Every RetroModLab build starts the same way: a genuine donor console on the bench and a full test before a single screw comes out. Screens, touch input, every button, the hinge, charging, both card slots. If something is weak now, it gets replaced later, so the first pass is about knowing exactly what we are working with.
Then the teardown. A DS Lite comes apart in a strict order: battery and stylus out, rubber feet and screw caps off, then the bottom shell, the shoulder assembly, the mainboard, and finally the hinge and top screen. The ribbon cables between the two halves are the part that punishes impatience. There is exactly one way to route them back, and forcing anything ends the project.
Once the console is in pieces, everything gets cleaned. Contact points get isopropyl, plastics get a bath, the motherboard gets inspected under magnification. Shoulder buttons that double-click, worn silicone membranes, tired batteries: all replaced with tested parts.
Reassembly happens into a brand-new shell, never back into the old plastic. New buttons, new lenses, fresh stylus. Then the same test routine as the start, this time with zero tolerance: if a build does not pass every check, it does not ship.
The whole process takes a few evenings per console. It is not fast, and that is the point. This is restoration, not refurbishing.