Got myself a ThinkPad 600E with broken hinges, can I repair old hinges instead of buying new ones?

[karl80038]

Hello!
I recently got myself a retro ThinkPad, the 600E. However, its hinges are TOTALY broken. The screen won't stay in position, it absolutely falls flat, unless I put some object behind the lid that supports it and keeps it in place. My question is, would it be possible to repair the hinges without going and purchasing new hinges new hinges online? I cannot buy anything online because I don't own a credit card or have access to any other payment tool(s) that Ebay supports. I'll say this: I tried tightening hinges, but it didn't work. I haven't heard about broken hinges on these oldschool ThinkPads, so I guess they're rare occurence. If anyone has ever owned or seen a ThinkPad with a broken hinge, please let me know.
Still, the laptop itself is awesome, I'm loving the keyboard, I also love the rubber coating on the palmrest. So I think this laptops is good for running Windows 98 along with couple oldschool Win95 and MS-DOS-era games.
I also took pictures of my ThinkPad 600E (sorry for the poor picture quality), they're available in the links below:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... EpyNDdEdHM
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... 0c2WFVnV3M
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... 2FhTTVlbkU
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... W8wQmp4RlE
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... lVQYWg2eHc
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... VZ1eHNwV00
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... XYzdEpLaDg
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... 2xpZnpzRzg
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... ktKMDUwa00
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... GNHV2ZUSlE
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... 2tSLWYzTzQ
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... GlSSmVuRDQ
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... EhHd1cyY2c
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... TZvcWMydkU
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... 2stczFqLWs
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... EVBMmhwZzQ
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... 1l4b3FQQ0k

Anyways,
thanks for reading and replying!
Karl

[ajkula66]

You'll have to replace the hinges, there's nothing else to be tried.

I'm reasonably certain that if you post a WTB (want to buy) ad in the forum's Marketplace someone will come to the rescue, and most sellers around here are quite accommodating when it comes to various payment methods.

Wishing you the best of luck with restoring that oldie.

[Thinkpad4by3]

You'll have to replace the hinges, there's nothing else to be tried.

I'm reasonably certain that if you post a WTB (want to buy) ad in the forum's Marketplace someone will come to the rescue, and most sellers around here are quite accommodating when it comes to various payment methods.

Wishing you the best of luck with restoring that oldie.

You forgot one thing, duct tape. Well, no good soul in their right mind would ever put a tiny bit of duct tape on such a machine.

Sent from my SM-G550T using Tapatalk

[karl80038]

You'll have to replace the hinges, there's nothing else to be tried.

I'm reasonably certain that if you post a WTB (want to buy) ad in the forum's Marketplace someone will come to the rescue, and most sellers around here are quite accommodating when it comes to various payment methods.

Wishing you the best of luck with restoring that oldie.

Thanks for the advice, I might consider it. Other than those hinges, the laptop is in a really good condition. I can tell the laptop wasn't used much at all when I got it, in fact all the port doors covering all the ports were still in tact (few have since come off because I've been using some of the ports on the machine). So it makes me surprised that the hinges on these have failed, considering it wasn't used that much. It still has the original IBM Travelstar hard drive which still works properly and it's probably the original hard drive the laptop came with. Here are more pictures:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... EtUZ1pEOEE
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... UROUWhWQ0E
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... zhUR0NELWc
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7YQ ... WtnODgxdmc
Thanks again for reading and replying!
Karl

[AlphaKilo470]

The hinges themselves have a bolt you can turn to tighten them. However, in my experience, that fix doesn't last and also, if you overtighten, you'll flat out break your hinges.

[Thinkpad4by3]

The hinges themselves have a bolt you can turn to tighten them. However, in my experience, that fix doesn't last and also, if you overtighten, you'll flat out break your hinges.

If you overtighen them, youll need to runover the thinkpad to close it Its a 600E, it will survive.

[Thinkpad4by3]

The hinges themselves have a bolt you can turn to tighten them. However, in my experience, that fix doesn't last and also, if you overtighten, you'll flat out break your hinges.

If you overtighen them, youll need to runover the thinkpad to close it Its a 600E, it will survive.

[AlphaKilo470]

A few years back, I tightened the hinges on a 600X and the more I used it, the tighter they got then they just snapped and now I can only use it if the lid is resting on the wall or some books.

[Thinkpad4by3]

A few years back, I tightened the hinges on a 600X and the more I used it, the tighter they got then they just snapped and now I can only use it if the lid is resting on the wall or some books.

I actually made some 3D printed hinges. They were both extremely tight and durable. Also no need for tightening the way they worked.

[AlphaKilo470]

I noticed several months ago when I replaced the LCD panel on my Dell Latitude E7250 that it's hinges have a design really similar to what was used in the ThinkPad 600.