creepingnet
Veteran Member
So the P/75's trackball started getting erratic last night and I troubleshot the issues to relate to the laptops's loose plastic bits interfering with the operation of the VersaTrak. So I took out the loose bits, threw some tape on the inside, and viola....the computer is happy as a bug again.
But this has me thinking, a lot of the problems with 90's laptops that I've had have been 2 types of issues - power, and structural issues. Something I've been interested in with regards to older PC's since the early days is fixing all our issues with chassis on desktops and laptops. Laptops are interesting to me especially as DOS/early-Windows retro-gaming on bare metal hardware from the time is getting more popular, but a lot of wonderful laptops are getting ignored because of structural issues. I see them all over e-bay - cracks in hinges, broken sections of the bottoms, my beloved Versas are notorious for cracking in the case - but what if someone could take a scientific and carefully curated approach at repairing and possibly improving these things. This blog post is going to look at what I've been learning.
The #1 problem with these old laptops are the hinges. The reason why is because older Active Matrix LCD's (and Monochrome, and Dual Scan color DTSN units....) are a bit heavier and robust structures when compared to present day laptops. Your typical Dell Latitude you might find at your work has a 14" LCD that's as thin as 1/8" thick with sheet thin plastic border and an aluminum back that weighs half of what that back plastic from a 1994 NEC Versa would. Add to it that these hinges maintain friction as a lithium or carbon greased assembly that takes on dust, dirt, and grime over the years, and gets tighter....this paired with the old plastic backplates makes for a disaster as bad as total catastrophic failure that can even lead to the screen itself getting bent and cracking as a minor metal sub-assembly tries to pull the lid shut over an over-torqued dusty old hinge.
Another failure point are corners, screw anchors, and such. The biggest problem with corners is they are a focused impact point that can make a weak plastic, such as the brittle flame-retardant plastics of the early 1990's like Nintendo and Apple used, knock as much as a whole section of the case off. My Versas and my ThinkPad 755CD all suffered from this tragic issue. Screw anchors are a failure point as you're expecting a tiny screw and a weak brass ring the size of a BB to hold 2 8.5"x11" or more pieces of plastic making a device almost 2" thick stay together. Then there's the molding. Something on modern laptops that I see only on a rare few vintages ones, is a plastic "web" structure using triangles - this is why your Dell or Toshiba Techra from 2008 still is in one piece - yet the same laptop from 1994 is crumbling apart, because those screw anchors are just a lone extrusion "tube" of plastic coming off a flat sheet (not strong enough). And the manufcturers make their molds like this because it both reduces weight, and injection molded material used.....
But right now, were talking after-market, 3rd-10th hand old laptops from the late 80's and early 90's....and were sure as heck not going to make molds for major new parts (at least not yet) - but what one can do, is use modern adhesives, epoxies, and other things either not mainstream yet or non-existent at the time, to make these old laptops "daily worthy" - at least almost, is what I'm going to start experimenting with.
J.B. Weld Steel Stick - I've already used this. One spot is the hinge cover on my Versa 40EC was flood filled by SteelStik and the screw type changed to a pair of wood screws which has made the structure VERY strong. No more cracks, and if there ever were, it could just be flood filled by J.B. Original and sanded to be almost indiscernable from the original brittle plastic.
J.B. Weld Original - I've had varying success with this. The best spot I used it in was the hinges to my Active Matrix screen that originally came with my 40EC. That's where the case was breaking when I bought it. After loosening the hinge just a hair with pliars and some very careful prying while in a vice, as well as flooding that whole region with J.B. Weld, and keeping the metal parts glossy so they would not adhere - I now have a solid original structure, that (mostly) matches the original plastic, and is likely much stronger. It's actually holding together, and with some sanding, reshaping, and careful tool work, I was able to make the bezel fit seamlessly to the top cover so well the joint when snapped on is invisible. Also, with the looser hinge, it's much more sturdy.
Cyanoacrilate (Superglue) + Baking Soda (or other reactive materials) - I've found out why this trick works so well in guitar repair for nuts and such. It's not so much the superglue itself making a material with finely ground materials, but rather, it's the chemical reaction that creates HEAT to a point that it smokes and makes fumes, and likely causes the new formulation to bond with whatever mallable/meltable material next to it (ie PLASTIC). I also read this makes a VERY solid structure - which means this might be a good way to mold minor replacement parts like covers, latches, maybe even a full blown trackball ball (use mini versions of Guitar polishing techniques to bring it to the right gloss). I also saw it work with Aluminum powder so this could be really handy. I also saw it work with graphite and get as hot as 300 degrees (!!!) - meaning it could really assimilate into the bottom plastic, and the black color would be great for those old Dell laptops nororious for structural issues (got my eyes on a DX4 right now).
Professional Epoxy + Fiberglass Mesh or Aluminum Mesh - Also looking at using this to solidify the bottom. I think I'll be using this on the P/75 since the part tolerances are kind of wide - so I have room for an aluminum mesh and a layer of epoxy inside. This will make the case heavy duty inside, while retaining the classic look outside. Which is the goal. Make it sort of like a "show car" - you don't see all the bondo, welded in sheet metal to remove rust that's been eating it away, or the fiberglass parts replacing original steel parts that were destroyed. So all you'd see is whatever laptop it is - but it's made stronger and better by what's inside. It can be sanded down within 1 1000th of an inch of where it needs to be (tighter than stock) making this heavier. I can prevent bleed-through using packing tape on the outside.
Another thing I'm messing with is building full blown machines with custom cases using plastic, acrylic, maybe even wood. My builds would probably be super heavy duty considering the glue I use is strong enough to keep a 7lb guitar from breaking even if it hits the street from 7 feet in the air. I could build woodgrain laptops using the guts from old stuff the same way. I might use my M/75's guts for this.
