I’ve just finished getting my laptop set up the way I like it, including maximising the RAM and upgrading the screen. I opened it up to use it, and the screws on the hinge tore through the plastic.
To top it off, the plastic on the bottom of the laptop, the side that’s been removed here, has also broken.
My wife definitely didn’t drop the laptop while she was tidying up though…
BzzBiotch@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Laptop repair guy here! This problem is common in consumer grade laptops. As far as I am concerned, it’s purposefully weakly designed, because these break a LOT.
Not the hinge is broken, but the mounting points for the screws that keep the hinge in place. Sometimes it breaks on the bottom case, sometimes it breaks on the screen side.
We fix these issues regularly with epoxy (and massive skillz, lol). With most hinges, you can adjust the force a little lighter to relieve the pressure on the mounting points. That way it doesn’t fail again, after repair.
steal_your_face@lemmy.ml 4 months ago
This is why I love the idea of framework laptops
GbyBE@discuss.tchncs.de 4 months ago
Indeed, different price point though, but shouldn’t be more expensive in the long run. I like what they’re doing and live my AMD 13
Wogi@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Machinist guy here!
Threads fail. Threads are generally the most likely thing to fail in any given mechanism. Generally, when the threads are expected to do more work than just sit there and not move, as in fastening a hinge for example, we try to make sure the threads are all the same kind of material.
I would never expect plastic threads to hold up to repeated use with an iron bolt inside. Something is going to give up, and it’s going to be the soft plastic threads, every single time.
Think about cheap as fuck IKEA furniture, any time they have a bolt to screw in, you install an insert first. We do the same thing in plastic, aluminum, shit even steel sometimes if we want the bolt to fail first.
NosferatuZodd@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I believe you misunderstood the problem, the threads are not usually the problem, the problem is the brass heat insert the hinge threads into, the insert just breaks off the plastic with the screw still threaded in, usually because the hinge is a bit too tight/rigid and puts a lot of force into the insert pulling it out
this seems to be the case in this picture as well
JoShmoe@ani.social 4 months ago
How can I adjust the force?
scrion@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Loosening the screws of the hinge.
TotalFat@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Let the hate flow through you!
scrion@lemmy.world 4 months ago
This is correct and good advice. I’d like to add that it’s also an option to glue in a threaded metal insert in case a self - tapping plastic screw was used and the original thread is stripped.
improbablypoopingrn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 months ago
I just use the metal inserts and seat them with the soldering iron and have had great luck
grue@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Could be sacrificial because the plastic case is cheaper/easier to replace than whatever else would break instead of it were stronger.
Wogi@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Probably more so cheaper to mold the plastic case with weak threads than any other function.
Tabzlock@lemmy.ml 4 months ago
No I think its just cheaper, if it was stronger you normally would have a metal plate or the entire base would be metal. The only time I have seen those fail was actually the hinges themselves and not the attachment points. If the metal plate or base somehow got severely damaged I doubt it would cost much more to repair and its still unlikely to damage anything else.
charade_you_are@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
I very much hated working on hinge damage.
Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 months ago
Yep, it’s the mounting point here. As someone pointed out below, the insert that holds the screw has ripped out of the plastic. The base of the laptop was already broken, so put extra pressure on this part.
I’m going to strip everything out and epoxy the inserts back in place, then epoxy over the bottom part of the hinge once the screws are in. The laptop should never need to be opened again, so a bit of overkill won’t hurt here.
I’m going to try to loosen the hinge slightly too, but it looks like a pin design rather than a screw, so it might just be a case of cleaning and lubing it instead.