How I Brought an Amazon Echo Dot Into the 1980s, a Collection of Good Practices in Repurposing Obsolete Technology

The primary purpose of this guide is to showcase good practices and procedures when it comes to repurposing obsolete technology into retro electronic enclosures. With a growing amount of electronic waste (e-waste) accumulating in our planet’s landfills, there are untapped opportunities with repurposing our unwanted technology. While much of our mass-produced technology is often considered to be ‘disposable’, I feel that the repurposing of their enclosures is an easy way of celebrating/preserving the industrial design elements of the past!

The secondary purpose of this guide is to document my design process for housing a second generation Amazon Echo Dot into a 1980s Panasonic answering machine. I do not expect you to seek out the specific Panasonic answering machine shown in this guide, but to apply this guide to your chosen enclosure. Nevertheless, I still included a Thingiverse link to my .stl files in case you would like to 3D print the parts used in this project. I hope that you will take the lessons learned from this guide and experiment with the obsolete technology that would have been discarded otherwise. You never know what awesome creations will come out from experimentation!

This is a living document. I am invariably on the lookout for ways to improve the approaches specified in this guide for future projects! Also, I hope that you will feel free to share your creations that were made from repurposing obsolete technology.

Tools

- 3D Printer

- Screwdriver (Ideally a multi-bit screwdriver to tackle those pesky security drives)

- Soldering Iron

- Dremel

- Caliper

Materials (General)

- Obsolete Technology

--- The enclosure should have enough space to allow you to comfortably tinker with your prototype.

--- It is a good practice to first check if the obsolete technology of interest has any collectable value. An example of the worse-worse-case scenario can be found here: Refurbishing an old Xbox Development Kit

--- Usually, objects found in thrift shops and recycling events are fair game to be disassembled and hacked!

- Donor Electronics

--- This could range from open-source boards like the Arduino Uno or Raspberry Pi to proprietary boards, such as the ones found from the Xbox One or Amazon Echo. Proprietary boards are usually found as a per-assembled product; please see author’s note regarding ‘Donor Assembly’.

--- Ideally the more open-source, the better!

- Jumper wires

- Solder

- 3D Printer Filament

Materials (Specific to this Case Study)

- Obsolete Technology: Panasonic Answering Machine [Model KX-T1421]

- Donor Assembly: Second generation Amazon Echo Dot

Key Links

3D Printed Parts:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5022938

YouTube Video of the Echo Dot Answering Machine Working

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BayDioA4ljY

Author’s Note: For electronics that come as a pre-assembled product, the term ‘Donor Assembly’ will be used instead of ‘Donor Electronics’. It is unfortunate that the unused enclosure of a Donor Assembly will normally be recycled when doing projects like this. It would be awesome if manufacturers would provide hobbyists with the raw boards/components of their products (an unlikely dream, but a dream worth working towards nonetheless).

- Look over each of the components and ask yourself the following questions:

--- Can the Donor Electronics (from inside the Donor Assembly) be comfortably contained within the Obsolete Technology’s enclosure? If not, is it possible to modify (i.e. using jumper cables) the Donor Electronics so that it will fit?

--- If the Donor Electronics have any display lights or buttons, how will they be incorporated into the Obsolete Technology’s enclosure?

--- Are there any permanent modifications needed to be made to the Obsolete Technology and/or Donor Electronics?

--- What custom components need to be 3D printed, if any?

- In this case study, the Panasonic Answering Machine was used to house the Echo Dot because: 1) the Panasonic’s enclosure provided ample space for the Echo Dot components, 2) the smoked plastic lid of the Panasonic allowed the LED display of the Echo Dot to be seen, and 3) the Panasonic’s plastic lid could be opened to gain access to the Echo Dot’s buttons.

- Carefully disassemble both the Obsolete Technology and the Donor Assembly without modifying the enclosure and the components:

--- First begin unscrewing the case screws.

--- If there are no screws to be seen, look under the common hiding spots: rubber feet and labels.

--- If the enclosure is being held together by snap-fits, I would recommend using either a plastic opening pick or a metal jimmy to probe the snap-fit locations until the case separates. Please note that there is a chance this procedure may damage the enclosure.

- A non-destructive approach is best as this process will provide concrete answers to the questions asked in Step 1. In addition, if it appears this hack is improbable after opening up the enclosure, you can reassemble the objects back together.

