Compatible PB180 case lid parts?

[rplacd]

All – after coughing on my PowerBook 180, the dreaded hinge failure seems to have happened. I'd like to replace the lid of the PB180 (i.e. the top case which the screen hinges screw onto.) Would y'all happen to know whether other PowerBook models have compatible parts, and if so which? PowerBook 180s seem to be expensive, while other models as-is are around the $50 mark.

 

[Juror22]

According to the last page of the service source, the PB180 display housing is the same for the PB160 and PB165

Display Housing 922-0044

I did not check any other service sources, so I don't know if there are others.

 

[sutekh]

I think you're unlikely to achieve a satisfactory outcome by purchasing a replacement, whether or not it's intact. The plastics have become brittle with age, and regardless of current condition, are unlikely to hold up. Case in point, I recently purchased a lightly used 180 for some prototyping work and upon arrival, the lid plastic around the threaded inserts was better than any I'd yet seen. Only took a few open / close cycles before it too was crumbling.

You have a number of options (some outlined in this forum's only sticky thread), from JB Weld, to 3D printed reinforcements, to (my personal preference) pinning the halves together by sending counter-sunk screws through the back of the lid into the remaining thread at the base of the inserts.

 

[rplacd]

Thanks for the tips, everyone. Gave the 3D printed insert a try – I did screw up, though, since now the inserts are rotating loose inside the case lid, even after JB Welding them down  Anyone know any good way to fix in a screw insert in some ABS?