I disassembled my Switch because I wanted to check whether the battery was swollen inside. It's had some battery issues (although they seem to have gone away lately). During reassembly, I put too much force on the SD card reader and broke it. Ordered a new part, replaced it, but turns out I broke the board-side connector too. It doesn't grip the ribbon cable like it should. Squishing some cardboard in there to keep the cable connected and level with the board helped. I was worried it would fail, but it's been a couple of days now and it still works flawlessly. Just in time, too; I started playing the new Tomodachi Life and need the storage for all the screenshots and videos I'm capturing.
I also decided to tackle my 2011 3DS again. It broke in 2018: I was playing Super Mario Maker on the couch when it suddenly made a pop sound and turned off. When I disassembled it, I found that not only have I left the 3DS in a dismal state the last time I opened it -- most of the cables weren't even connected, not to mention the missing Y button, the removed battery due to swelling and the broken shoulder buttons --, but the ribbon cable connecting the speakers and top screen backlight had a *tear!* Finally, I knew what the problem may be!
I ordered a replacement cable and tackled the most challenging task imaginable when repairing a 3DS -- threading a cable through the hinge. It's a miracle I didn't destroy another cable in the process. I also replaced the Y button with a 3D printed one I quickly designed in FreeCAD. It works fine enough.
The 3DS works again!! It's been 8 years since it last booted!! I unfortunately don't have its SD card anymore, so the data is gone, but the system works! Truly a miracle.
Only thing left to do now is to fix the [USB-C port on my New 3DS](/projects/electronics/3ds-usb-c/)... it stopped accepting C-to-C connections, although A-to-C still works. Probably just need to resolder or replace the 5.1kΩ resistor.
