To all. I bought a faulty Mac with this problem and I’m about to fix it using an epoxy resin glue. I won’t know how well it works for a few months but I’ll report back if I remember.
But for anyone about to attempt this repair job be aware that aluminum is a highly-reactive metal that reacts with oxygen very quickly and forms a very thin, nearly invisible layer of aluminum oxide on its surface that protecst it from further oxidation (the aluminum’s equivalent of rust).
However, and most importantly, the Al Oxide surface layer is very resistant to glues, and epoxy resin will NOT adhere to it very well. I tried it and found that I could peel the epoxy off the aluminum shell easily after 48 hours.
The aluminum surface needs to be properly prepared for the epoxy by sanding it down to clean shiny metal, then applying the epoxy resin glue very quickly afterwards. “How quick is quickly?” you might ask. I have not determined the time yet but by practicing on an old aluminum sardine can I found that if the cleaned surface is left for 24 hours before gluing the epoxy resin will NOT stick well. I am experimenting with gluing parts together within 2 hours of sanding and the epoxy seems to stick quite well within that time frame.
BEFORE attempting to repair a hinge carry out a test by trying to stick something to a piece of aluminum - like a sardine can, and see if you can peel the epoxy off easily with a knife. If it comes off relatively easily then your hinge repair will fail.
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=== Update (01/14/2019) ===
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A few peole have postulated that maybe the cause of the original glue coming unstuck was because they closed the case with their right hand and perhaps that twisted the top too many times and put more force on the right hinge (or the left hinge), thus causing it to break.
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The real answer is much simpler. There was not enough glue applied to the hinge in the first place!
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When I opened my Mac case I found only half a dozen small drops of glue on one of the hinges. Of the two surfaces that needed to have glue applied to stick them together only about 10% of the surface area had remnant glue on it.
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The other hinge did have enough glue on it, but once the first hinge broke, the other hinge DID have too much "twisting" force on it and it broke away too.
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So the real reason was just sloppy manufacturing by Apple.
To all. I bought a faulty Mac with this problem and I’m about to fix it using an epoxy resin glue. I won’t know how well it works for a few months but I’ll report back if I remember.
But for anyone about to attempt this repair job be aware that aluminum is a highly-reactive metal that reacts with oxygen very quickly and forms a very thin, nearly invisible layer of aluminum oxide on its surface that protecst it from further oxidation (the aluminum’s equivalent of rust).
-
However, and most importantly, the Al Oxide surface layer is very resistant to glues and epoxy resin will NOT adhere to it very well. I tried it and found that I could peel the epoxy off the aluminum shell easily after 48 hours.
+
However, and most importantly, the Al Oxide surface layer is very resistant to glues, and epoxy resin will NOT adhere to it very well. I tried it and found that I could peel the epoxy off the aluminum shell easily after 48 hours.
-
The aluminum surface needs to be properly prepared for the epoxy by sanding it down to clean shiny metal, then applying the epoxy resin glue very quickly afterwards. “How quick is quickly?” you might ask. I have not determined the time yet but by practicing on al old aluminum sardine can I found that if the cleaned surface is left for 24 hours before gluing the epoxy resin will NOT stick well. I am experimenting with gluing parts together within 2 hours of sanding and the epoxy seems to stick quite well withing that time frame.
+
The aluminum surface needs to be properly prepared for the epoxy by sanding it down to clean shiny metal, then applying the epoxy resin glue very quickly afterwards. “How quick is quickly?” you might ask. I have not determined the time yet but by practicing on an old aluminum sardine can I found that if the cleaned surface is left for 24 hours before gluing the epoxy resin will NOT stick well. I am experimenting with gluing parts together within 2 hours of sanding and the epoxy seems to stick quite well within that time frame.
BEFORE attempting to repair a hinge carry out a test by trying to stick something to a piece of aluminum - like a sardine can, and see if you can peel the epoxy off easily with a knife. If it comes off relatively easily then your hinge repair will fail.
To all. I bought a faulty Mac with this problem and I’m about to fix it using an epoxy resin glue. I won’t know how well it works for a few months but I’ll report back if I remember.
But for anyone about to attempt this repair job be aware that aluminum is a highly-reactive metal that reacts with oxygen very quickly and forms a very thin, nearly invisible layer of aluminum oxide on its surface that protecst it from further oxidation (the aluminum’s equivalent of rust).
However, and most importantly, the Al Oxide surface layer is very resistant to glues and epoxy resin will NOT adhere to it very well. I tried it and found that I could peel the epoxy off the aluminum shell easily after 48 hours.
The aluminum surface needs to be properly prepared for the epoxy by sanding it down to clean shiny metal, then applying the epoxy resin glue very quickly afterwards. “How quick is quickly?” you might ask. I have not determined the time yet but by practicing on al old aluminum sardine can I found that if the cleaned surface is left for 24 hours before gluing the epoxy resin will NOT stick well. I am experimenting with gluing parts together within 2 hours of sanding and the epoxy seems to stick quite well withing that time frame.
BEFORE attempting to repair a hinge carry out a test by trying to stick something to a piece of aluminum - like a sardine can, and see if you can peel the epoxy off easily with a knife. If it comes off relatively easily then your hinge repair will fail.