revealed nothing. There was not any good reason for the screws to be there, and you could just break it apart. That would have destroyed the ribbon connector though.
Just asshole design