Restore Your Speaker Grill
Approximate cost of upgrade: $1-3

Something that has always plagued me is that little hole-filled "grill" that lies just above the keyboard and over the speakers on the Z1.

If you own a Z1 you know what I'm talking about, and you probably have several tiny white fragments of some foreign material lodged into the grill at various coordinates.

To remove these things I of course tried tiny, sharp instruments. No luck with that - most specs don't budge. I also got my dyson out and tried to suck them clear outta' there. No luck with that either. After those things, along with my regular cleaning techniques- I decided they were permanent fixtures. Turns out there's a way to not remove them, but "hide" them.

Three words: Dry erase marker. That's right. Roughly $2 will get you a fix to last the lifetime of your Z1. I recommend a black EXPO2 Chisel tip. These have finely shaped corners which can be used to aim the ink into the microscopic holes on the grill. A very, very fine tip would work too if you can find one.

Simply get your black marker, and gently dab some ink using a corner of the chisel-tip as "on top of" your white spec as possible. When it works correctly, ink should dab onto the white spec, effectively covering it.

Now here's why you should use a dry-erase: there will be some excess ink sitting around the targeted hole. With a simple wipe of your finger or a cloth, the ink is gone. Since the hole is inset, the ink remains inside.

And there you have it! Your grill will look nice and clean again. My regular cleanings have never exposed covered particles.

Update: I've tried a new product that does the job as well! MEAD Zwipes markers have a fine tip that fit perfectly into the holes and cover the particles as well. The markers are sold as a part of Zwipes notebooks, but you can buy individual replacement markers at discount and drug stores.

Resources:
EXPO Dry erase markers
MEAD Zwipes Products (NEW)

Questions & Comments: maki@vaioz.com

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