Transmitter disassembly
 

Hi guys a bit of advice needed here...
For my AS project I have to do a product comparison between two items that have roughly the same job but do so in a different way or/and have different processes used to make them. My initial idea was to compare a couple of transmitters, one a KO Propo Esprit III universe as the high end option and a cheapo acoms one. It would really help if I could disassemble these but I still need to use both of them so does anyone know if I can/how to without destroying them? Otherwise I might use a playstation controller or whatever as it does virtually the same job but is cheap enough to destroy and I know people have broken them down... Other ideas for comparisons would be great too, thanks in advanced :mdr:

Depends how far down you need to strip them really- if you can unscrew the parts and unplug them, then you can photograph the process in order to reassemble them. If however you need to de-solder components or open up sealed pieces ( like the potentiometers or switch assemblies ) then I would look at dismantling something less valuable, like some junky old AM radios from ebay that cost a few quid- say a pistol vs stick radio.

I don't think I need to go that far, just so I can see the different parts like the case etc, suggest how they're made and how they compare to the other product... Do you know anywhere I can get an exploded view or anything? That'd really help...

Exploded views of a transmitter is not something I've ever come across- only diagrams of the outside with labels for all the buttons & switches to explain what they do etc.

An exploded view of an actual model is extremely easy to find however, though buying a couple rcs to dismantle might be a tad much.

I think stick vs pistol cheapo radios is the best route- different enough in how they look ( trigger throttle & steering knob vs a pair of gimbles for throttle & steering ), but identical in how they achieve the end result of controlling the model.

CDT AS level sounds kinda hard- I did an A level in it and never had to compare 2 products, was more to do with a joint project, a case study, then the final project which took a whole year....

Its not that bad, its just quite time consuming, luckily we have good teachers :) That sounds like a plan though, I shall get started thanks :mdr: