Jornada 820 hinge repair

There have been a few threads on this, but none that ever ended in anything but frustration.
Now I have 2 HP Jornada 820s here with broken hinges. I spent all afternoon trying to fix one, but without success, the plastic can't handle any amount of stress at this point.

There are 3 reasons that hinge breaks so easily:
1. It is only attached with one screw, despite there being 2 holes
2. It is attached to a nut that is embedded into the plastic on the surface, putting a huge amount of stress on one small point
3. The hinge mechanism wears out over the years, making it require more force to open and close (different from other hinges, where they become loose) This might be fixable to some extend with some lubricant

My plan is to commission someone to machine some metal plates, one as an extension for the upper hinge, one as a counterpart on the bottom, here's a quick sketch:





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what is going to secure that to the chassis?

Hope this drawing makes sense





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I agree with the lubricant idea… often in the past I've used a silicone based lubricant.

I've also used a plastic welder, like you use on a car bumper, to repair or reinforce weak plastic areas.

I tried welding, but it's so broken, there's no point in welding that plastic nut back in.

I tried drenching the hinge in silicone oil. Helps somewhat, but still a lot of force is needed. I won't get around reinforcing the hinge properly, everything else will just break again sooner or later.

The good news is, I found someone who can machine me some parts, so I'll try to get some steel plates made. There's plenty of space inside, and I'll use some longer M2 screws instead of the single M1.9 screw.

If this works, would anyone else be interested in also getting some reinforcement plates?





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Take a lot of good pics when you repair it… it'll be an interesting project.

Ah, I see, yes, that makes sense now

Get a few made and stick a FS thread in H/PCbay with some good search keywords. I'm sure you'll sell them.