What do I do?

[stevo1210]

I bought an IBM iseries type 1161 laptop yesterday.... it looks exactly like a Thinkpad but anyway.
It has a Celeron 700MHz CPU, 184MB RAM, a 20GB Fujitsu hard drive and a 13.1" TFT LCD screen. Well it works all fine and well. But the hinge on the left has a small issue. It's kinda hard to move and creaks when moved up and down. I've encountered this issue on many laptops before but anyway.... I pulled apart the whole laptop, mainly the LCD bit because it was the most problematic.
What I found was that one of the studs that the hinges use to clamp down on the LCD back bezel has completely come off (thetre are three studs), the next one underneath looks fine and hasn't come off but there's a small miniature crack running along the side of the plastic that encloses that stud. The bottom most stud is perfect.

So I have a question, since there is a tiny hairline crack running down the side of the plastic that encloses the metal stud which the LCD hinge uses to attach to the LCD rear bezel, what glue do I use to seal and mend that hairline crack?

I found this glue but I'm not sure if it's ok? http://www.selleys.com.au/Selleys-Qu...f/default.aspx

It says it won't bond to "bonding plastics" such as polypropylene and polyethylene? So what plastics are these and does my IBM laptop use these plastics?

Otherwise what's a good glue to use? epoxy?

Thanks.

[stevo1210]

Re: What do I do?

Uh yeah... also need the glue to be really thin because otherwise it will impact on the LCD metal surround sitting next to the stud.

[KeriJane]

Re: What do I do?

Hi Stevo

A picture might help.

I've never found a glue that would work in cracked plastic parts that take a lot of stress. Like a laptop hinge area.

Someone i used to know had a plastic welder thing that looked like a soldering iron with a hole through which you pushed plastic rods kinda like a hot glue gun. It made strong but really ugly repairs. I think he used to be a car bodyshop repairman.

Good Luck,
Keri

[370forlife]

Re: What do I do?

Gorilla glue. Goop it up in there and put the hinge and everything back into it while it is goopy. Once it dries (takes a lot longer without pressure) it will be like steel.

Don't get any on your hands! Takes a while to get it all off.

[kc8adu]

Re: What do I do?

Gorilla glue. Goop it up in there and put the hinge and everything back into it while it is goopy. Once it dries (takes a lot longer without pressure) it will be like steel.

Don't get any on your hands! Takes a while to get it all off.

dont use too much.
it foams up and will get where you dont want it.
gluing laptop plastics is a looser anyway as you are about to learn.

[ratdude747]

Re: What do I do?

yeah, about half of what ive glued on lappys has broken. thats why i bit the bullet and bought a new one, an eee pc. i bought my firs one as a display model, 300 usd. it died within warranty and it was discontinued so i got the next model up to replace it. old laptops are nice but when batteries and such die, or it needs an upgrade, it gets expensive fast.

but have fun. take the part off if you can. gluing it that way ensures the glue goes where you want.

[stevo1210]

Re: What do I do?

This might explain something about the 'iseries' notebooks from IBM....

Classic budget models manufactured by Acer under license from IBM

Hmm... Acer... always had hinges issues with them.

[Newbie2]

Re: What do I do?

I've never had any good experiences with Acer laptops.

[ratdude747]

Re: What do I do?

my hitachi flora 520gx was made by acer, hinges still in perfect shape.

[NxB]

Re: What do I do?

Never had luck gluing stress parts either. Try the gorilla glue then epoxy, otherwise replace it.

[bgavin]

Re: What do I do?

I had a client with a broken HSF retention bracket on a socket 478 machine.

I use PL Premium Polyurethane, same as I use for all my bass horn builds. This comes in a tube and applies with a caulk gun. $4 or less at Lowes. It is the only game in town for speaker cabinets, and is surprisingly good for other uses.

The P4 bracket is still holding together with the PL wad wrapped around the broken piece. It doesn't adhere to a lot of plastics, but it worked here. PL has the strength of Godzilla after it cures.