My laptop casing at both corners are falling apart. I can not buy a new one now. Can someone suggest me a good solution for this?
5 Answers
There is not a good way to repair this kind of damage. You might be able to buy some time with a temporary repair that looks like crap but could hold things together for a while. @Davo is sort of on the right track, but Sugru won't provide the kind of reinforcement that will help much. You really need something that will have strength and rigidity on the order of magnitude of the case, itself, while not interfering with internal parts or closing the lid.
If you didn't drop the laptop, then those cracks are probably stress/fatigue. It could be from stress from the hinge, as @Appleoddity suggests, in which case you would need to fix that issue as well as the visible crack. The suggestion on that answer is a good solution for that.
If you identify a specific cause for the cracking and fix it, that surface will no longer be under the stress that caused the crack, so you might get away with more of a cosmetic repair for the crack, or at least a repair that doesn't need as much strength. Otherwise, if the crack happened to the case, which is designed to be strong enough to handle that stress, anything not as strong as the original plastic won't last long.
I can think of a couple of "high strength" temporary fixes, either of which you should probably do with the broken piece removed from as much as you can of the laptop, especially any internal parts directly under the cracks.
The easiest, but weakest repair would be a chemical weld. A true chemical weld will be as strong as the plastic you're welding, but you're welding fatigued parts together and the original plastic broke. So the repair won't be as strong as the newly-manufactured case, and that wasn't strong enough not to break.
Plastic laptop bodies are typically made of ABS plastic. Look for a thin (i.e., watery) welding solvent that will get drawn into the hairline cracks by capillary action. If you can't push closed the open crack, you would want a thicker cement for there to fill the gap (might require multiple applications because it will shrink as it dries. See what is locally available, or check out a supplier like this one.
Other kinds of glues, like epoxy, will fill the crack, but probably won't bond with the kind of strength needed for other than a cosmetic repair. There are some superglues (cyanoacrylate) that work with an activator to bond plastics, but they don't have great characteristics for this kind of repair. They're good on something with some surface area and keep two pieces from being pulled apart, but they are brittle and don't have a lot of strength on joints with very little surface area or that are subject to shear or flexing (which may be the cause for that crack since there's a hinge close by).
The other approach is a hot weld that actually melts the sections together and reinforces it. You can use a soldering iron, but it is hotter than what you want, so you need to be careful with how long you apply it so you don't cook the plastic. There are plastic welding irons like this one from Harbor Freight that operate at a better temperature.
There are also some low cost variable temperature soldering irons that let you reduce the temperature to a better range for plastic (start at about 350-400 F and adjust from there as needed). You would need to look at current offerings, but here is a discontinued one that I spotted to give you the idea. They have a little knob to adjust the temperature, or a button that moves the temperature setting through a series of ranges.
Instructions for the technique would be excessive and off-topic here, but there are lots of instructions online (search on "welding plastic"). Here's one link to a decent video on welding ABS I spotted to get you started. This is something that's part art and part science; it can take a little practice to get the hang of it and do a neat job. If you have some busted plastic junk laying around, practice on that first.
The gist of the process involves melting the edges together and intermixing the plastic. You reinforce the broken area by using the soldering iron to heat some metal mesh or pieces of wire, which you push well into into the plastic, then seal the plastic over it. If there is a gap you need to fill or you have enough clearance to add a little plastic for strength, you can buy thin rods of ABS that are sold for this purpose. You add it as you would solder. BTW, don't mix different types of plastic, they generally don't really mix and won't bond with each other.
Often, you can find everything you need at a place like Harbor Freight or Home Depot. Auto repair supply stores may have it because it is used to repair plastic parts on vehicles. Hobby supply stores also might (more of a long shot). It's also available online.
If you've found and fixed the cause of the stress, so you can get away with a lower strength repair, @gronostaj's solution would be a lot simpler than welding. It's basically the reinforcement portion of the welding described here without the welding.
Try using some Sugru to repair it.
While not affiliated with this company or product, I have used it for minor projects, and seen it used for large products, including equipment repair.
There are many examples online, including this waffle iron repair, and some more general repairs.
4Ok, so I have fixed this type of damage hundreds of times. But, it's not likely something that will turn out too well for you unless you have a great deal of mechanical inclination and experience.
The short answer though is that I keep a supply of small stainless steel screws of different lengths and matching nuts and washers. I'd tell you exactly what kind if I didn't have them at another location. They are small metric screws that match the existing laptop screws and mounts, so I can re-use parts if possible. I get the from the local hardware store.
This type of damage happens when the hinge mounts break inside the laptop and put stress on other parts of the case.
Every laptop is completely different but I've not seen one that couldn't be fixed. Basically you need to drill a hole all the way through the case, use your nuts and washers and screws and other ingenuity to rebuild the mounts with proper spacing/gaps. The screws will go all the way through the case, then you can take a dremel and cut and polish up the ends. I always secure the nuts with loctite (you might want to do a dry run first and make sure it is right). I also often use a soldering gun to reposition and melt new nuts or other parts in to place of the broken pieces.
6You could have some luck with staples and soldering iron.
Remove the broken parts and temporarily secure them in correct position using some duct tape. Use tweezers to hold the staple vertically across both parts. Heat up the staple using soldering iron. Push it gently. Let staple's heat melt the plastic and sink until it's flat. Bend excessive metal on the other side.
Repeat until reaching expected sturdiness. Place some duct tape on the bottom to prevent shorting some random wires that may go there. Reassemble laptop.
It's quite tricky, but should give your laptop few more months of life until you can afford proper repair.
1My laptop has a crack like this at the hinge and I originally tried to repair and reinforce it with plumber's epoxy, but it did not stick to the plastic and eventually broke off. I found the perfect product later though. JB Plastic Weld worked perfectly. It sticks to the plastic, filled my crack, and reinforces it to alleviate the stress that caused to crack. Plus it was easy to work with a smooth out so the repair actually looks kind of nice. Also it's sandable. Attached are images. I accidentally bought the tan color instead of the clear, but it doesn't matter because I plan on paint my laptop anyways. enter image description here
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