Velodyne LIDAR repair VLP-16

[lunacyworks]

I have a Velodyne VLP-16/Puck with a cut cable.  It was sent to me to use as a demonstration for a Right to Repair educational session.   The issue is that there are no outside screws and I am not sure how to open the case.   

I have included some pictures that were publicly posted on the web of a teardown.  That shows no screw holes on the top cover or bottom cover. 

Again, any help in the proper technique to open such a unit would be appreciated.

[lunacyworks]

As a side note, the screw hole on the top is not I believe a screw hole but  centering hole to keep the spinning shaft from going out of alignment.

Also the 4 screw post you see on the bottom are to mount the pcb board to, and do not present on the under side (outside) of the case.

[SoundTech-LG]

Having worked at Velodyne, I would say in general, they want to protect as much as possible their designs from being reverse engineered.

From what I can tell by the photos, unscrewing the caps, top/bottom may get you inside. I would think some leather straps around them might help. You may find that it is unscrewed clockwise too, just to confuse you!!!

[lunacyworks]

I would assume you are correct here, otherwise, it would be some type of glue that was heat-activated.   I will gently try your suggestion.

[Trixie]

Necro-posting to a person that will come here from google: find the hex-screw. It's hidden, but it is your entry point.

[gbin]

I'll necrobump again this one so people don't have to guess.

1. Check out at the bottom of the device in the photo mount type screw
2. Mine had a bunch of hot glue blocking the hex head screw
3. Use a sturdy tweezer to remove the glue / scratch it off with a small hex key.
4. The hex screw is some stupid american format, I only had 1/8 in but it was not good. 3mm is too big, 2.5mm is too small. I used a TR14 bit (torx) gently and it worked.
5. Turn counter clockwise (normal unscrewing)  holding the top of the lidar
6. The top will pop off, you see on the original pictures the screw hole on the opposite side of the top part (some comments are obviously misleading from other users, why?).

[J0sh]

I'll necrobump again this one so people don't have to guess.

1. Check out at the bottom of the device in the photo mount type screw
2. Mine had a bunch of hot glue blocking the hex head screw
3. Use a sturdy tweezer to remove the glue / scratch it off with a small hex key.
4. The hex screw is some stupid american format, I only had 1/8 in but it was not good. 3mm is too big, 2.5mm is too small. I used a TR14 bit (torx) gently and it worked.
5. Turn counter clockwise (normal unscrewing)  holding the top of the lidar
6. The top will pop off, you see on the original pictures the screw hole on the opposite side of the top part (some comments are obviously misleading from other users, why?).

Thanks, gbin! To add-on to their comment, the screw is inside the 1/4-20 hole on the bottom of the unit. Look down inside, at the bottom. You first need to pluck out the hot glue blob that's down on the bottom, which you can easily extract by bottoming the tip of some tweezers through the hot glue and twisting. It'll pop right out. Then I found that a T15 bit worked well (no play) to loosen the screw. As you loosen the screw, hold the top cover of the unit and lightly unscrew until you feel the screw free of the cap. The screw only has a 5mm or so of engagement on the cap. Once the screw is free, you can twist the cap until it comes free of the body (it can spin freely once the screw is disengaged - there's no wires or anything preventing rotation). It has an O-ring to seal against the lens, so you need to twist a bit to get it free of the stiction. Once the cap is off, you can then remove the lens by twisting and pulling up on it - it's also just held to the bottom half via O-ring.

[J0sh]

Also, to add-on further, the color-coding of the wires for a VLP-16/Puck is as follows: