David MacKay
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Psion 3a Hinge breakages

The psion 3a has at least four hinges. Two visible ones just beyond either end of the button bar, which seem to have a metal rod down the centre, and two hidden between the battery compartment and the button bar; these are simple plastic nipples which go into plastic holes.
I have owned several psions and have seen two hinge failures. (May 2000: Now I have seen all four! Right and Left fixes are identical.) All hinge breakages are easy to fix.
  • Left hidden hinge nipple breaks off. This makes the back side of the psion look crooked hile opening, and leaves the button bar flexing out. To fix this broken hidden hinge, see the gory photo sequence mentioned above.
  • Right visible hinge breaks 2mm above the hinge proper; the 8mm-wide neck connecting the hinge to the lid shears off. This is presumably caused by over-opening of the lid which bends the metal pin in the hinge and puts torque on the 8mm-wide neck.
    I know two fixes for this right-hinge problem.
    • I used epoxy adhesive and a thin piece of steel to glue the broken off piece back in place. The second time a visible-hinge broke, I just used a blob of epoxy (araldite) without steel. In both cases the epoxy is working fine.
    • Geoffrey Mathers used paperclips, solder and pins: external-hinge fixing info THIS LINK IS GONE.]

Site last modified Tue Dec 27 09:27:43 GMT 2011