Cordless Toothbrush Dissection - Philips Sonicare
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- čas přidán 6. 01. 2017
- Taking a Philips Sonicare cordless toothbrush apart to see what makes it tick. This toothbrush quit working reliably after approximately 5 years service. Note: I purchased a Sonicare replacement and had to take it (them) back to the store 4 times and eventually gave up on finding one that worked for more than a week or two. They appear to have a programming problem... sometimes it works for only a minute and then not at all... sometimes it will not turn on at all... and occasionally it worked perfectly. Unfortunately I needed one that worked perfectly all of the time. Keep your receipts.I switched to Braun.
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While brushing my teeth i always wondered how my toothbrush worked and found your great demonstration and now I know.. thank you for this video..
Ron, great video. I have one of these toothbrushes and found it interesting to understand its internals.
Thank you for doing this... The missus works for Philips and the whole family uses the Sonicare. Always wondered about the internals.
Very cool to see the inner workings of the toothbrush.
Great stuff! I have a toothbrush just like this. Always wondered how it works.
Thank you, very detailed good job!
Sweet, ive been using these for years!
Thanks, I love taking things apart and figuring out what the problem is. Well, the problem always ends up how to put it back together :(
Thank you sharing this Ron. My father's generation didn't throw things away like today's disposable society. I saw him many times tear things apart and try to fix them. Maybe it was out of necessity, raising 5 kids. We always had the oldest, but best running lawn mower in the neighborhood. Like you just demonstrated, he would have tore the toothbrush down to either fix it or learn how it worked. I'd like to think some of that rubbed off on me.
Thanks for the video. Nice dissection.
Thanks for watching.
Ron
Hey, Ronald, thank you for this video. I have been using these brushes for years. I needed to buy several because the weak point of this otherwise excellent machine is the soft rubber seal around the axis. It just falls apart after a number of years, making the entire device unusable because the axis then starts wobbling heavily. I could not figure out how to replace this seal...
Ron, Thanks for this. I have a slightly newer version of this toothbrush. This, and the one before have both failed due to the transmission shaft breaking. Under the microscope it looks like a classic fatigue fracture due to the high rate of oscillation. I'll be sending mine back to Sonicare for comment (and replacement?). Everything else works just fine .... the shaft is too weak.
@whitefields5595 I think this is a deliberate design fault so it only lasts for a certain period of time, as long as it lasts for the length of the warranty period they don't give a shit because they know most people will just chuck it in the trash and buy a new one. For the sake of an extra couple of bucks Philips could easily make a better quality shaft but then the product would last too long and that wouldn't make them any money. This built in obsolecense is a National disgrace because it applys to so many things these days and when it applies to large white goods that can catch fire it can have tragic consequences of people loosing their lives through no fault of their own !!
I find it especially interesting that the circuit board has pads for digital communication via serial port (see TX and RX).
For others with this same toothbrush looking for the battery, it's the same as a 14500 with tabs (about $5 from ebay, with free shipping).
I've been looking for a 2nd use for my (circa 2006) Phillips Sonicare, perhaps a dremel type tool. I will definitely keep the neodym magnet from it.
Thank you so much for providing such a great guide! We have a diamond clean toothbrush with a recent damage to the shift-the metal part which has been surrounded by a rubber. The shift is separated easily from the base, and I am not sure if that piece has been broken or loosened. My question is if I can fix it with some liquid glue or not? I appreciate any advice. Thanks!
I doubt glue will fix it and maintain a water tight seal. Time to buy a new one. Try Braun next time. Thanks for watching. Please subscribe.
@@RonaldWalters2010 Thank you so much!
I have one of these but mine's the HX3220B. if mine kicks the bucket I'm going to make it play music. Pretty sure there's a sine wave generator or some type of signal going to an op amp where I can inject music into.
Thanks
awesome!
Man! I'ma try mine again. Didn't know I can push it by the shaft. I was afraid to damage it...I drop mine on the floor and I think it landed on the head of the shaft and now it not brushing hard.
just dissected mine and the connecting rod was torn in two as the cause of malfunction...I wonder if the connecting rod is available somewhere...do you know?
Not available and would not be worth the effort if it were.
Do you think the connecting rod was designed to have a natural frequency near the oscillation frequency? I can't think of another reason why they would have added the extra parts.
I think it must get into resonance to amplify the rotation of the brush head although the triangular cross section of the "connection rod" and all the nylon parts seemed quite a solid assembly.
Mine, that has broken, is a steel strip of 90 degree cross-section. That would resonate, but also fracture due to fatigue which is what both of my last 2 brushes have done. Either I'm brushing too hard or the shaft is too weak!
What do you do if your Sonicare toothbrush explodes, and burns down your house?
