hmc Hardware Hack #2: Hinge modification for laptop-like use

[hmc]

Hi guys,
 
this hardware hack will be interesting for people, who want to use the Pandora in "laptop" mode. It will help keeping the screen opened in an angle of about 100° to 140° (or any other freely choosable angle).
 
Usually, the Pandora's screen lid rests in an angle of a little less than 180°. 
For people wanting to use the Pandora in a laptop-like manner, this is not good.
Some Pandoras, especially the newer ones with the silver case, have hinges with enough friction, so that the screen stays in its position, even without the hinge resting. If you have such a Pandora, you probably won't need this hack.
If you want to work or play with an opening angle less than the resting angle, and you find the screen falling back or forth while you use the Pandora, this hack may be interesting for you.
 
This hack allows you to freely choose any resting angle. However, once you have chosen it, it won't be changeable anymore.
 
Note the drawbacks of this hack, though:

• The lid won't rest anymore in closed position. However, I have found this not to be a problem at all for me.
• You won't be able to disassemble / repair the hinge anymore after the modification. If something goes wrong, or the hinge breaks in future, you will have to replace the entire hinge / keyboard case combo, not just the hinge itself. Since the normal disassembly process cannot be done with the glued hinge, you may need to break other case parts on next disassembly, so you may also need to replace the screen lid case then.
• Of course (needless to say?) you will void your warranty with this hardware modification!

 
 
So, here are the step-by-step instructions:
 
 
What you need in addition to your Pandora is this:
 

• a screw driver
• epoxy 2-component glue
• pliers
• a cylindrical or conical grinding tool with 6.0mm diameter:
  
   
• an electrical grinder tool like this:
  
  

 

For preparing yourself, make yourself familiar with:
 

• EvilDragon's video showing disassembly and re-assembly of the Pandora. Actually it is about replacing the display cable, but it includes the entire process of dis- and re-assembly. Note that you only need to follow the instructions until 6:10 in the video, when he opened the screen lid. Don't remove the screen cable!
  
  https://www.youtube.com/embed/l8GfjAsbmK8?feature=oembed
  

 
 
 
Step 1: 
Disassemble the Pandora's following the instructions from EvilDragon's video until 6:10.
 
 

Step 2:
Push the hinge capsule from inside the screen into the keyboard case part, so you can seperate the screen lid from the keyboard case. Be careful not to damage the screen cable when separating the two halves of the Pandora.
(see EvilDragon's video at 7:50)
Pushing out the hinge capsule was the only reason, why you needed to open the screen lid. You can now close it again, as shown in the video from 10:45 to 12:05

Step 3:
Now you need to make the hole of the keyboard case, that holds the hinge capsule, perfectly round, i.e. grind away the profile for the hinge capsule, so that the capsule can rotate freely inside that hole.
Use the 6mm grinder and the pliers, to manually grind the hole, as shown on the photos. Take care not to wiggle the grinding tool, but to just grind straight down into the hole by rotating the grinder inside the hole.
Afterwards, remove any grinding dust and burr carefully.




 
Step 4:
Mark the position on the back of the hinge hole as shown in the pictures:

• horizontally: in the middle of the part of the hinge capsule, that's sticking in the keyboard case (black part of the capsule)
• vertically: where the hinge capsule hole is nearest to the case back

 


Step 5:
Use the electrocal grinder to drill a hole into the back of the case, where the marking is. The elliptical hole should have a horizontal diameter of about 3-4mm, not more than 4mm. Vertically it should have not more than 3mm.



Step 6:
Insert the hinge capsule into the hole, but insert it in a way, that you can later easily "click" it into the screen lid's hinge tube. In order for that to work nicely, you should chose a good turning angle for the capsule to insert it, so that the capsule's profile fits the screen lid's profile when you later push the capsule back into the screen lid's hole.
The red lines on the photos help you to see what I mean with these cryptic words ;-)

When aligned that way, you can later easily push back the capsule, if the screen lid is opened by about 90°.



Step 7:
When inserted correctly, push the hinge capsule entirely into the keyboard case's hole.



Step 8:
Attach the screen lid to the keybaord case again, as shown in EvilDragon's video from 12:05 to 13:00

 
Step 9:
Push the hinge capsule back into the screen lid, as shown in EvilDragon's video from 13:00 to 13:16, but in a different way than shown in the video:
You have inserted the capsule in step 6 so, that it will be easily pushable into the screen lid, if the screen lid is opened by about 90°. So open it now by 90° and then push back the hinge capsule. Make sure it is pushed entirely down into the screen lid. The capsule should not be visible anymore, if you look into the keyboard case from the bottom. You should now be able to open and close the lid, and the hinge capsule should be visible through the drilled hole, rotating freely in its cylindrical hole.




 
Step 10: 
You may already reassemble the entire remaining Pandora now, because the remainig work on the hinge can be done later.
(EvilDragon's video from 13:15)
 

FINISHED?

