Heartfelt thanks due to my Mum's partner Jim who succeeded in fixing a dodgy connection on my venerable Wacom Intuos tablet. No repair place would touch the thing, and apart from finding the cash for a replacement, I hate the idea of dumping something that's been a "faithful friend" for so long - it sometimes depresses me to think of all the stuff - phones, computers and peripherals - that we're forced to throw away because of planned obsolescence. So since he could do no further harm,, I gave it to Jim to have a look at. He's not an electrician, BTW - but he does have a knack for sorting things out, and he takes a mischievous delight in opening and repairing sealed units.
It took him about ten minutes to crack the sealed casing using a jeweller's screwdriver, a table knife and some matchsticks (!) - and if you've ever wondered what's inside the case of a Wacom tablet, the answer is another sealed unit - a disappointing-looking flat metal one with four wires going into one corner.
It turned out to be more difficult than simply stripping out a damaged wire, but after a day or so Jim cracked it and it's back working - my favourite bit of the repair is that under all that tape is a section of plastic bendy straw acting as an armature to protect the cable. Heath-Robinson* for the 21st Century.
I did all of today's work with it, so that's one small one in the eye for the Beast of Planned Obsolescence.
Bliss.
*or Rube Goldberg if you're American.
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