That’s the best pencil on the market
Ive had three of the Philips sonicare (the new model). First I got one that broke within 6 months and the other two were replacements that got sent to me. The first replacement broke within a month so they sent another replacement and that held up for another couple of months. Theyre all broken now. And with broken i mean the exact same problem as in this video. I dont get why they havent changed the design since its obviously flawed. The inside of mine looks exactly like the one in this video. So, dont buy the sonicare from Philips guys.
pretty cool. Were there any parts worth saving?
I saved the electromagnet and the permanent magnet. Time will tell if they were actually worth saving.
Ronald Walters Hi Ronald, I would urgently need the soft and flexible rubber seal that holds the axis! Any chance to get it sent to Europe? Of course I would cover your expense...
The video was recorded and edited early November 2016 and then I had a pile of mostly useless pieces. Unfortunately I threw everything away except the magnets, otherwise you could have them. Sorry! Several people have mentioned the output shaft seals failing. Mine showed no signs of wear. Thanks for watching!
No guide I've seen has described correctly how to get the front of the brush away from the black plastic base and board. The front can slide back and forth and the spring keeps it pushed forward.. The front assembly has two plastic tee tabs that go in at the end of a slot with Tees in the end. But you can't slide the assembly to these terms openings unless you push a credit card in to release two tabs that prevent it from sliding to the tee openings. Then it comes off and you can reset the magnet gap. I used about a credit card. I dropped mine and I guess that is what closed up this gap.
there should be a gap between the rotating magnet and the two magnetic coils.
can you try to explain a little better where should the credit card be used? i tried for like 60 minutes now to take it out and i started getting frustrated . pls help
i made it, i cut the card in 2 pieces, put one piece on one side, and with the other one i slide on the other side and then i could slide the tees in final position so it comes off.
I really enjoy these types of videos, taking things apart to see how they were designed. Do you know what kind of voltage that electromagnet draws and how much holding power it has? Keep up the great work Ron.
A fairly strong electromagnet but it really had no holding power because the voltage was constantly being reversed at a fairly high rate.
Pretty amazing bit of technology for the twenty bucks or so they cost.
What was the final diagnosis of the patient Dr.Walters?
Battery was good and no loose connections. It would run intermittently and for random duration which pointed to a circuit board problem. From that point it was "take 'er apart" and see how it works... and the patient died.
I´m sorry to hear that. May it rest in peace
hjelkrem79 It rests in pieces.
I have priblem with this model after 2 years of yousing that staf. I push metal peaces where we see coils wich change polarity with hight frequensy.
In short magnet cant tuch this iron plates in coils. If does magnet cant wibrate when coils change polarity head of toorh brash dont have wibrations.
If you make this SoniCare will work like new.
In my hause are two of those and my i think work better than those 2nd (my is older) after this operation.
PS Do this gently and with head.
I have solution..
how do you remove the welding point? and how to polishing ??
If you are referring to where the battery is spot welded about all you can do is mechanically loosen it (pry it apart) then spot weld or solder in a new battery.
Head of the toothbrush came off with the metal part (that looks like a metal stick) that you supposed to put the head of a new toothbrush on. But all just came off. What should I do to fix it?
Unfortunately, the only fix for that (that I know of) is throw it away and buy a new one... unless it is still under warranty.
@@RonaldWalters2010 I have had it for about 3 years now. So it's not under warranty anymore. But tell me, are you sure that it cannot be fixed? Does that happen often?
Absolutely sure? No. However, I have had a couple different makes of these apart and they really are not made to be taken apart and if taken apart, people usually are not going to have the required tools to put then back together... and if something is broken, spare parts are not available. The plastic case is made to snap together and while doing so, compress the end gaskets and seals to maintain water tightness. Once taken apart (forced and pried apart), when later reassembled, good chance the plastic stuff has been distorted while being taken apart and it will no longer be water tight. The internal mechanism often times has a metal frame. As the various sections are installed (oscillating head, motor section, battery circuit board section, etc.) the frame is often times spot welded to the sections to hold them in place. To take it apart you need to break the spot welds which usually distorts the metal frame. Then people probably are not going to have a small spot welder. Even if you do have a spot welder, these things are usually assembled in an assembly jig which holds everything in the correct position and alignment. Parts inside which are plastic sometimes have plastic tabs which are melted to act as a rivet or fastener, again not meant to be taken apart. And while trying to force or pry these things apart it is quite easy to hurt yourself. The long and the short of it... just isn't worth it and odds are it will be broken worse than when you started messing with it. :-) Thanks for watching. Please Subscribe… that is what keeps this channel available.
