Sunday, April 10, 2011

Finding a Screwdriver to Open the Nintendo Wii

Consumer electronics manufacturers often employ the use of security screws to prevent access to the internal workings of their devices. They do this for a variety of reasons, the most common of which is to force consumers to make use of factory authorized service companies to perform any repair work. The issue with this idea is that there's lots of repairs that could be basically performed by the consumer in the event that they could take the tool apart. Sometimes consumers are reluctant to pay for these types of repairs because they appear so simple that the consumer places tiny value in the work that would be performed by the service company. Sticking buttons is a common issue with consumer electronics devices. The cause is often build-up of dirt & other substances in the gap between the button & the housing of the tool. The solution for this type of issue is a simple cleaning. The issue is that the cleaning can only be effective with the tool disassembled.

A prime example of this type of repair is found with the Nintendo Wii. Keeping your Wii in nice working order poses some distinctive challenges since more youthful children are often the primary users. Children will do things that older children or adults would never think of doing. They will force over game in to the process or they will use the Wiimote with dirty, sticky hands. Lots of of the issues that children cause with the Nintendo Wii could be basically taken care of by an adult with basic mechanical knowledge. A stuck game could be removed or dirty buttons could be cleaned up. The only issue is the security screws that Nintendo makes use of on the Wii.

The Nintendo Wii makes use of a special type of security screw known as a tri-wing or trigram. It looks similar to the familiar Phillips screw, but the slots form a "Y" shape than a "+" shape. It is most unlikely that you could discover a screwdriver to remove this type of screw at a local ironmongery shop. They are  exclusively available from online retailers. Since the most common manufacturer to make use of the tri-wing screw is Nintendo these types of screwdrivers are often often called Nintendo screwdrivers. A speedy Google search for Nintendo screwdriver will turn up numerous retailers selling the correct screwdriver to disassemble most Nintendo products. The size of these screwdrivers is Y0, but lots of retailers do not list the size. Most retailers basically refer to their product as a Nintendo screwdriver. There's lots of online retailers that offer free shipping, but shipping times can vary greatly from a few days to a few weeks. If the deal seems to nice to be true, then it likely is & it is also likely that the shipping times will be long.

So the next time you find peanut butter & jelly coating the buttons of your Wiimote don't be frightened off by those comic screws, get online & discover a Nintendo screwdriver to add to your toolbox.

Casey Jones began taking things apart when they was a tiny child. As they got older they learned how to put them back together again. of the largest challenges to taking something apart is that lots of manufacturers use security screws to prevent the average Joe from gaining access to the nether regions of their carefully crafted devices. They decided to make the tools to take things apart available to the average Joe. They founded http://nintendoscrewdriver.com which makes tri-wing screwdrivers available to anyone who wishes to try their hand at disassembling (& hopefully reassembling) any Nintendo product.

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