So here’s my photo documentary about taking my iPod Nano apart. I have no great electrical skills so I didn’t bother trying to fix it; I just wanted to see how it was put together and what was inside.

[DISCLAIMER: The thumbnails were automatically generated by WordPress and therefore not always centered or cropped the way I would like. Click on each image for larger and more complete images.]

First, a front and back view of the iPod:

And here’s some damning evidence of how it was treated:

To open, pry the two halves apart. There are clips all around the inside so don’t be afraid to use some force. The port is a good place to start.

Here are the two halves once you take it apart.

There are two small screws on the lower part holding the circuit board down. When you remove them, you can lift up the bottom half of the circuit board and get some leverage to flip the battery out. It’s still attached by wires but it can be moved around.

With the battery out of the way, you can slide the circuit board down and out of the clips holding it in place at the top. I found out later that these clips are incorporated into the screen piece. Under that is a sticker on the back of the monitor – one side is reflective and the other has a serial number.

The screen is attached to the front cover piece with adhesive, so you can just pry it out. It is connected to the circuit board by a fat orange wire strip. Everything is still very connected at this point.

Here’s a closer view of the additional circuits underneath the screen.

Here’s another look, including the 2GB flash memory chip (on the skinny part of the board below the orange monitor wires). At this point, everything is still attached to the circuit board: the front cover by the clickwheel wires, the battery by its power wires, and the screen by its wide orange wires.

Here’s a closer view of the screen…

And the back of the front cover where the screen was pried from. You can see the holes for the button click points. The four black spots (N, E, S, and W) are for the click points on the outside ring, and the two white spots between E and W are for the middle button. Yep, two click points for the one middle button.

Underneath that metal plate is the clickwheel. That piece was also attached with a strong adhesive, and it is very flush with the plastic. This was the hardest piece to remove besides initially opening the cover.

Here’s the underside of the clickwheel – fat orange wires just like on the screen.

The clickwheel wires are (again) attached with adhesive to the plastic cover. Take off the orange wires and the white button just falls out.

Here’s a final view of all the parts:

Final Observations

It is pretty impressive how tightly everything is packed (I think one of the new Shuffles would be even more interesting). There are lots of places where the shape and position of one piece helps secure another piece. Even on the inside it’s clever engineering. Also (this might be a dumb observation but like I said, I haven’t taken many things apart), I was surprised by how many things were held in place by adhesives instead of screws or some mechanical means. It makes sense in something this small but I wonder how common that is in larger pieces of electronics. All in all it was a fun project, but I hope not to have a similar opportunity again anytime soon .

Explanation after the jump:

Top Row (all rows are from left to right):

• Hard Rock Cafe Stockholm – souvenir from when I lived there (‘00-’01)
• Epcot Living Seas – home for the summer in ‘02
• Seattle – got on Microsoft Intern interview trip (spring ‘03 – no hire)
• Islands of Adventure – more Florida trips
• Epcot World Flags – ditto

Second row:

• “Jag talar svenska” – interpreter pins sold in Utah for the 2002 Winter Olympics
• Snowboarder – also 2002 Winter Olympics (I was going to school at BYU at the time
• Swedish/American flags – from my time in Sweden, ‘99-’01
• American flag – don’t even need a reason for this
• Shamrock – tired of getting pinched on St. Patty’s
• Raccoon – got while volunteering at Odyssey of the Mind in Tampa

Third row:

• Stockholm city hall – lived in Stockholm 10/00-10/01
• HIF (Helsingborgs Idrotts Forening) – the shield for the championship football (that’s soccer to you Yanks) team in Helsingborg, Sweden, where I lived from 11/99-5/00
• Shield w/keys – shield for the town of Lulea, Sweden, where I lived from 5/00-7/00
• Sverige (Sweden)
• Stockholm
• Question mark – ? not sure
• Moroni – one symbol in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Seagull – state bird of Utah
• Dolphin – another Odyssey of the Mind