Just ideas.....I've been kind of looking for a new avenue like this for awhile on the PC side...
But this has me thinking, a lot of the problems with 90's laptops that I've had have been 2 types of issues - power, and structural issues. Something I've been interested in with regards to older PC's since the early days is fixing all our issues with chassis on desktops and laptops. Laptops are interesting to me especially as DOS/early-Windows retro-gaming on bare metal hardware from the time is getting more popular, but a lot of wonderful laptops are getting ignored because of structural issues. I see them all over e-bay - cracks in hinges, broken sections of the bottoms, my beloved Versas are notorious for cracking in the case - but what if someone could take a scientific and carefully curated approach at repairing and possibly improving these things. This blog post is going to look at what I've been learning.
The #1 problem with these old laptops are the hinges. The reason why is because older Active Matrix LCD's (and Monochrome, and Dual Scan color DTSN units....) are a bit heavier and robust structures when compared to present day laptops. Your typical Dell Latitude you might find at your work has a 14" LCD that's as thin as 1/8" thick with sheet thin plastic border and an aluminum back that weighs half of what that back plastic from a 1994 NEC Versa would. Add to it that these hinges maintain friction as a lithium or carbon greased assembly that takes on dust, dirt, and grime over the years, and gets tighter....this paired with the old plastic backplates makes for a disaster as bad as total catastrophic failure that can even lead to the screen itself getting bent and cracking as a minor metal sub-assembly tries to pull the lid shut over an over-torqued dusty old hinge.
Another failure point are corners, screw anchors, and such. The biggest problem with corners is they are a focused impact point that can make a weak plastic, such as the brittle flame-retardant plastics of the early 1990's like Nintendo and Apple used, knock as much as a whole section of the case off. My Versas and my ThinkPad 755CD all suffered from this tragic issue. Screw anchors are a failure point as you're expecting a tiny screw and a weak brass ring the size of a BB to hold 2 8.5"x11" or more pieces of plastic making a device almost 2" thick stay together. Then there's the molding. Something on modern laptops that I see only on a rare few vintages ones, is a plastic "web" structure using triangles - this is why your Dell or Toshiba Techra from 2008 still is in one piece - yet the same laptop from 1994 is crumbling apart, because those screw anchors are just a lone extrusion "tube" of plastic coming off a flat sheet (not strong enough). And the manufcturers make their molds like this because it both reduces weight, and injection molded material used.....
But right now, were talking after-market, 3rd-10th hand old laptops from the late 80's and early 90's....and were sure as heck not going to make molds for major new parts (at least not yet) - but what one can do, is use modern adhesives, epoxies, and other things either not mainstream yet or non-existent at the time, to make these old laptops "daily worthy" - at least almost, is what I'm going to start experimenting with.
J.B. Weld Steel Stick - I've already used this. One spot is the hinge cover on my Versa 40EC was flood filled by SteelStik and the screw type changed to a pair of wood screws which has made the structure VERY strong. No more cracks, and if there ever were, it could just be flood filled by J.B. Original and sanded to be almost indiscernable from the original brittle plastic.
J.B. Weld Original - I've had varying success with this. The best spot I used it in was the hinges to my Active Matrix screen that originally came with my 40EC. That's where the case was breaking when I bought it. After loosening the hinge just a hair with pliars and some very careful prying while in a vice, as well as flooding that whole region with J.B. Weld, and keeping the metal parts glossy so they would not adhere - I now have a solid original structure, that (mostly) matches the original plastic, and is likely much stronger. It's actually holding together, and with some sanding, reshaping, and careful tool work, I was able to make the bezel fit seamlessly to the top cover so well the joint when snapped on is invisible. Also, with the looser hinge, it's much more sturdy.
Cyanoacrilate (Superglue) + Baking Soda (or other reactive materials) - I've found out why this trick works so well in guitar repair for nuts and such. It's not so much the superglue itself making a material with finely ground materials, but rather, it's the chemical reaction that creates HEAT to a point that it smokes and makes fumes, and likely causes the new formulation to bond with whatever mallable/meltable material next to it (ie PLASTIC). I also read this makes a VERY solid structure - which means this might be a good way to mold minor replacement parts like covers, latches, maybe even a full blown trackball ball (use mini versions of Guitar polishing techniques to bring it to the right gloss). I also saw it work with Aluminum powder so this could be really handy. I also saw it work with graphite and get as hot as 300 degrees (!!!) - meaning it could really assimilate into the bottom plastic, and the black color would be great for those old Dell laptops nororious for structural issues (got my eyes on a DX4 right now).
Professional Epoxy + Fiberglass Mesh or Aluminum Mesh - Also looking at using this to solidify the bottom. I think I'll be using this on the P/75 since the part tolerances are kind of wide - so I have room for an aluminum mesh and a layer of epoxy inside. This will make the case heavy duty inside, while retaining the classic look outside. Which is the goal. Make it sort of like a "show car" - you don't see all the bondo, welded in sheet metal to remove rust that's been eating it away, or the fiberglass parts replacing original steel parts that were destroyed. So all you'd see is whatever laptop it is - but it's made stronger and better by what's inside. It can be sanded down within 1 1000th of an inch of where it needs to be (tighter than stock) making this heavier. I can prevent bleed-through using packing tape on the outside.
Another thing I'm messing with is building full blown machines with custom cases using plastic, acrylic, maybe even wood. My builds would probably be super heavy duty considering the glue I use is strong enough to keep a 7lb guitar from breaking even if it hits the street from 7 feet in the air. I could build woodgrain laptops using the guts from old stuff the same way. I might use my M/75's guts for this.
Just ideas.....I've been kind of looking for a new avenue like this for awhile on the PC side...