Welcome back, wackymacs. In the interim of your absence the matters of Compact AIOs, opening of their cases and discharge of their CRTs have been well and authoritatively rehearsed here. Please do not return the discussions to fear-and-dread-of-CRTs-in-Compact-AIOs. You may care to bone up on the matter, beginning with the posts by tomlee59 in these forums.
And with the greatest respect to others here, I suggest that a case-cracker is a Good Thing, but only if it is a good one. Shaking the bejasus out of the Mac is not a good one. Once again, the same end can be achieved not by shaking but by using the inbuilt utility of the case screws, as in
1) removing the bottom case screws entirely (and also that inside the battery compartment in Macintosh to Plus), noting that they are dark in colour, and
2) with the Mac face-down on a soft surface, undoing the top screws completely, and then screwing them back for one or two turns only, and
3) raising the top front of the Mac an inch or so by the inbuilt handle while pressing down on the top screws in turn to 'crack' the top and side joints, and
4) removing the top screws completely when they prevent further separation of bezel from bucket, noting that the screws are light-coloured ('silver').
A good commercial case cracker exists. A disc with a nylon bar (that fits the groove in the case joint) across a diameter, and having a long cranked handle ending in a Torx-15 driver, already exists. If one of those cannot be found, you may care to drop a line to the eBay seller stuartsmacs (of the CC Forum at 'Fritter), who had a nice line in long (12in/30cm) Torx-15 drivers for sale a while back.
de
And with the greatest respect to others here, I suggest that a case-cracker is a Good Thing, but only if it is a good one. Shaking the bejasus out of the Mac is not a good one. Once again, the same end can be achieved not by shaking but by using the inbuilt utility of the case screws, as in
1) removing the bottom case screws entirely (and also that inside the battery compartment in Macintosh to Plus), noting that they are dark in colour, and
2) with the Mac face-down on a soft surface, undoing the top screws completely, and then screwing them back for one or two turns only, and
3) raising the top front of the Mac an inch or so by the inbuilt handle while pressing down on the top screws in turn to 'crack' the top and side joints, and
4) removing the top screws completely when they prevent further separation of bezel from bucket, noting that the screws are light-coloured ('silver').
A good commercial case cracker exists. A disc with a nylon bar (that fits the groove in the case joint) across a diameter, and having a long cranked handle ending in a Torx-15 driver, already exists. If one of those cannot be found, you may care to drop a line to the eBay seller stuartsmacs (of the CC Forum at 'Fritter), who had a nice line in long (12in/30cm) Torx-15 drivers for sale a while back.
de