Oiling a J-720 Hinge?

My Jornada 720 is four years old, and treasured every day. One thing I have noticed, though, is that the hinge creaks when you open and close the lid.

The hinge itself is as tight as when it came through the door four years ago, so I don't think it needs disassembling.

I think it needs a spot of lubrication. What would people suggest?

Jake

Er, if you have to, something like silicone grease: get it at a plumbers' merchants.
There may be other ways, let me have a think before you apply anything sticky anywhere near there!

Thanks, Chiark. I was thinking of graphite, something non-oily, but that makes me nervous, too. I remember--I think--having this problem a couple of years ago and using a tiny drop of 3-in-1 oil on either side.

But that may have been merely a bad dream

Jake

Whatever you choose, make sure it's non-conductive. Mineral oil won't conduct but I don't know how much you'd need to silence the squeak.

I would have said carbon (though could be messy and you have to be wary of dust and the digitiser) and conductivity with graphite or WD40 for which you would need to remove the screen completely and take it somewhere to do the deed.

WD40 is not, IMHO, a useful lubricant. It's great for displacing water or freeing seized nuts (oo er), but it's just too thin to be any use as a lubricant...

Carbon: that's what I was thinking of...

Chiark,
It did a bang up job on the hinge of my Dell a few weeks ago which after months and months of sitting in a damp environment (and having dried out) was almost locked fast.

Pistols at dawn? lol

I'm reading this with great interest, obiviously. I have no desire to take off the top. I did that once with an alarm clock, when I was a child, and had many parts left over after resassembly, and my father was late to work from then on.

Carbon or some other dry substance could find its way through the machine. I'm pondering just the slightest, slightest toothpick dab of axle grease. It's thick, not runny, and might not cruise through the machine the way a thinner lubricant could.

Jake

Jake,
The trouble with something that is viscous is that you will have a hard time working it into the system without causing great amounts of wear on the mechanism.

Yes, I see what you're saying. Graphite and other dry lubricants still worry me, so unless there's a bona fide owner who has actually used those things, I may try a drop of 3-in-1 on either side. I *think* I used that before.

Jake

A lot of these greases sound like they have, at some level (maybe only molecular), the ability to wear down the surfaces that they are beween to create a smoother action. I don't think silicon does this and my own preference would be for using silicon grease especially with the electrical hazard.
The best way to apply would be to disassemble/reassemble. You should be able to see what is rubbing and decide whether some other remedial action is necessary.
I haven't personally taken one apart (yet) so it's opinion rather than experience.

I'm not confident enough to comment on the chemistry, but I do agree that it strikes as a bad idea to try to do this without disassembly.

I was afraid it would come to that

Jake

at the least you need to take the screen surround off of the face plate of the device.

Don't use any type of petrochemical based lubricant.

Besides being conductive it will break down in time and the lighter oils will seep into the 720 inner workings wreaking havoc.