Computer Repair Tools from the Kitchen

I was doing some repair work on a laptop computer today and realized I had not yet shared one of my most significant homemade tools for this kind of work. It’s simply an ice cube tray with each cube numbered in permanent marker.

Computer parts in an ice cube tray

I put screws and other small parts in the tray as I disassemble each section of the computer. If I’m following a numbered repair guide I try to match the cube number to each step. Otherwise, I just fill the cubes in numerical order as it makes sense. Reassembly is a snap and there’s no losing or mixing up those tiny screws.

Oh, and while I’m snatching kitchen items to use as tools, cookie sheets make great parts trays for longer-term projects. The whole project can be shelved to get it out of the way and then easily resumed without parts getting misplaced.

By | 03/08/2010 | Comments

Categories: Technology

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3 Responses to “Computer Repair Tools from the Kitchen”

  1. Posted by: Phil - 07/27/2010

    Brilliant!

  2. Posted by: Ben - 04/01/2011

    Wow! This is really smart. What I’ve been doing is printing out a picture of the underside of a laptop and then kind of laying the screw where I took it out. My problem is if you bump it, bad news.

    I’ve played around with sticky paper but I don’t know how effective that is. And lightly magnetized?? Well I probably don’t want that in my bag long term.

    Thanks again.

  3. Posted by: Computer Repair - 11/26/2011

    Great Idea! I’ll probably use it at home but I may need something smaller when I go to my clients. The ice tray is too big for my computer bag:)

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