For the taking things apart lab, my partner and I chose to take apart an audio channel equalizer, which appeared simple enough physically, if not electronically. We started by unplugging a stray cable that was left plugged into the back, then set to work removing all of the screws from the top and front sides of the steel housing, which was made from sheets of galvanized steel that had had holes punched in it and been bent so that the sides and back were the same piece.

Once we removed the housing from the front plate, we were able to access the eight circuit boards within the equalizer. There was an LED that was used to indicate power attached with adhesive to the inside of the front plate, and all of the circuit boards were connected by a green cable plugged into them on what was the top side of the equalizer.

Two of the circuit boards were broken off from the potentiometers in the front plate that held them in place, so we removed them with the green cord and put them on the side to take a closer look at.  Then we started trying to get the rest of the circuit boards out by removing their potentiometers from the front plate. To do this, we removed the plastic knobs that had covered them, leaving us with a nice row of bare potentiometers. To remove these from the housing, all it took was an adjustable wrench to loosen the nuts that were keeping them from falling out. With those nuts off and the potentiometers freed, we were able to remove all of the circuit boards from the housing, leaving us with a nice collection of loose screws, nuts, plastic knobs, cords, circuit boards, stray potentiometers, and sheets of galvanized and anodized steel.

Because of how easy this audio channel equalizer was to disassemble (held together entirely by screws and nuts) I assume that it was meant to be taken apart and fixed, assuming the problem wasn’t with one of the circuit boards. Those and the housing seemed to be pretty unique, but the rest of the components could’ve come from anywhere, since they were just generic knobs, screws, nuts, etc. This design also makes it very possible for the different components of the device to be reused or recycled, assuming you could find someone who wants the components.

I really enjoyed taking apart this audio channel equalizer – I feel like it taught me quite a few things, like the fact that just because something is commercially made and you don’t really understand how it works doesn’t necessarily mean you wouldn’t know how to disassemble or rebuild it. I also learned quite a bit about how different parts are manufactured, which I think is really interesting. As a whole, I definitely think this was a worthwhile experience that might inspire me to be a bit more destructive (or de-constructive, I guess); and whether that’s for better or for worse, I’m not really sure.