@@RonaldWalters2010 Thank you for the replay! The thing is I was going to take it apart anyways, since the only other option was to throw it away. So might as well take it apart first. All seems intact there. It's just that the metal stick that on the top won't stay in it's place anymore and will fall off every time. I wonder maybe there is some little part that keeps it together that I lost. Or is there? I wonder what was holding it then when it was working properly. Too bad I don't have a toothbrush like that that's not broken just to see if there's any parts missing.
PS I subed and liked that video =)
Good for you! It is interesting to take things apart to see how they work and possibly determine what caused the failure. The Philips Sonicare in this video lasted around 5 years. They keep messing with stuff, seeing how cheap they can make it, not caring if it actually improves the product for the purchaser. I bought three (3) Philips Sonicare’s after this one different model number) and none of them lasted more than 2 or 3 weeks. Seemed to be a programming problem with the electronics… would not run more than a few seconds or would not start at all. Then it did not want to charge… quite a mess. I took one apart and it was totally different inside than this first one. Ended up switching to a Braun, which is still working.
With the high frequency oscillations and the resistance of the brush head I can see where metal fatigue could result in a failure, a screw coming loose or similar. A lot of design and engineering went into one of these. Too bad they can’t see fit to make it well instead of cheap. Usually I would expect a battery or electronics failure.
Thank you for subscribing. I expect you will find several topics of interest on my channel.Ron
Interesting because I was always under the impression it was called sonic care because it used sound to vibrate particles from your teeth, it does not do that what so ever, just rapid oscillating motion.
Yep! False advertising. :-)
Interesting to note that small so-called ultasonic cleaners for jewelry are nothing more than a vibrating electromagnet shaking a tub of cleaning solution. Probably just as well as a true ultrasonic cleaner could loosen settings.
@@RonaldWalters2010 HA! Yes!
What if I put it back with opposite polarity?
Electronics won't run and the coil would reverse magnetic polarity.
Stop fooling us--what you're really doing is disassembling a lightsaber. We see you!
I have watched most all of your videos over the years and wondered what you must have done for an occupation. My guess is you were a rocket scientist. Am I right?
Wouldn't you have to be a rocket scientist to know how an electric toothbrush works?
Funny! Thank you for the comment (and the compliment). Go to my channel page... then "About" and you will see some (but not all) of my background. Thanks for watching!
Don't understand we're you attempting to repair?
It was not working reliably and these really aren't intended to be repaired. Opened it up to look inside. Battery was good and no loose connections. Seemed to be a circuit board problem so after that I just took it apart to see how it worked.
I bought 2 diamond clean phillips toothbrushes - pink and black. Batteries stopped working approximately 1 1/2 year later. We tried to replace them but it was not easy. I contacted phillips for repair services and they did not want to do anything if there is no warranty was purchased at the time of sale. So for a $220 electric toothbrush (I paid $440) it was a pretty short life span. What got me upset is that phillips did not want to help in any way and this was the end of it. I will not buy from phillips again and do not recommend it!
I have had good luck with Braun Electric Toothbrushes and they cost around $25 to $40 for the unit with one brush.
@@RonaldWalters2010 you might of have a better experience with the cheap phillips product however the expensive once don't last.
Interesting, compact design but obviously not made to be repairable.
I do not understand and am about to cry... 2:06 ok I now tried to remove the screw also... this plastic backing just wouldn't come off. I slide it up and down. Bend it up and down as I slide. I shine the light and see the plastic bits sliding through the metal "T" rails. But it just stops short of the end... and does not budge. I loosen the screw, I twist board up, twist down, side to side, more force less force... I swear I feel like the dumbest person in the world right now. (im not the only one with this problem)
Please help.. don't skip this step... what is happening...?? I'm gonna lose my sleep over this
Quite possibly your toothbrush is a different model than mine and may disassemble differently than mine. This is a pure case of calculated obsolescence and there is nothing inside you can repair and there are no replacement parts. Throw it away before you hurt yourself. :-) I gave up on this Phillips brand toothbrush. I bought three more after this one (a different model - supposedly new and improved) and none of them lasted a month... absolute junk. I switched to Braun.
@@RonaldWalters2010 Hmmm ok.. well thank you for your input and perspective. Mine is actually identical.. and I'm no new to repairing things, it's just whatever is happening is beyond physics lol.
Well mine is an easy fix, I just need to put the magnet back. Guess I'm gonna play with it, until the fixid gods decide to give me a brake
Thank you again
@@RonaldWalters2010 But yeah that part of mine is identical to yours. Every dent and cavity. Don't know why it only slides but doesn't come off...
Sorry, can't help you. That was thrown away long ago and all I have to look at is this video.
Made in China.
DO NOT follow this video to gain access to the internals, use this one Easiest Open/Fix Philips Sonicare HX686 HX684 Toothbrush