5 ms·

I was also blown away at CNC grinding step. Perhaps he did it because heat gun would have impacted other parts of the PCB. With grinding the impact was limited

I was also blown away at CNC grinding step. Perhaps he did it because heat gun would have impacted other parts of the PCB. With grinding the impact was limited to Nand chip only. He eventually had to use heat to cleanup the residue.

Joona 2y ago
It's more so the 128GB package is not worth that much, so it's easier to just delete it.
- nine_k 2y ago
  You also need to be pretty precise with attaching the phone in an exact position, and grinding things with a very low margin of error, say, 0.05 mm along the vertical axis, in order to remove the chip but leave the PCB intact. Not for the faint of the heart. I suppose they have had several training rounds using badly broken phones first.
  - duskwuff 2y ago
    > I suppose they have had several training rounds using badly broken phones first. Can't be very many of those yet. The iPhone 16 only became available for sale last Friday.
    - tobyhinloopen 2y ago
      Obviously he meant other broken phones, like older models or other brands entirely
      - nine_k 2y ago
        Yes, the flash chips are approximately the same in their mechanical properties. Milling speed, debris removal, depth of milling to keep the PCB intact, treatment of the PCB.afterwards to clear it and attach another chip. It all is best done several times on dead bodies before attempting a modification of the expensive target phone.
  - johnwalkr 2y ago
    That's trivial for a machinist to check before starting the milling operation though.
    - justinclift 2y ago
      Could even be automated if they have probes handy. :)
    - nine_k 2y ago
      Yrs, as long as the milling machine is adequate. Hobby-level CNC devices may have harder time doing that, and pro / industrial devices cost many times the iPhone.
godelski 2y ago
Fwiw, you can get a desktop CNC for a few hundred dollars (I mean they're very similar to 3d printers in design). You can get pretty good ones for under $5k. But yeah, getting that chip off with just heat looks pretty hard without affecting anything else. I'd still want a heat sink to pull away heat from other parts but I'm not at this skill level and overly cautious. But this does look doable. And since it's HN, I do encourage everyone to give more repair a go. Things like micro soldering are easier than you think. And remember than your phones can be turned into servers (raspberry pi? How about my old nexus?). Though I'd love to hear if people know how to do this stuff on iPhones because I plan on switching over. I guess no more bash scripting for automatic backup of all my photos and stuff to my server :'( someone please tell me there's a way )': https://all3dp.com/1/best-cnc-router-desktop-cnc-machine/ https://all3dp.com/1/best-cnc-router-desktop-cnc-machine/
- xp84 2y ago
  > Though I'd love to hear if people know how to do this stuff on iPhones Very little in the realm of "server" or "raspberry pi alternative" could be done with modern iPhones despite even a 2-year old iphone being OP in terms of hardware for most home server tasks. They really work hard to prevent any use besides what's officially blessed by Tim Apple himself. Whether that's "for your own good" or not is a matter of opinion, I happen to think it's lame but don't want to debate it.
  - godelski 2y ago
    I'm not too worried about old iPhones since by then it's pretty likely to be jail broken and no issues there. I mean even if I brick it (and somehow can't recover; so, very unlikely) it was going to be e-waste anyways, right? As far as recycling goes, turning your old phone into a server is a big win. But I'm more interested in being able to use my current bash scripts that run on my Pixel. Backup is really the only important one since I can connect to my computers from anywhere to do anything else
    - appendix-rock 2y ago
      Don’t count on that. There are still holes where certain iOS version ranges or iPhones to this day do not have a jailbreak available.
omgtehlion 2y ago
With only hot air you would need a lot of heat and pulling, potentially displacing other parts nearby, because it seems like the nand flash is not just soldered, but additionally glued with some kind of adhesive.
- baybal2 2y ago
  [dead]
rickdeckard 2y ago
> Perhaps he did it because heat gun would have impacted other parts of the PCB Most of all the components on the other side of the PCB. Even if the NAND was not additionally covered in resin, due to the large amount of contacts (and probably large amount of grounded pins, which dissipate heat faster), alot of heat would be needed. More than the smaller components underneath need to just fall off then...
- foldr 2y ago
  The components underneath shouldn't fall off. The surface tension of the solder should be enough to keep them in place. (That's how it's generally possible to reflow solder components to two sides of a board.) Of course, reflowing the components in an ad-hoc way is quite likely to cause other problems, so it's probably still a good idea to avoid it.

