Obscure screw added so appliance cannot be disassembled - eviltoast

Basic blender went bad (motor ran but spindle wasn’t rotating). I wanted to disassemble to see if it could be repaired. Three of the four screws were Phillips head. I had to cut the casing open in order to discover why I couldn’t unscrew the fourth. It was a slotted spanner.

  • Madison420@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    The tamper proof screw is NOT there to protect you, It’s there to discourage repairs plain and simple.

    Point to where I said it was there to protect you. It’s quite literally to avoid lawsuits putting the screw there implies it’s meant to be taken apart by a professional, not Ted down the street who stopped school in third grade.

    All they have to do is point to that screw and the lawsuit dies then and there no further action.

    It’s also not planned obsolescence in this case, it’s a barrier to repair. Literally a hoop too small to jump through that catches the dumbest of the well meaning. It would be planned obsolescence (arguably) if it prevented repair, it doesn’t it simply complicates it. It’s the same reason your seatbelt part ≈00 is held down by a large torx t50-60 and no longer a 15mm bolt.

      • Madison420@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Nothing they got the point of. Essentially manufacturers use security through obscurity, put in a tamper proof screw in and most people who aren’t capable of doing the repair won’t have the correct bit and will understandably not attempt to muck around with whatever it is.

        Why dude wants to argue with a master tech about tamper proof bits purpose not being to resist tampering is beyond me, next they’ll argue how people movers aren’t meant to move people but rather to shift lifeforms from place to place…

    • MiDaBa@lemmy.ml
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      7 months ago

      Madison, I’m not really sure what you’re argument is here. Let’s look at your seat belt argument. Torx (or star bits as they’re now called since Torx is a brand name) has become a ubiquitous standard in the automotive world and absolutely irrelevant to the poor point you’re trying to make. Auto makers use star bits because they enable a rounded dome shape that is smaller and requires no space around the bolt head to accommodate a thick socket. You may have assumed it was to prevent removal but no auto maker has ever declared that as a reason. Considering that even basic starter tool kits come with star bits these days I’d say that makes them a poor choice as a lawsuit prevention method. There are too many other “dangerous products” out there that don’t have silly screws and yet somehow are able to avoid frivolous lawsuits. I’m not sure why defending this practice is the hill your want to die on but making repairs difficult to avoid a lawsuit is something only a sucker would believe.

      • Madison420@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        They’re literally called security bits you absolute bell end, the name is literally the description of their purpose.

    • uis@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      It’s quite literally to avoid lawsuits putting the screw there implies it’s meant to be taken apart by a professional, not Ted down the street who stopped school in third grade.

      You got it so backwards…