Series 3 Dock broke (interior plastics); need advice how to fix, or at least get it to dock again

[axur-delmeria]

Some plastic bits inside the dock broke. Those bits are part of the docking mechanism, and because of that, the mechanism won't move and I cant dock my X220 with it.

If I remove all the moving parts of the latching mechanism, would that allow me to use the dock again? Any advice is welcome.

Replacement isn't an option because docks are quite rare here. The Ultrabase isn't an option because i need a DVI port for my monitor.

The crazy part in me is thinking of ripping out the circuit board and hopefully make my own dock, one that negatively affect temperatures.

[RealBlackStuff]

Some pictures of the inside: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... d-0949.jpg
If you remove the plastic around the docking port, you may be able to connect the X220 again.

[axur-delmeria]

Some pictures of the inside: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... d-0949.jpg
If you remove the plastic around the docking port, you may be able to connect the X220 again.

Thanks. I ended up removing all the plastic and metal bits of the latching mechanism.
I thought I could use the dock with the rectangular plastic plate removed, but it turns out I need it to help align the laptop to the docking connector, though I think I should reattach the alignment guide I removed back then so that I can line up the laptop to the docking port much faster.
.
The temps are really a bit higher when docked, around 5 degrees Celsius I think. I think that plastic plate is part of the reason, as it covers a significant portion of the bottom chassis. I'm wondering if I should punch some holes in it.