Simple Fix for Vaio Laptop Hinge

My friend, Sankalp was one of the unfortunate owners of the Sony Vaio E14 Series Laptop. Just after one year of careful use, the hinge started breaking the plastic case it was fit inside! You can see the exact way the laptop behaves in this video by Tyler Morgan.

So, we built two types of holders (they act like clamps to keep the screen together) sheet metal, which are intact till now.

We need to keep the metal hinge pressed against the laptop screen using a sturdy support. We used aluminium
or Galvanised Iron sheet metal. We will discuss two types of designs for folding the sheet metal and using them to keep the hinge and plastic case together....almost forever. We leave it up to you, you can even mix these designs and come up with your own!

When we saw the right side of the laptop screen breaking, we rushed to the sheet metal shop at Blind-Lead Makerspace. First, we took a piece of paper and decided how to fold it so that it clamps the broken laptop screen.

Have a look at the video. (This explains by folding paper)

Also, in the pictures, you can see the dimensions used in the sketch and how our hack looked.

After the right side of the screen was mended, we had fun showing off! But soon, the left part of the screen started breaking because of the other hinge. This time we tried a different strategy to repair it.

We take GI Sheet and cut it L shaped. We just fold it and apply sugru / hot glue. No punching holes!

Have a look at the video. (This explains by folding paper)

DESIGN 1:

(8 cm x 9 cm) Aluminum Sheet (3mm thickness)

(1) Sheet metal Punch (3 mm diameter)

(one 5g packet) Sugru (Optional)

Hot glue (Optional)

(1) Pliers/Vise Grip

(1) Snip

(1 pair, 3mm diameter) Nut and Bolt (Optional)

DESIGN 2:

(12 cm x 16 cm) Galvanized Iron Sheet (1 to 2mm thickness)

(one 5g packet) Sugru (Optional)

Hot glue (Optional)

(1) Pliers/Vise Grip

(1) Snip

First, cut paper of the correct dimensions and do check if they fit properly when you fold it.

This is to get an idea about the shape of sheet metal you need to cut and the way you would fold it.

Then take a ruler and mark lines on the sheet and start cutting it using snip.

Now, push the sheet through the laptop and mark the place from where you want to bend the sheet.

To bend GI sheet, you may use pliers or keep the sheet on a dye structure and hit with hammer.

Oh, and don't spray paint before bending the sheet as the color gets spoilt!

To bend Aluminum Sheet, I used this Brake

Now check if the sheet metal has bee folded well or not, by checking if it tightly fits and clamps the hinge breakage.

After fitting, again fold the sheet metal as required or shown in the video(1) or video(2).

In design 1, two arms are projecting outside from the laptop. Now clamp these arms tightly and punch a 3 mm hole in them and use a nut and bolt to fasten.

You can see gaps between the sheet metal and the laptop. To fill these gaps up and smoothen the sharp edges, use Sugru or Hot Glue.

Put some newspaper nearby the sheet metal and start spraying.

Let me know if you have any suggestions to improve this instructable, or any questions!