Fourth row:

• Mermaid from Copenhagen (blurry) – I visited Copenhagen before I left Sweden in 10/01
• Moose in Finland – I lived in Jakobstad/Pietarsaari, Finland from 7/00-10/00
• Helsinki Cathedral – I got to visit Helsinki (for a couple hours) when I was in Finland
• IB – I was in the International Baccalaureate program in high school
• Stitch playing ukulele – Disney trips, plus I went through a serious Hawai’ian/Polynesian phase
• Guy with sword – Renaissance fair
• Dragon – ibid
• Flamingo referee – another Odyssey of the Mind

Bottom row:

• Cubs jersey – got when visiting Chicago in 10/03 to scout graduate schools
• Red Sox – got visiting my cousins in Boston in 8/99
• UF Gators – got when visiting a friend at UF in summer ‘99
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers – got while riding the bandwagon during the Alstott/Sapp/Dunn years
• “Lighting the Way” – gift for donating to BYU’s annual fundraiser
• Moab, Utah – took a trip there with my wife and mom in summer ‘04
• Dead Horse Point – ibid
• Cougar Y – I’m a BYU alumnus

So there you have it – an abridged history of my life from the mid 90’s through 2004.  Clearly I stopped with the pins since there is nothing (except the Cubs) from Chicago, and I’ve lived here for almost four years.

Do you have any quirky collections that tell your life history?

1. They were too close because I was trying to get a detailed record of something
2. The blank white walls didn’t give and sense of scale and tended to fade away in pictures of a whole room
3. There was always someone in the way!

The best pictures are the ones with the oak railing:

And the loft:

The energy efficient, fold-out windows:

The kitchen (minus fridge):

And, last but not least, the awesome view from the upstairs balcony!

This is one of the biggest things to sell me on this house and this lot, and this was the first time I got to see it!

We’ve been living here for three months now, and the house is very lived-in.  If it ever gets clean enough to photograph, I’ll put pictures of the finished product.  I think our Christmas decorations might be the occasion.

Complete with balcony and fan:

Landscaping and our air conditioner:

A view of the garage door, light, and utilities:

And three interior shots of the stairs (now with the oak railing up):

Installed fireplace:

And kitchen, now with counter and cabinets:

Egads, it’s been a long time since I put pictures up!  Here are some pictures from the next phase, in late June.   Here’s a view from the front, with the siding partway up:

Here’s the back view of the house, including our tree, the tallest on the block!

Here’s a diagonal view, showing how the siding really is only on the front:

Here are some interior views, including the stairs:

And the living room:

Rapid fire posts to come with the rest of the pictures, up to our final walkthrough.

Here’s a view of the back, with the notable inclusion of the garage door!

Here’s a different view of the house, this time from the sidewalk.

And finally, a view of our unfinished stairs, which my daughter is already looking forward to walking up and down!

You can see the fireplace and the ducting through the window glare:

You can also see the hot and cold water pipes in the laundry room.

Coming along nicely, more next week!

You can also see the sidewalk in front.  There are two sidewalks, one a few feet in front of our house, and then one where a normal sidewalk would be, relative to the road.  The space in between is a public green buffer, since we front one of the main roads leading out of the subdivision.  So we get a big front yard that the association will mow and maintain!

There wasn’t any big change on the back of the house (except for a bag of shingles on top of the garage), but there was a little present in the garage.  It may not look like much, shrink-wrapped and sitting on a palette, but that gray box is our fireplace!  That’s right, this Christmas, I’ll get to hang my stocking by a fireplace for the first time in my life (fireplaces weren’t a great investment in Florida where I grew up).  Of course, it’s a gas fireplace so we don’t have to worry about ash or cleaning or anything like that, and we’ve got to come up with a way for Santa to come down with no chimney, but we’re very excited.  Hopefully next time there will be a finished roof!

Here’s the rear view, including the sliding glass door.