- Make sure to keep track of the screws when disassembling! A good practice is to create a diagram of the screw layout and tape the screws to their corresponding locations.

- Another good practice is to take pictures throughout the disassembly process. This provides great documentation in case you want to reassemble one of your materials.

- In this case study, the Panasonic Answering Machine was easily disassembled given the use of Phillips head screws. Unfortunately, the Amazon Echo Dot was assembled using two Torx screws, necessitating a Torx screwdriver. This specialized driver is not found in most households, but it may be a good investment for future tinkering projects as Torx screws are used in many modern consumer electronics enclosures.

- Lay out all of the components, both from the Obsolete Technology and Donor Assembly on a table. Keep the components separate for the sake of organization. This includes components that will be only referenced during the creation of custom 3D printed components (Referenced in Step 4).

- Next, take the components you want to combine for your retro tech creation. In this example, it was the Panasonic Answering Machine Enclosure and the Amazon Echo Dot PCBs, Speaker and Button Assembly. These will be referred to as ‘Key Components’.

- Sketch out how these Key Components can be mounted together.

- Finally, identify which Key Components need to undergo permanent modifications.

- In this case study, the cassette deck moldings on the Answering Machine Enclosure would need to be cut out to make room for the Echo Dot Donor Electronics. In addition, mounting holes for the 3D printed Echo Dot housing need to be drilled into the Answering Machine Enclosure. The Echo Dot enclosure, while not used, is still included as a Key Component in the following steps, since its geometry is referenced when making the custom 3D printed mounts.

- Pictured above is the Echo Dot's speaker with a 3D printed adapter (left) and the Answering Machine's speaker. The 3D printed adapter allowed the Echo Dot's speaker to use the mounting points that were molded into the Answering Machine enclosure.

Author's Note: If you feel confident that you do not need to 3D print your parts, you can skip Step 4 and Step 5.

- Using a caliper, measure your Key Components. These measurements will be used in Step 5 when we model our 3D printed parts.

- In this case study, the Echo Dot enclosure is measured to create 3D printable Echo Dot Component Mounts. The Answering Machine speaker is also measured to create an adapter for the Echo Dot speaker.

Author's Note: If you feel confident that you do not need to 3D print your parts, you can skip this Step.

- Use a CAD program of your choice (Fusion 360, AutoDesk Inventor, and SolidWorks to name a few).

- In this case study, Solidworks was used to model the 3D printed parts.

Author's Note: If you feel confident that you do not need to 3D print your parts, you can skip this Step.

- Print out the custom parts you modeled in the previous step with the 3D printer of your choice.

- In the case study, a Prusa i3 Mk2.5s 3D printer with PETG filament, 0.4mm nozzle diameter was used.

- If you are looking to 3D print the case study parts for yourself, the .stl files can be found at this Thingiverse link: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5022938

This is the point of no return

- Based on the strategy you laid out in Step 3, drill the mounting holes and/or dremel out the cavities needed for your Donor Electronics and/or custom 3D printed parts.

- Throughout this process, check to see if the 3D printed parts are fitting into the modified enclosure as intended.

- In this case study, the cassette tray had to be dremeled out of the Answering Machine enclosure. Four mounting holes also had to be drilled out around the cassette tray to mount the custom 3D printed parts. The Echo Dot enclosure also had to be dremeled out to gain access to its speaker component. In this situation, I had to return to Step 3 and create a strategy on how I would use the existing speaker mounting points on the Answering Machine to mount to Echo Dot speaker.

- Based on the strategy you laid out in Step 3, assemble all of the parts together. This includes your modified Obsolete Technology, Donor Electronics, and 3D printed parts (if used).

- In this case study, the entire assembly is put together using M3 square-nuts, M3 socket-head bolts, and phillips-head self-tapping screws (originally came with the case).

- As with every DIY project, things might not work out on the first try! If that happens, return back to Steps 3-7.

- Finding an alternative use for an enclosure is only one part of repurposing Obsolete Tech. If you're feeling adventurous, I recommend checking out other guides on hacking the hardware of technology from decades past.

- If you made it this far into the guide, I hope you found the information helpful and that you're inspired to repurpose your obsolete tech in future projects ^_^.

- In this case study, the first batch of the 3D printed parts were unable to fit within the Panasonic Answering Machine enclosure and a second iteration of the 3D printed parts had to be made.

- You can see the Echo Dot Answering Machine working by following this link to a YouTube demonstration video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BayDioA4ljY