Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Hinge

What are my chances of successfully replacing the hinge on a Thinkpad X60 Tablet?

em — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:15:24 -0800

What are my chances of successfully replacing the hinge on a Thinkpad X60 Tablet? After two years of ownership I finally got my Thinkpad X60 Tablet working just the way I want it -- and then over the last two weeks the hinge seems to have failed almost completely. Right now it can still support the screen if I position it very delicately, but the slightest jostle causes the screen to crash down to a horizontal position.

I see replacement hinges available e.g. here. I'm reasonably competent at basic mechanical tasks, but haven't ever disassembled a laptop before. The service manual gives an ordered list of 14 components to be removed to access the hinge, but doesn't give any other information. So I have two questions:

1) If I buy a new hinge, do I have a reasonable chance of installing it correctly, just by removing things in the right order, pulling out the old hinge, putting in the new hinge, and then putting everything back?

2) If I do install the new hinge correctly, is it likely to fix my problem?

Antique hinge

davidriley — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:29:39 -0800

What type of hinge is this? It came from a cedar folding card table. The three hinges wore out over time and snapped like this one. I'd like to replace them. More photos:

http://yfrog.com/ekhinge02j
http://yfrog.com/4rhinge03j

Thanks so much!

How to not look foolish at the Apple genius bar?

amileighs — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 07:57:01 -0800

How to not look foolish at the Apple genius bar? So I have had my macbook air for about 18 months, and love it like a child. When I purchased it, I got the two year Apple Care warranty. Recently it has been having hinge issues. The right hinge makes a weird clicking noise when I close it a certain degree, and the even the right side of the bottom case makes noise if I hold my computer in one hand. On top of that I am getting intermittent screen flicker in the rightmost inch of my monitor.

My question is will Apple be able to do anything about a hinge? Is there anything I can do/say that will increase their desire to help me? Also what do I do about the intermittent screen flicker, which doesn't show up all the time? Should I take pictures? Any insight into getting help from Apple would be greatly appreciated.

I am located in NYC and am planning on going to the 14th street location.

Fix my DS hinge, please?!

deezil — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:49:50 -0800

I've dropped my original model Nintendo DS, and the hinge is now cracked, where would be best to send it to get it repaired? So, stupid me, carrying too much crap in the house one night, my DS was on the top of the pile, and it promptly fell off and went flying. My hinge was broken in the process (all other bits left fully functional and unharmed), and now while everything still works, I'm afraid I'm going to bump it in its fragile state and really frak it up. What I'm soliciting here today is suggestions about where to send it that would repair it and get it back to me in better shape than what I sent it in. I'm in the USA, and have a few dollars to spend on getting it repaired, but I'd rather not spend half of what it costs to get the DS Lite, which is my other alternative. So metafilter, I bring it to you. Where have you sent your DSes to get repaired?

Project Hinges on a Hinge

gzimmer — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:20:56 -0800

Looking for the real name of a "locking" or "clicking" hinge for a project. I'm making plans to build a futon for myself (see ) and I'd like to make use of something I've used before many times, but I don't know what it's called.

It's like a normal hinge, but when opened past a certain point it will stay open at that point unless opened fully, then it will close properly.

A bit hard to describe...

If it were in a chest, you would open the chest 45 degrees, then it would lock, then you'd let go and it would stay at 45 degrees. If I wanted to close it, I'd open it fully and it would then release and close.

Any ideas what the proper name for this is? Linkies?

Cracked iBook hinge covered under warranty?

mce — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 16:21:13 -0800

One of my G4 iBook's hinges has a crack and it's spreading. Should I be worried? Is there likely to be any hassle getting it fixed under warranty? This laptop is a warranty replacement for an old G3 that had the unfortunate logic board of death. I've had it for 8 months. In sept it spent a month waiting for a new hdd.

I am not amused.

When I got the laptop back again one of the hinges looked to have a scratch on it. I hadn't noticed it before but I ddin't really check it all that well before relinquishing it for what should have been a 4-5 working day repair. The 'Authorized Repair Depot' certainly hasn't earned a lot of respect in this case.

Forward 2.5 months and the scratch seems to have become a crack.... and it's been joined by a sibling. Windshield style. Unlike a windshield, though, I really can't think of any event that might have precipitated them.

As I'm currently budgeting for a macbook in January I'd like this G4 to remain in fairly salable condition. It'd be nice to get the hinge replaced. I'm not keen on doing it at my own expense. The hinge thing doesn't seem to be a known problem and doesn't seem to be related to the flicker effect.

Am I likely to be met with complaints of abuse or out right refusal for warranty repair? In the past I've found that apple will generally be pretty reasonable about such things..... if I'm prepared to go straight to apple, facts and figures and invoices in hand and argue rather more forcefully than I'm comfortable.

Is it worth getting the hinge to a 2 + year old PowerBook repaired?

willnot — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 07:19:26 -0800

The hinge on my 2 + year old PowerBook is broken. Is it worth sending it out to be repaired (and does anybody have a recommendation for a reputable company to do the repair), or should I just buy a new one? I got a 15" Aluminum PowerBook in June of 2004. The hinge was always a little wonky. It made clicking noises whenever I moved the screen up or down and the metal in the back was deformed in a few places. About 4 months ago, it started deteriorating even more. In some positions the screen held, but in others it would flip right over. It was annoying, but I learned to work around it. Last night, I heard a definite cracking sound, and now it won't hold itself up in any position.

Searching around for how I might fix this, I found a few companies that claim to fix PowerBook hinges. The cost is between $200 and $400. Does anybody have experience with that type of service? Is that likely to work to an extent that it's worth considering, or would I be better off just getting a new one?

My laptop screen wants to escape -- What do I do?

SuperNova — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 21:19:34 -0800

My laptop screen is separating from the rest of the computer! It looks like one of the two hinges is hanging on for dear life, and I'm concerned -- if it gets much worse, it will be detached on that side. Is there anything I can do? I'd planned to add some photos so you could see what I mean, but it's hard to get a good picture at close enough range to be useful. If it would help, I can always upload some kinda-blurry ones. Otherwise, just imagine a laptop monitor, slightly tilted, with one hinge popped out and just sort of sitting there.

I'm on a Toshiba Satellite A45, purchased almost exactly two years ago. I'm not a gentle person, but I've never had any problems and the laptop hasn't had any recent trauma I know about. I always close the cover when I go to bed, and usually during the day while I'm at work, if it matters.

Any idea what caused this or if it can be fixed? My laptop is my only computer and I really can't afford to replace it right now. Any thoughts on my next move would be greatly appreciated.

Laptop hinge is loose

WyoWhy — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 17:11:24 -0800

My laptop hinge is loose. What can I do? It's extremely annoying. The screen won't stand up. Is there any way to tighten the hinges without taking the computer in for repair? It seems that it should be an easy repair. I can use a screwdriver.

Caulking, and sink attachment. Advice saught.

onlyconnect — Mon, 19 Jan 2004 11:42:56 -0800

My pedestal bathroom sink has unstuck itself from the wall (following an earring-retrieval-from-the-drain adventure). There used to be a hinge of caulking that steadied it, but that hinge broke during the earring retrieval, and the screws that hold the sink to the wall often slip through, making leaning on the sink dangerous. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty handy. Can I just peel off the old cauking and recaulk?