Maybe the hinge capsule has a good friction inside its cylindrical hole, so that no further steps are needed, to make the hinge stiff enough to hold the screen in its position. Now the hinge does not have any resting angle anymore (because the entire hinge capsule rotates in its hole), but if the friction is strong enough, you may even stop hardware-hacking here (or continue later, once the friction has decreased so much, that it becomes necessary to have a resting angle again. This may happen after some weeks, months or even years in this state of the hinge's modification).
 
If you want to "configure" a new resting angle, continue with the next steps now:
 
 
Step 11:
Choose a resting angle. I.e. use your Pandora as you like to use it in future, test different opening angles and choose the best one. Leave the Pandora opened with that optimal angle and put it on its right side. Choose the angle carefully, as you won't be able to change that later.
Put the Pandora with its right side onto a sheet of paper and draw along the edges of the case onto the paper, so that you have lines on the paper than later allow you to quickly restore that angle by putting the Pandora onto that sheet of paper and re-aligning the body and lid of the Pandora with those lines.



 
Step 12 (optional, risky for the hinge capsule, but recommended to improve the durability of the hack):

Dentists won't have any problem with this step. Non-dentists should be very careful now!

While the Pandora is opened in it's optimal angle you wish to configure,
use the electrical grinder to damage the surface of the hinge capsule slightly. Grind a hole into the black covering plastic cylinder of the capsule *through* the drilled hole in the keyboard case. 
This will later allow the epoxy glue to grip the capsule better (avoids slipping through of the hinge capsule, if the capsule wants to turn inside its hole).
Note that the covering plastic of the capsule is not very thick. You should avoid to grind the hold through the entire plastic layer. 




 
Step 12 (all this has to be done quickly, so make sure everything is well prepared!):

• Prepare a small piece of scotch tape,
• prepare the epoxy glue,
• then quickly (before the glue becomes harder) hold the Pandora with the drilled hole facing upwards and apply drops of epoxy, e.g. with a needle, into the hole, until the hole is filled.
• now attach the piece of scotch tape, cover the hole with it and press the tape well onto the casing surrounding the hole. Don't leave tracks, through which the epoxy may flow in the next couple of minutes. This will later make for a nicely plain surface of the glue, too.
• You should work the hinge a bit, i.e. turn the lid a bit back and forth, in order to let the epoxy flow into more small gaps inside the hole, which will improve the grip of the glue. But make sure, that you end up with your optimal angle after working the hinge:
• Quickly put the Pandora on its right side again, onto the paper sheet prepared in step 11, and realign the angle with the lines on the sheet.

From now on, don't move *anything* anymore, until the glue has hardened.



Step 13:

Still don't move the lid, even if temptation is high! ;-)

Once the glue is hard (really hard, i.e. let it harden over night or so), remove the piece of scotch tape and inspect the hole. If it is not filled entirely with glue, especially if part of the capsule is still uncovered with glue, you should repeat inserting some glue and letting it get entirely hard, until the entire visible part of the capsule is covered and gripped by glue. Otherwise, your first screen lid movement might destroy what you have achieved so far.
 
Step 14:
Once all the glue is really, really hard, you may carefully try to move the lid and test, if the new resting angle works fine.
Bad if it doesn't. Then you will have to repeat everything with a new pair of hinge capsule and keyboard case.
 


Have fun!

Daniel


This post has been promoted to an article

 

[TrashyMG]

Wow great modification!

 

[mcobit]

I always wondered if it might be possible to make something like this, but reversable, if you make the hinge move freely and dril little holes at variuos angles where you can insert little metal pins, that hold the hingecapsule in place at a certain angle...


If I ever get to replace my touchscreen, I will order some more components to fiddle around a bit.


Nice work here!

 

[hmc]

mcobit, just some brainstorming about your idea:

if you replace the default hinge capsule with a simple plastic cylinder, that only has the correct profile on the lid side, this could be possible. However, this would mean, that you need to insert that metal pin every time you open the lid, if I understand your idea correctly. 

And it would still require a cylindrical hole, i.e. it's not entirely reversible. Except if you choose a smaller diameter of the cylinder, that fits *inside* the profile of the hole in the keyboard case, but then wear wil be high, because of the friction only being concentrated on those 4 edges of the profile inside the hole.

If you have some concrete ideas, just let me know. Maybe I'll find the time to experiment with that earlier than you having to replace your display. ;-)

 

[mcobit]

Do you have big pictures of the capsule and the hole where it fits in in unmodified state?


