[SanFrancisco]

Excellent tips. I am going to separate them into separate sentences so people can read them. WSC would not have written one long paragraph like that.

People... READ THESE!

Originally Posted by churchill

The only advice i might give to first timers taking apart small parts is to do the following.

Have all your instruments laid out ahead of time--the smaller the screwdriver and forceps the better.

Lay down a clean white cloth to work on in case anything pops out on you, and if you are a cat owner like me I suggest you bar them from your work area till this is complete.

Also, when working with small parts, especially with delicate prongs, NEVER NEVER apply force.

If something is not coming in or out easily, stop and re-examine your alignments and positions and apply force gently.

The marking of the placement pieces is essential and obviously comes from an experienced person, it saved me all worries about where things were supposed to be.

Cheers,

W.S. Churchill (better known as lowell)

[SanFrancisco]

I forgot to post my tools and materials used. It's a good idea to have a little tray to place the parts into. Can even be a cup or glass.

[TheBigNewt]

Those were excellent pix and instructions, SF. I took the liberty of posting in on Pinstack, hope you don't mind (I did give full credit!). I assume the other LED colors are red and green judging how it looks when all the lights are going off during calls. Isn't that the iPhone theme posted in Pinstack? I heard people were having some trouble with that (off topic I know).

[MythmbHurts]

Also if you take your 8100 apart and have the keys off you can color each LED light that lights up your keys to any color you wish. I chose blue since thats the color of my trackball light. It now give it the perfect finish look since all the LED's that light up while its dark now have that blueish hough to them.
Nice work SF for the idea...

[SanFrancisco]

Originally Posted by TheBigNewt

Those were excellent pix and instructions, SF. I took the liberty of posting in on Pinstack, hope you don't mind (I did give full credit!).

I would have preferred that you asked first before posting on PinStack as I would NOT have given you permission. This was an effort for BBF members.

Please remove the post from PinStack. I am compelled to remove the pics from my server in any event. I will repost with copyright notices on the pics.

Sorry to be an ass, but PinStack is not deserving of my efforts. [I realize BBF members are also PinStack members, but this is directed at PinStack].

I will remove my pics from my server and rename them. The material should not be residing on PinStack.

[SanFrancisco]

Originally Posted by FarSeide

how about your theme SF ?

That theme came from the BBF theme section, I think it is called "Quorum."

The wallpapers for the homescreen are ones I accumulated over time, from BBF members. If you like the ones displayed I can post them because I cannot refer you to where I got them as I cannot remember. I think they are called the "Vista" line of wallpapers, the other is from a set of BB logo wallpapers.

As you can see, I change the wallpaper from time to time. So let me know which one it is you like.

[SanFrancisco]

Originally Posted by MythmbHurts

Also if you take your 8100 apart and have the keys off you can color each LED light that lights up your keys to any color you wish. I chose blue since thats the color of my trackball light. It now give it the perfect finish look since all the LED's that light up while its dark now have that blueish hough to them.
Nice work SF for the idea...

Can you post some pics on removing the keyboard [there may be some elsewhere, but some pics in a specific "color your keyboard lights" thread would be nice].

Query: are the blue keys difficult to see in the dark?

[shimey]

SanFrancisco- Great write up and excellent pictures (what?! close ups in an internet forum how-to actually IN focus?!!!)

I'm wondering about your thoughts on repeatability...The metal pieces I'm not so worried about, as you can probably (to some extent) fix small goofs or re-bend pieces that start getting loose.

The part I'm worried about are the little tabs on the chrome ring. How many times do you guesstimate being able to remove and insert that baby until they start getting loose...? I can't really tell, but it looks as though the "hooks" on the end of the "forks" might get worn down over repeated cleanings/colorings?

Again, great write-up. Thanks for the prep/photo/post time and effort!

[SanFrancisco]

Originally Posted by shimey

SanFrancisco- Great write up and excellent pictures (what?! close ups in an Internet forum how-to actually IN focus?!!!)

I'm wondering about your thoughts on repeatability...The metal pieces I'm not so worried about, as you can probably (to some extent) fix small goofs or re-bend pieces that start getting loose.

The part I'm worried about are the little tabs on the chrome ring. How many times do you guesstimate being able to remove and insert that baby until they start getting loose...? I can't really tell, but it looks as though the "hooks" on the end of the "forks" might get worn down over repeated cleanings/colorings?

Again, great write-up. Thanks for the prep/photo/post time and effort!

Good question. I'm going to put my response in red since this is important.

The plastic chrome ring, IMHO, cannot withstand more than a couple accidental "bending in," then "bending back" into place. It is soft plastic and appears very easy to break. So depending on how severe one bends the tabs out of place, that will determine how long the plastic ring will last.

But, if one carefully removes and reinstalls that ring, making sure things are perfectly lined up, probably will last 10 to 20 times before it fatigues? If that happens, I suspect there are ways to make some type of pin and/or to use museum wax to hold it in place. [This because the chrome ring does not really require that much pressure to hold the trackball in the socket.]

The inner metal retaining ring is also fragile. But it will hold up indefinitely if properly lined up on reinstall. But the pin/tabs feel like the metal will fatigue or break if one had to bend them back in place too often.

Neither ring will survive one accidentally stepping on them and then attempting to bend the pins or tabs back into place. If the smashing does not break them off, bending them back into place will.

Of the two I'd say the plastic chrome colored retaining ring is the worse. It is super fragile and will become inoperable at some point, even if one is careful.

While on the subject, it is interesting that the entire trackball assembly and the retaining rings are held together with tabs and snapping parts. No screws whatsoever. Interesting concept.

