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Broken Amstrad PPC LCD hinges

NeXT

NeXT

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2008
Messages
8,208
Location
Kamloops, BC, Canada
I have an Amstrad PPC 512 here and currently the two hinges for the lcd are broken so either I prop it up with something or I look directly down at the screen.

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This also means that all that holds it in place is the ribbon cable and that will not last long.
Any ideas on how to fix this?
Also, will the onboard floppy controller accept 1.44mb floppy drives? It would be nice to replace these two 720k drives with something else...
 
NeXT said:
Any ideas on how to fix this?
Click to expand...

If you could clamp it correctly, I've had fair decent luck with super glue :p
It really depends on the type of plastic, and a lot of luck.

It looks like you could clamp it fairly well if you removed the front bezel from the LCD assembly.

Best of luck to you though.
__
Trevor
 
I don't think super glue would work in this case. While it is "strong" it's not strong enough for the task of holding the lcd in place.
 
NeXT said:
I don't think super glue would work in this case. While it is "strong" it's not strong enough for the task of holding the lcd in place.
Click to expand...
I haven't had much luck with superglue either; I *have* successfully repaired several broken hinges by filling in the back with a good epoxy (JB Weld, Gorilla, etc.) and embedding a small strip of metal to bridge the break and add strength.

Good luck!
 
I have heard of JB weld and have used it before but that was on larger breaks. On smaller stuff like this I have never seemed to get stuff to remain together for long.
 
NeXT said:
I have heard of JB weld and have used it before but that was on larger breaks. On smaller stuff like this I have never seemed to get stuff to remain together for long.
Click to expand...
Just using it *in* the break like glue doesn't work well; like I said you really need to create a reinforced bridge *across* the break as well, which shouldn't be a problem here since only one side is visible. Clamp or support it somehow and give it lots of time to set.
 
NeXT said:
I have an Amstrad PPC 512 here ..
Click to expand...

Broken hinges aside, what do you think of these machines. For some reason this model comes up on our TradeMe site quite often (or it could be the same machines doing the rounds). In fact there is one on there now.

It's always struck me as an oddball but therefore interesting design.

Tez
 
NeXT said:
Also, will the onboard floppy controller accept 1.44mb floppy drives? It would be nice to replace these two 720k drives with something else...
Click to expand...

I don't think it will. You could fit one, but it would only behave as a 720k drive. There's certainly no BIOS support for them.
 
I've has some good luck with repairing hinges that are pretty thick(like those appear to be)by using a Modeler's trick(also used by Orthopedic Surgeons).Pin it.Drill a hole in both pieces insert a Steel Pin(almost any kind of steel can be used,I like coat hangers) and glue it all together.(I like Epoxy Putty,it's maleable,trimable,sandable and can be painted.)
Hope this helps!
cgrape2
 
tezza said:
Broken hinges aside, what do you think of these machines. For some reason this model comes up on our TradeMe site quite often (or it could be the same machines doing the rounds). In fact there is one on there now.

It's always struck me as an oddball but therefore interesting design.

Tez
Click to expand...

Because I lack a powerful enough 12V DC adapter as well as a cigarette lighter adapter I have not actually powered it on yet so right now I'm pulling out the trusty old Radio Shack recharagable C cells and charging them up and seeing if I can power the thing up with a whopping ten batteries installed.
The case is beat up a fair bit but I like it. It feels very "portable evil laboratory"-ish to me and after opening it up I can see that it looks to be rather easy to max the thing with 640k ram as there are unpopulated sockets.
What would be nice though is a pinout for the expansion connector. I don't know what I would do with it but two ISA slots might be nice. Shoot, there's a spot inside where I could shimmy in a single ISA card (like a scsi adaptor or a network card).
I honestly see the LCD screen and the dual 720K floppy drives as the only real setback to it but otherwise, it's pimp. :cool:
 
NeXT said:
What would be nice though is a pinout for the expansion connector. I don't know what I would do with it but two ISA slots might be nice. Shoot, there's a spot inside where I could shimmy in a single ISA card (like a scsi adaptor or a network card).
I honestly see the LCD screen and the dual 720K floppy drives as the only real setback to it but otherwise, it's pimp. :cool:
Click to expand...

You can find the pinouts in the technical reference manual. And here's someone who's built an expansion box for one.
 
Sadly, a lot of old plastic was filler-heavy and not a good grade. A lot of Apple stuff was made with plastic that now seems to spontaneously disintegrate. Attempting to repair it reveals that the surrounding plastic won't hold up either, particularly as the plasticizer additives in the material evaporate. What was once flexible is now brittle.

Cue Shel Siverstein's "Plastic"

That being said, I've had pretty good luck with methyl chloride solvent cement (many hobby stores carry small bottles of it). But try it on an inconspicuous area first. The action is to dissolve some of the plastic, so that you essentially have a seamless joint when the solvent evaporates, that's as strong as the original material.
 
I aplied some of that LePage SpeedSet epoxy and I'll let that set for a day. Hopefully this will work.

Oh, and if anyone is interested the system IS up and somewhat running on C cells. I first had to tackle a stuck floppy drive and then a set of incorrectly set dip switches and now I just have to figure out why it does not want to boot from an imaged Amstrad boot floppy as well as why it's squealing out of its speaker for no reason at all.
 
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NeXT said:
It didn't work at all.
Even after 12 hours the epoxy just fell off. There was no adhesion to the plastic at all.
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If a solvent cement won't work, you'll have to look at contriving some other mechanism to keep the thing in place.

(Laptop hinges were the subject of several legal battles. I believe that Grid held the patent for the most-used type).
 
All other attempts to reattach the hinges have failed. The various glues and epoxies (even JB Weld) set no problem but as soon as they are stressed a little they just cleanly come right off the plastic.
I have not attempted to roughen the surfaces up but I'm running out of glue alternatives but what about chemical alternatives?
I have already been made aware of methyl chloride solvent cement (which I have not gone out to look for) as well as pure acetone (which I also don't have and apparently the fumes are VERY bad for you).
But what else is there? I don't know what the plastic is (usually I look for a "-ABS-" or similar marking but have yet to find one).
 
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You can also try this stuff. 3M makes a special plastic adhesive for repairs, but it's very dear.

You might also try your local auto parts store. ABS is getting to be everywhere on modern cars. I had some cracking issues with my Volvo "brick" and repaired a couple of areas using plain old black ABS pipe cement and fiberglass mesh, but that wouldn't be suitable for what you're doing.
 
I've used cgrape2's idea before on a Tandon drive, and it worked well.
Get a few small metal dowels, that will penetrate into both parts, and then glue them with the correct glue.

"Locktite SuperGlue All Plastics" for plastics is a two part deal, that uses a primer (probably like Chuck(G)'s stuff is), and then the glue.

I've also had very good results with "QuikPlastik", although it is light blue in colour, and can be used to fill broken parts.
They same guys also make something called "FastSteel" (and QuikWood) which is amazing stuff. I've fixed broken car parts with it. You can stick someone else's quarter or dime into it and a few hours later, give it back to them. They'll never get that coin out.
 
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