In this lab, we worked on disassembling the Polycom ViewStation, a consumer electronic, into component parts to understand more about how things are assembled and gain insight into the manufacturing and fabrication process. The Polycom ViewStation is a video conferencing system that allows users to easily transmit live audio and video to others using the internet. According to this website: “ViewStation is the first videoconferencing system to include an embedded Web server and Webconference capabilities.”

 

 

We started by trying to unscrew the outer black plastic casing with various Phillips-head and flat-head screwdrivers. This attempt was unsuccessful and it seemed to be a one-way screw thread. It is clear that the manufacturers were not intending this to be a way of opening the machine. We ended up prying off the bottom of the machine and cracked the plastic in doing so. The main components in the bottom of the machine were: a  metal support, a plastic sheet, microphones, and a large circuit board with outputs. 

  

As seen here, this circuit board seemed to connect the video from the camera to various inputs and outputs for the device such us LAN internet connection, microphones, power, RCA A/V cords and telephone connections along with many more.

  

 

There were a lot of circuit boards in this device with one large one for the connection ports and several smaller ones for the camera and other parts of the devices. Looking up the process for making printed circuit boards, it is fascinating to see how the fiberglass must be drilled and then printed with the copper pattern. Also, I find circuit boards to be very interesting patterns to look at. It is amazing to see how many tiny components are fit into the space and how they are arranged on the board with the many parallel lines and the way they bend around various components.

 

After unscrewing some very tiny screws, the top part of the device came apart into a black casing and the rotating platform with the camera:

  

Removing the top casing of the camera, we were able to see more of the camera’s inner wires and bands. We could even see that the camera was connected to the main circuit board using the flat white and blue ribbon cables.

  

Then, we removed the bottom of this device and we could see the rotating mechanism of gears that allowed the user to position the camera to the right angle.

  

Splitting this apart, we were able to see the yellow threaded band that was placed around the gears to allow for smooth motion in turning the camera. At this point, all of the parts sort of fell apart and we were able to see the different components of the rotating platform. The gears were made of a white plastic and were very greasy to allow for smooth motion and lower friction. 

  

We were also able to isolate the camera from the platform, leaving the camera and attached circuit boards. We did not disassemble the camera any further, but we could see that this component was held together by similar small Phillips-head screws.

  

Here is a picture of all of the parts of the deconstructed machine laid out:

This device was primarily put together using Philips-head screws. The parts of the machine seemed to be designed specifically for this device with the various circuit boards for each part and the plastic casing that was designed to give the machine a smooth and compact-looking finish. The plastic casing seemed to be something that was injection molded, or some similar process where two halves are made and then screwed together. The machine did not seem very recyclable or easy to fix as it was very hard to open up and the screws were not very friendly to tampering.

Overall, the deconstruction process was informative in understanding more about how each component broke into several smaller components and how detailed each of these parts were in methods of manufacturing and the various design features.