That would be helpful for thinking a little without the need for me to disassemble my unit


Edit: just saw that you have that kind of picture there already

 

[thatgui]

thanks for this, well made ! I remember one user doing almost the same thing (dgame ?).

some small critique:

- drawback #1 has no text

- I may have overlooked it - do you mention at some point what kind of hinge capsule you have used ? The user who did this before took them from a certain Nintendo DS model if i remember it correctly

 

[hmc]

thatgui,

drawback #1 does not exist. Almost only advantages. :-D

Well, thanks, corrected. It was a list formatting error. There is no additional drawback.

Kind of hinge capsule: It is the default Pandora's hinge capsule. ED and I tried a a different one some time ago, but it actually has the same opening angle, so this didn't make much sense. 

Is there a better, compatible capsule available somewhere?

 

[thatgui]

thatgui,

Kind of hinge capsule: It is the default Pandora's hinge capsule. ED and I tried a a different one some time ago, but it actually has the same opening angle, so this didn't make much sense. 

Is there a better, compatible capsule available somewhere?

I found the old thread => searched the wrong board :rolleyes:

 

[mcobit]

I thought a bit more about it and it might be possible to drill two threaded holes for screws into the keyboardpart of the case instead of the one big hole. Then you could screw two screws in it that push the hinge against the plasic in the case and secure it that way instead of gluing it.
This would allow later adjustments.

Edit: of course the case will have to be relatively sturdy for this.

 

[mcobit]

Here is a quick sketch to show what I mean

 

[hmc]

thatgui,

Kind of hinge capsule: It is the default Pandora's hinge capsule. ED and I tried a a different one some time ago, but it actually has the same opening angle, so this didn't make much sense. 

Is there a better, compatible capsule available somewhere?

I found the old thread => searched the wrong board :rolleyes:

Ah yes, that's the hinge that allows an opening angle of abt. 160°. That's still way too much for my purposes. 

My prefered opening angle is at most 140°, but rather 120°-130°.

Here is a quick sketch to show what I mean

 

That's a good idea.

I may try this with a new set of case parts soon.

However, I am unsure about the kind of screws to choose. The current case screws easily brak the winding inside the screw holes, when tightened too much, i.e. the plastic is not hard enough to stand a well tightened screw. In order to let those screws grip thehinge capsule hard enough, they need to be tighted very well, and the case is only about 1mm thick at that position. Not much "meat" for the screw to grip. 

 

[Tempel]

That's a good idea.

I may try this with a new set of case parts soon.

However, I am unsure about the kind of screws to choose. The current case screws easily brak the winding inside the screw holes, when tightened too much, i.e. the plastic is not hard enough to stand a well tightened screw. In order to let those screws grip thehinge capsule hard enough, they need to be tighted very well, and the case is only about 1mm thick at that position. Not much "meat" for the screw to grip. 

Set screws are what you want. They have tips designed to dig in to the surface they hit. If you need more meat for threading, maybe use epoxy to attach some kind of plastic collar over the hole? Though that could get in the way of the screen. Hmm.

 

[mcobit]

You will have to cut a thread into the screwholes. This will stabilize it I think.


You just must not screw too hard.

 

[cube48]

Cool hack! I have a vague feeling that ED mentioned once those spare Nintendo DS hinge bits that can hold in various positions and they fit into Pandoras hinge hole. That might be less intrusive solution.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B001O8M884/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

 

[hmc]

I don't remember the details, but I think the problem was, that the compatible new DS hinge only had the same angle as our hinge, and the hinge, that had more angles (SD XL or so?) did not fit the Pandora.

 

[Stephane Hockenhull]

way too much drilling for my taste.

simpler, less damaging solution with no external changes:

http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php/topic/12059-hardware-modification-hold-screen-at-an-angle/

http://rv6502.com/index.php?blog=00000014

 

[hmc]

Stephane,

your solution looks very elegant, congratulations! I'll link to it also from my mod's article.

However, one question:

Grinding away one pair of those notches would cause, to my understanding, that the hinge part that goes into the display case can rotate inside the screen case hole into one direction. How did you avoid that? It's not visible in your pictures.

 

[Neelix]

Check out  the photos on the blog page. Specifically the two comparing the old hinge position and the new one.   Looks like the remaining notches prevent rotation in both directions, due to the shape of the hinge.

- Neelix

 

[Stephane Hockenhull]

there are 4 notches in the hinge, those 4 notches match the 4 "pins" in the lid.

removing 2 of the pins lets you re-insert the hinge rotated with the pins fitted into the "wrong" notches.

old (orange) and new (green) way it fit after shaving off the 2 pins:

so the hinge/lid are still held in place relative to each other by two pins/notches.

even just one pin would suffice to withstand the little amount of torque needed to get the hinge out of its locking position.

just have to make sure the notch and pins line up when re-assembling to not damage either by using excessive force while misaligned, but anyone who can disassemble and reassemble his/her Pandora without destroying it should be wise enough to figure how to manage this

 

[hmc]

Ah, understood.

That's really a great method. I'll have to try that as soon as I have a new case...

ED? ;-)