Printable 3D models for ThinkPad 500 repairing

[panips]

Got 2 ThinkPad 500 while both were damaged so I tried to fix them with 3d printing parts. I did see someone shared a 3d printable model of hinge support but it in fact does not fit that good so I managed to make another one.


Other than that, there are still some weak/brittle parts because of its poor design, one is the hinge cap at the right corner of the LCD assemble.




Another one is a pole which is critical to secure the bottom case. It has completely no support and it's really easy to get damaged


So I 3d printed a splint for it


all 3d model files can be found at hxxps://archive[dot]org/details/thinkpad500fix
I'll keep updating this page for more parts and pictures about ThinkPad 500 repairing.

[solidpro]

I've done the same but using the 3D print created by "this does not compute" on youtube. I've documented it here (scroll to the bottom of the article): https://ret.rocks/index.php/ibm/500-series/500.

On this one, I found the 510 to have a very slightly smaller space around the rear hinge and therefore I had to sand each side of the 3D printed spacer, but now I have them fitted to all of my 500 and 510 machines and they work really well.

Thanks for sharing your designs, I might print off a few and try them on my 5xx machines.

[astral]

I got a 500 recently - works perfectly with the factory install on the hard disk, but the hinge has snapped in two. No fixing that haha. I got very lucky and a parts machine with a bad LCD (and bad DC/DC board) showed up for $50 on eBay and I snagged it - plastics are intact, and so is the hinge. Will be printing TDNC's hinge soon to hopefully get an intact and working machine.
To my surprise, the eBay machine's battery had been rebuilt at some point and still holds charge, though not much. I will probably rebuild it for a second time if the hinge fix is successful haha.

[solidpro]

Sounds like you got lucky twice? I've got two of each of the 500 and 510 machines (documented poorly here: https://ret.rocks/index.php/ibm/500-series/500) and they've been a bit of a labour of love. I think they're a nice, but delicate machine and I don't like the keyboards very much. I'm always on the look out for more though - they need to be saved with all these modern 3D prints before they all eat themselves!

[astral]

The keyboard is small, but has the same nice Lexmark switches as the larger ones. I find it quite alright to use for a machine as small as the 500 is. I think the biggest reason they failed in the market is that it was a subnotebook releasing in 1993 that had zero docking support! The PowerBook Duo was already out, and there were also many competing PC subnotebooks that could dock... Not sure what they were thinking.

[solidpro]

They were thinking 'how small can we make this thing?' and 'does it look cool?'

[solidpro]

Ok @panips I've got my own reinforcements - 10 of each, delivered for $48:

https://imgur.com/a/g18LQEX

I now just have to take my 500 and 510s apart for the 8th time to try them out!