I'm experimenting

[monty]

In this post I discuss how to tighten the hinge, the importance of TV repair shops, and how to give your Pandora discreet rubber feet


I have a Pandora. Its very well made (compared to the original one I received, certainly) and I like it a lot. Some things about it I do not like though.

1. The flappy lid hinge
   
2. The fact that I dropped it two and a half feet, on its shoulder button, onto a concrete floor
   
3. The injustice of no-one taking up my bounty for a CAD PND yet*
   

Number One is a problem I have not yet solved, but have gotten close. Firstly I tried Sugru to make ridges on the lid half of the hinge which would make it snap between several degrees of openness. Sugru turns out not to be strong enough, and just pops off. Then I tried a rubber strip wrapped around lid half, held in with superglue. It works, my screen can now be prodded with a fair amount of gusto without flapping open. The problem is that the repeated action quite quickly started to shred the rubber. It now looks more than a bit manky and the friction is lessening (but still better than before by a long way).


The solution could one one of two options.

• Continue with the rubber strip, but find harder rubber
  
• Repeat Sugru experiment, but this time superglue it in place.
  

Now if only I could get the damn lacerated rubber of the hinge to start again ...


Number Two is a problem I have solved. Firstly I took it to a TV repair shop who soldered the bits of the board back to the board. Then I delt with the bowing of the case, which made the Pandora un-level on a flat surface so it had to have the old half a beer mat propped under it when typing. I did this by turning once gain to Sugru. I made a small (as in 3mm diametre) ball of the stuff for each corner, pressed them on flat (just inside of the screw holes at the front; just inside of the tiny nobbly bits at the back) with a slightly larger one under the corer that didn't reach flat surfaces. Now I turned the Pandora over to the putty would be flattened as much as it would when in use, turned it on its back again and left for a day to dry. Also had to superglue them at the sides---turns out Sugru really doesn't have great adhesive qualities with the Pandora plastic.


The solution is rather a good one and you don't notice the rubber-ish feet when holding it.


*Joking, joking. On the other hand, if you're interested ...


EDIT: Oh dear, I really should watch my spelling. Could a mod do me the the very great favour of changing the spelling of the title to experimenting?

 

[TitanUranus]

You want to be careful, experimenting can be dangerous. I got caught experimenting with Mary Mcewan when I was in primary school and the teacher went mental. In fact, the school even told my parents about it, and they went even more mental.


EDIT: I feel morally obliged to point out I was a child attending the school, not just on a random recent visit.

 

[Stradian]

You really want CAD? I'll see what I can do tomorrow. No promises.

 

[bismuthdrummer]

Consider replacing the hinge with the DS Lite hinge, the hinge axle fits exactly as I know from trying it myself. There is actually ONE very important difference, though, and that is a notched plastic piece on the tip of the Pandora hinge that locks it into the lid when you snap in the piece from the base. I would take a pic but I have already put my Pandora back together. You could probably either transfer the plastic tip from the Pandora hinge to the DS Lite hinge, or substitute with Sugru or perhaps some trick with plastic.

 

[Prometheus]

or perhaps some trick with plastic.

Under any other circumstances, I would suggest something like Friendly Plastic, here, but unfortunately it can return to being malleable when re-heated, so it probably won't do for a device that you're likely to be carrying in a warm bag or pocket...

 

[bismuthdrummer]

Under any other circumstances, I would suggest something like Friendly Plastic, here, but unfortunately it can return to being malleable when re-heated, so it probably won't do for a device that you're likely to be carrying in a warm bag or pocket...

Hmmm, really? What kind of temperatures are we talking? The Pandora shouldn't be subjected to severe heat in the first instance, of course.


For the record I haven't an idea whether my speculations will work for the replacement tip on the hinge. I am leaving that up to you clever hackers to fill the gap.

 

[Prometheus]

^ Friendly Plastic melts in warm water, so we're not talking particularly high temperatures, here (apparently it can soften if in direct sunlight for too long, as well, if memory serves, though all my reading about it has been related to costuming). I would imagine that having a Pandora in a pocket or a bag close to your person would probably melt that stuff.

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

i cant say ive had any real problems with the hinge.Its just fine the way it is in my opinion.

 

[diligentcircle]

i cant say ive had any real problems with the hinge.Its just fine the way it is in my opinion.

I beg to differ. It's MUCH too loose; it holds itself in place if you hold it still and don't use the touch screen, but as soon as you try to use the touch screen or move around a little too much, it moves.


Actually, it now seems to be even looser than the original Nintendo DS in my case. And that's really saying something.

 

[MarkoeZ]

i cant say ive had any real problems with the hinge.Its just fine the way it is in my opinion.

I beg to differ. It's MUCH too loose; it holds itself in place if you hold it still and don't use the touch screen, but as soon as you try to use the touch screen or move around a little too much, it moves.


Actually, it now seems to be even looser than the original Nintendo DS in my case. And that's really saying something.

I think you are both right. The stiffness of the hinge just varies with every Pandora. My replacement actually had a looser hinge than the first one i received.


But it's still working fine for me.

 

[gunrock]

You want to be careful, experimenting can be dangerous. I got caught experimenting with Mary Mcewan when I was in primary school and the teacher went mental. In fact, the school even told my parents about it, and they went even more mental.


EDIT: I feel morally obliged to point out I was a child attending the school, not just on a random recent visit.

I just had to point this out for epicness, the edit even more so! :lol:

 

[DarkCheetah]

I actually think the hinge having a little play in it is fine. I've never had a problem with it and on the occasion I bump it hard enough to jostle the hinge I think the play in it keeps it from popping to 180 degrees.

 

[Darkknight512]

My hinge used to be loose, but when i took the screen apart and put it back together its tighter. I think its all about the alignment.

 

[monty]

You really want CAD? I'll see what I can do tomorrow. No promises.

Stradian if you were able to meet the bounty I would be delighted. Could you tell me which system you had thought of?

 

[monty]

Consider replacing the hinge with the DS Lite hinge, the hinge axle fits exactly as I know from trying it myself. There is actually ONE very important difference, though, and that is a notched plastic piece on the tip of the Pandora hinge that locks it into the lid when you snap in the piece from the base. I would take a pic but I have already put my Pandora back together. You could probably either transfer the plastic tip from the Pandora hinge to the DS Lite hinge, or substitute with Sugru or perhaps some trick with plastic.

I shall consider it, thank you for the tip.