Bottom line: I would not be removing the trackball all that often since that plastic retaining ring is a time bomb, IMHO. However, I have removed it about four times so far without incident or signs of wear. So you can use that as a factor in determining how long it might last.

[christo]

it's called the quattro theme:

http://www.microdesigncenter.com/Quattro_Theme.zip

Enjoy! (it's a good one)

[SanFrancisco]

Originally Posted by christo

it's called the quattro theme:

http://www.microdesigncenter.com/Quattro_Theme.zip

Enjoy! (it's a good one)

I knew it had some kind of name like that.

On reflection, why the hell would a BB theme be named "Quorum." I watch the political TV shows too much. Or was it "Rome" on HBO when the Senators said there were enough of them to form a quorum? I dunno.

[MythmbHurts]

Sorry It seems i do not have the time to sit down and document my taking out the keypad its the same steps as taking the BB apart which can be found someplace on this forum I am sure I believe over on the FACT section. the blue is not hard to see at all even in high light conditions. In the dark it looks totally amazing I think my 8100 has never looked so good as it does now. Of course the middle keys that have the half white/black are brighter than the ones on the outside but you can read each key clearly with out strain. I would recommend this MOD to anyone wanting to make there BB more personal. I was also thinking of coloring the email/service LED with blue and see what color t produces when i receive an email I'm thinking it will turn purple'ish but I'm not brave enough to try that one just yet.

[[IFC]Area51]

Nice tutororial and mod, thanks!!!!!!!

[SanFrancisco]

Originally Posted by MythmbHurts

Sorry It seems i do not have the time to sit down and document my taking out the keypad its the same steps as taking the BB apart which can be found someplace on this forum I am sure I believe over on the FACT section. the blue is not hard to see at all even in high light conditions. In the dark it looks totally amazing I think my 8100 has never looked so good as it does now. Of course the middle keys that have the half white/black are brighter than the ones on the outside but you can read each key clearly with out strain. I would recommend this MOD to anyone wanting to make there BB more personal. I was also thinking of coloring the email/service LED with blue and see what color t produces when i receive an email I'm thinking it will turn purple'ish but I'm not brave enough to try that one just yet.

I'll look into it and post a tutorial.

What did you use to color your trackball and keyboard LEDs?

Thanks for the updates and comments.

[MythmbHurts]

I used a fine tip sharpie in blue and dapped the color on let it dry and tested for color the LED's are super bright so they shine right through a heavy coat of ink

[GrayPenguin]

Just did this with a regular ol marker and it worked great. I went with a dark blue marker which shows up as a nice blue tint on the pearl. It only took me about 5 minutes and i just used a small screwdriver. I'd highly recommend doing this since its fairly simple but has great results. If you're feeling really adventurous, your could desolder the white and blue leds and switch them, resulting in the blue on all the time and the white when a call comes in. But i'm quite happy with just the marker. Thanks a lot SF!

Now to explain to my parents that i just modded my new phone...

[BBBill]

Excellent write-up! I tried this... but since I couldn't locate my blue sharpie, I had to use the red one. And only afterwards did I realize that it turns out pink. So now I have a nice pink trackball... heh... oh well, off to buy denatured alchohol tomorrow and change that.

[SanFrancisco]

Originally Posted by GrayPenguin

It only took me about 5 minutes and i just used a small screwdriver.

Great you did it so fast, but caution to other BBF Members:

Don't turn this into a competition nor look at the clock. Take your time doing the job or something will break. Fact is, there are 100 ways to screw things up, which I cannot go into.

There's no shame in taking as much time as you need. Besides, no one is gonna care or know how long it took you.

My one hour time estimate included pausing, looking over the pieces, seeing how everything fit together and worked, etc. If you go slow and exercise caution it may take you as little as 1/2 hour the first time, IMHO.

Besides, even though I know I could do the job in 5 minutes or less, I won't bother because I will always go slow and with caution. Maybe 20 minutes or more each time.

[SanFrancisco]

There was a PM inquiry about my bottle of denatured alcohol [DA].

Boy... talk about details. Want to know what kind of frozen dinner came in the pictured tray?

DA should not be a mystery.

And actually that is a bottle that had scented oil in it. Once empty I washed it and filled it with denatured alcohol.

The top contains a glass dropper. I use it to put a few drops of DA on to whatever, a tissue, Q-Tip, or paper towel. It's easier to use it in a small container, hence the bottle that you see in the pic.

In hardware stores DA is sold in 32 oz cans or bigger, it costs about $4, I think. It's usually in the paint department, with the other thinners. Better bet is to simply ask where it is or you could be spending 15 minutes looking for it.

[GrayPenguin]

Originally Posted by SanFrancisco

Great you did it so fast, but caution to other BBF Members:

Don't turn this into a competition nor look at the clock. Take your time doing the job or something will break. Fact is, there are 100 ways to screw things up, which I cannot go into.

There's no shame in taking as much time as you need. Besides, no one is gonna care or know how long it took you.

My one hour time estimate included pausing, looking over the pieces, seeing how everything fit together and worked, etc. If you go slow and exercise caution it may take you as little as 1/2 hour the first time, IMHO.

Besides, even though I know I could do the job in 5 minutes or less, I won't bother because I will always go slow and with caution. Maybe 20 minutes or more each time.

Oh, didn't mean it like that at all. I guess I should have prefaced that with the fact that I'm a pretty computer savvy high schooler who fixes comps on the side, and am used to dealing with small parts. I also, stupidly, like to rush things. So yes, if you're considering doing this absolutely take your time and go at a pace comfortable for you.
Also, i found that the smaller the screwdriver, the better.