Cheap, strong materials for replacement laptop case

[Blaise170]

Long story short, have a relatively recent Lenovo laptop that keeps breaking at the hinge mount points, so I want to build a new case for the laptop to stop the breaking. This was common on this model laptop (IdeaPad U530) so just getting a new Lenovo case doesn't seem to be good idea. Any ideas on a good material for this use? I only have basic tools, so something easy to cut would be preferred.

[HotRoderX]

honestly in this case your best off just buying a new case from the manufacture and selling it on ebay/craigslist. Most laptop cases are optimized heavily for air flow. Also given what tools you have on hand I can't think of a single durable material you could make a case out of. I mean using plastic is out of the question because you have no way to mold shape it. Acrylic would be pretty brittle and not sure how it hold up to the heat a laptop can generate. That leave metal but with simple tools crafting a metal case would be neigh impossible.

[Blaise170]

Well I don't really plan on using it as a laptop more than 1-2 days/month. It will mostly just be used as a server for when I need to do Windows-based stuff at work and don't want to deal with VMs. That said, even though I can just leave it as is I'd prefer something to at least hold it together, even if it isn't extremely strong.

[HotRoderX]

Might look at making something out of wood or steel if its simple enough like open case design. My only worries with this would be cooling. That's going to be the biggest challenge your going to face. Perhaps TP4 has some idea's also. He pretty eccentric but has some great idea's most the time.

[Findecanor]

Maybe build a pair of ugly brackets that you fit over corners of the laptop and screen to hold the screen upright?
Make each one by routing tracks into a block of wood.

Or.. Lay fibreglass over the back side and bottom to build a bracket. Would be problematic if there is heat exhaust there though.
First tape the parts to be covered by the fibreglass bracket with clear tape and protect the rest with plastic film taped at the edges so that any spills of resin don't get into the laptop. Lay a few layers, and maybe build ridges.
After it has cured, trim the piece (health hazard) and epoxy it to the laptop.

[sinusoid]

You could try stuffing the internals into an older thinkpad case, those things can take a beating. They're magnesium alloy, and you can glue in mounting points for component screws into place.

Having access to lasercutter or cnc router would make things a lot easier. You could cut a case from polycarbonate.

Alternatively, use epoxy putty to glue it all back together, reinforcing the stress points.

[Blaise170]

Well for now until I figure out a longer term solution, it is now a file cabinet build.

[fohat.digs]

JB Weld, original formula, the best solution for any repair job.

[Blaise170]

JB Weld, original formula, the best solution for any repair job.

The hinges somehow managed to break JB Weld (I tried that solution already).

[Findecanor]

JB Weld, original formula, the best solution for any repair job.

JB Weld is just an epoxy with pigments.

[rinkaan]

Drill some pilot holes for the epoxy to grab into. Add some wire in for reinforcement (similar to reinforcing. Concrete) epoxy are surface binding and doesn't penetrate, so if u didn't clean the surface with rubbing alcohol after scuffing it, it will pop off easily.

Sent from my MI 6 using Tapatalk

[senso]

Lube the hinge and unscrew the nut 1/4 of a turn to reduce the tension, no more broken chassis, lots of laptops have hinges way too stiff on chassis way too flimsy made of crappy basic ABS.

[Blaise170]

That's not exactly the case with these. It's not that the hinge is broken where it's screwed in, it's the entire chassis itself. Because of the way Lenovo designed them, everytime the laptop is opened or closed it puts tension on the entire lid of the laptop.

[Leslieann]

Making a new case really isn't an option unless you're a masochist, what you can do is get another and reinforce it BEFORE it breaks.

See if you can loosen the hinge pivot a bit, yes the screen will be more wobbly, but better a slightly wobbly screen than a broken case. Then put a steel or plexiglass plate on bottom with longer bolts, and make it wider and longer than the hinge, then epoxy that on as well as use screws, then on the inside, sand, then fill in all voids with epoxy... Drilling a few holes so the epoxy goes through the case to the plexiglass will also add strength by creating a sandwich, then if you can, epoxy the hinges down as well.  If that breaks, you have little hope of fixing this thing.

By the way, I've seen almost every manufacturer have this problem, including Apple. This is also why i advocate buying used, corporate grade laptops. For one, problems are figured out pretty fast and any company who buys 10k laptops isn't going to let it slide when 2000 of them fail. It DOES get fixed.

[Blaise170]

This Lenovo wasn't exactly cheap, I think it was like $1K back in 2015. Either way, it wasn't originally my laptop, I just became its new owner since it so completely fell apart. I usually used to buy used middle tier laptops for myself and my last was a $2K MSI, haven't had these issues with proper care, ever. Only had one laptop with broken hinges come in during the three years I worked college IT supporting every brand and price range under the sun. But that isn't what this thread is about anyways.

The laptop is so utterly broken that it lays flat on the table and this isn't one of Lenovo's convertibles.

[sinusoid]

@Leslieann, I second that advice on corporate laptops. No dud in last 15 years.

@Blaise170,
you can always turn it into a sandwich tablet, like,


Just get a piece of plywood/polycarb/stale pizza, bolt mobo and internals to one side, screen to the other, slap some protection on sensitive parts, and it should live its life out happily.

Just ground the bolts. Cut up ethernet cable and hotglue does that pretty okay.

[Leslieann]

This Lenovo wasn't exactly cheap, I think it was like $1K back in 2015. Either way, it wasn't originally my laptop, I just became its new owner since it so completely fell apart. I usually used to buy used middle tier laptops for myself and my last was a $2K MSI, haven't had these issues with proper care, ever. Only had one laptop with broken hinges come in during the three years I worked college IT supporting every brand and price range under the sun. But that isn't what this thread is about anyways.

The laptop is so utterly broken that it lays flat on the table and this isn't one of Lenovo's convertibles.

Price has nothing to do with it, it's a matter of who the expected customer is, no major company really cares if you suffer a busted hinge just out of warranty, they know most people have little brand warranty (other than Apple) and will buy whatever catches their eye at the store. They do care about the corporate customer who orders 10k of them at a time plus a service plan to maintain them, clients like this are easy money if the manufacturer did their homework (hence the increased cost), and these clients are easy to lose and hard to acquire.

Home laptops are engineered to last 2-3 years and a few major problems are not a big deal, corporate systems on the other hand are designed to last 5, 6, maybe more and without any major issues, even if the warranty and contract is often half that.