[NTLK] I'm new to Newton emate purchased on ebay (Cosmo Kain)

[Woody Smith]

I have done nearly 100 eMate hinge re-greasings and installation of  
washers.  In almost every case in addition to the original grease  
being thick and sticky I also noted some evidence of damage.  Metal  
filings in the grease to some degree of the tensioning springs winding  
around the hinge shaft.  This process will eventually lead to the  
spring releasing and if on the display ribbon side may damage the  
ribbon.

On the other hand I have seen numerous eMates that seemed to have  
never been used and the hinges were in perfect condition except for  
the thickening of the grease.  While I always clean and re-grease and  
install a washer since the logic board must be removed to check  
anyways.  Still I could understand some people choosing to simply use  
a teflon oil at this point, and some have reported injecting oil  
without disassembly, though I don't know how.  (any personal  
experience here would be welcome)

I have never seen one of the screws come loose or be damaged in any  
way.  The role of the washer is to cause the spring to wind more  
tightly around the hinge shaft should the new grease age and become  
sticky. If the washer is slightly bent as directed and the screw not  
cross threaded on re-installation there should be no problem.

There was one report of a spring actually breaking after a washer  
installation, but I don't know who did the work and perhaps the washer  
was too small.  I use #6 washers, I'm sure this is not universal  
sizing, but I use the largest steel washers that I can find that will  
not let the head of the screw to pass through.

I have never had one fail.

Woody


On Sep 1, 2010, at 4:41 PM, Tony Kan wrote:

> In all my years of following Newtontalk I have never heard of anyone  
> who has had
> a broken ribbon cable with a unit with the hinge fix applied.
>
> He is probably correct regarding the strength of the hinge because  
> there maybe
> less thread engaged in the whole but usually these things have a  
> safety margin
> built in.  From our collective experience it looks like the hinge  
> fix falls
> within this margin.
>
> Open to correction here, so chime in anyone who has found  
> information that
> proves me wrong.
>
> [snip]
>>
>> "The hinge fix is very much misunderstood. All emates will have the
>> hinge spring, give at some time. The "hinge fix" does not prevent
>> this, it just prolongs it. Its a flaw in the design that can not be
>> corrected. Some people say that if you put a washer over the nut,
>> that it will fix it. Whoever came up with that idea is no metal giant
>> because if you look at the structure of the hinge, if anything, you
>> will reduce the holding power of the nut by putting in the washer and
>> thus, reducing the hinge life"
>
> [snip]