Joona 2y ago

It's more so the 128GB package is not worth that much, so it's easier to just delete it.

nine_k 2y ago
You also need to be pretty precise with attaching the phone in an exact position, and grinding things with a very low margin of error, say, 0.05 mm along the vertical axis, in order to remove the chip but leave the PCB intact. Not for the faint of the heart. I suppose they have had several training rounds using badly broken phones first.
- duskwuff 2y ago
  > I suppose they have had several training rounds using badly broken phones first. Can't be very many of those yet. The iPhone 16 only became available for sale last Friday.
  - tobyhinloopen 2y ago
    Obviously he meant other broken phones, like older models or other brands entirely
    - nine_k 2y ago
      Yes, the flash chips are approximately the same in their mechanical properties. Milling speed, debris removal, depth of milling to keep the PCB intact, treatment of the PCB.afterwards to clear it and attach another chip. It all is best done several times on dead bodies before attempting a modification of the expensive target phone.
- johnwalkr 2y ago
  That's trivial for a machinist to check before starting the milling operation though.
  - justinclift 2y ago
    Could even be automated if they have probes handy. :)
  - nine_k 2y ago
    Yrs, as long as the milling machine is adequate. Hobby-level CNC devices may have harder time doing that, and pro / industrial devices cost many times the iPhone.

godelski 2y ago

Fwiw, you can get a desktop CNC for a few hundred dollars (I mean they're very similar to 3d printers in design). You can get pretty good ones for under $5k. But yeah, getting that chip off with just heat looks pretty hard without affecting anything else. I'd still want a heat sink to pull away heat from other parts but I'm not at this skill level and overly cautious. But this does look doable. And since it's HN, I do encourage everyone to give more repair a go. Things like micro soldering are easier than you think. And remember than your phones can be turned into servers (raspberry pi? How about my old nexus?). Though I'd love to hear if people know how to do this stuff on iPhones because I plan on switching over. I guess no more bash scripting for automatic backup of all my photos and stuff to my server :'( someone please tell me there's a way )': https://all3dp.com/1/best-cnc-router-desktop-cnc-machine/ https://all3dp.com/1/best-cnc-router-desktop-cnc-machine/

xp84 2y ago
> Though I'd love to hear if people know how to do this stuff on iPhones Very little in the realm of "server" or "raspberry pi alternative" could be done with modern iPhones despite even a 2-year old iphone being OP in terms of hardware for most home server tasks. They really work hard to prevent any use besides what's officially blessed by Tim Apple himself. Whether that's "for your own good" or not is a matter of opinion, I happen to think it's lame but don't want to debate it.
- godelski 2y ago
  I'm not too worried about old iPhones since by then it's pretty likely to be jail broken and no issues there. I mean even if I brick it (and somehow can't recover; so, very unlikely) it was going to be e-waste anyways, right? As far as recycling goes, turning your old phone into a server is a big win. But I'm more interested in being able to use my current bash scripts that run on my Pixel. Backup is really the only important one since I can connect to my computers from anywhere to do anything else
  - appendix-rock 2y ago
    Don’t count on that. There are still holes where certain iOS version ranges or iPhones to this day do not have a jailbreak available.

omgtehlion 2y ago

With only hot air you would need a lot of heat and pulling, potentially displacing other parts nearby, because it seems like the nand flash is not just soldered, but additionally glued with some kind of adhesive.

baybal2 2y ago
[dead]

rickdeckard 2y ago

> Perhaps he did it because heat gun would have impacted other parts of the PCB Most of all the components on the other side of the PCB. Even if the NAND was not additionally covered in resin, due to the large amount of contacts (and probably large amount of grounded pins, which dissipate heat faster), alot of heat would be needed. More than the smaller components underneath need to just fall off then...

foldr 2y ago
The components underneath shouldn't fall off. The surface tension of the solder should be enough to keep them in place. (That's how it's generally possible to reflow solder components to two sides of a board.) Of course, reflowing the components in an ad-hoc way is quite likely to cause other problems, so it's probably still a good idea to avoid it.