Screen Hinge Tightness RESOLVED

[kiko88]

EDIT: Added pics

So the power went out at my house yesterday. Bored, i started messing with my Gemini. In doing so the screen cover just freaking fell off!

I noticed with no hinge cover (the grey metal part that has the planet logo and the words Planet by Gemini) the
 screen was just flopping around. The physical hinge itself just controls the amount that the screen opens and DOES NOT control the amount of force required to open the display or how much force is needed to close the display.

My gemini suffered screen bounce when i would set it down on a table and touch type. and if i held it and thumb typed the screen would flop around. it really makes the device feel cheap in the hands and was probably my biggest let down.

On to the fix:

the general idea behind the fix is understanding how the hinge cover is used to apply force. it hooks on to both the display and the keyboard parts and essentially acts like a spring. it just wants to pull them together (therefore locking them in to place)

On my gemini, with the display all the way open i could put my fingers in the gap where the ribbon cable goes and unhook the hinge cover from the keyboard side. i knew this was not good and was the reason the screen wobbled. So i took the bottom cover and sim cover off the gemini first, then opened the screen and popped off the keyboard side of the hinge cover and gently removed the cover from the screen side as well.

with the cover off i could see that the angle where the rubber strip is was just a tick over 90 degrees. the cover should make an L shape where the long part of the L is where the planet logo is, the corner of the L is where the rubber strip is.

So instead of looking like this L it looked more like this \_ (obviously not that exaggerated) so i bent it to a little tighter than 90 degrees and reassembled the unit. to put the hinge cover back on, attach it to the display, open the display all the way and the bottom part should take just a bit of force to get over the lip on the keyboard part. reattach the other covers and congratulations. You now have a sturdy as frig pocket computer you always knew the gemini could be.

ill get some pictures and better instructions one i get home (i stayed in a hotel last night due to the power being out at my house)

ALSO, in one pic, you can see where the rubber is attached to the cover. if you put some superglue on each black nub that sticks through the metal, i bet this will fix the "Rubber keeps falling off or getting bendy like bacon" issue.... im doing it to mine.

not too bad for my first post.

[Montala]

Hi,
Thank you for a most informative first post!
I would certainly be interested in seeing some photographs and reading some further instructions on your sfforts, as I am experiencing similar problems myself!
It does sund as if you managed to 'fix' the problem though, which is good!

[Ifanafi]

Your fixed-it post ought to be PINNED to this forum for future reference.

Thank you for sharing it.

Ifanafi

[Dixit]

Yes indeed. This should be in one of the chapters of that $ 26 user manual.

[gidds]

It works!  \o/

When pressing on my screen, there's still about a millimetre of play before the keyboard half starts to tip too, but it's a lot firmer than it was.  (And I'm scared to bend it any further.)

I'd suggest being a bit careful how you bend the metal; its corner will be a natural weakness (due to the row of holes for attaching the rubber), and you don't want it to overshoot, soften, or even break.  For the same reason, I'd be wary of doing this more than once or twice in future.

Perhaps this indicates an area whether manufacturing processes and/or QA could be tightened up?  (Like the keyboard mat; I suspect there's still room for improvement there.)

[kiko88]

It works!  \o/

When pressing on my screen, there's still about a millimetre of play before the keyboard half starts to tip too, but it's a lot firmer than it was.  (And I'm scared to bend it any further.)

I'd suggest being a bit careful how you bend the metal; its corner will be a natural weakness (due to the row of holes for attaching the rubber), and you don't want it to overshoot, soften, or even break.  For the same reason, I'd be wary of doing this more than once or twice in future.

Perhaps this indicates an area whether manufacturing processes and/or QA could be tightened up?  (Like the keyboard mat; I suspect there's still room for improvement there.)

Glad it helped you! i was sooo excited once i figured it out, the thing feels like a tank now.

I think this is something they can tighten up in QC while manufacturing. does anyone know how to get a hold of PC? id gladly assist them if i could. my background is manufacturing and engineering, it would be awesome to help this project in any way.

[Eldkatten]

Hello,

meanwhile I doubt whether it was a good idea to try this (in fact I think it was not). Either when taking off or putting back on (don't know when it happened) that L-shaped sping part of the cover some of the plastic clips broke off. Now the metal spring part slips over the edge when I open the Gemini, and clacks back when I close it (sometimes I have to push it back in place), that way damaging the plastic edge which should hold the metal cover in place even more.

I know, that's my fault since I fiddled around with something not meant by the manufacturer, but I do think it's worth mentioning for those thinking about trying it.

Nevertheless I think those thin and shallow plastic edges/ridges/clips are way to small and flumsy. I noticed that already when I removed the cover to put in an SD-card. Already then I was afraid of breaking off the plastic parts that hold the metal cover. I think this is a major design flaw.

Kind regards

[Roy KG]

Glad it helped you! i was sooo excited once i figured it out, the thing feels like a tank now.

I think this is something they can tighten up in QC while manufacturing. does anyone know how to get a hold of PC? id gladly assist them if i could. my background is manufacturing and engineering, it would be awesome to help this project in any way.

Can I ask one thing?  Was your Gemini one of the early numbers?  My order was quite a late one (over 5800) which I think was towards the end of the crowd funding project.  I got mine around mid-June, and right from the start it has been fine regarding both the keyboard and the hinge, so I assume these original quality issues have been sorted by the time mine was produced - unless yours is a high number too; which might then indicate a variable quality issue?

Thanks for sharing and the photos which are always useful.

[gidds]

Was your Gemini one of the early numbers?

Mine was from the second production run.  (Bear in mind that Geminis weren't produced in strict number order; it also depended on the type of keyboard, and whether it had 4G, so the order number doesn't tell you very much.)

So mine had the x27, newer keyboard mat, &c.  (Does anyone know whether any further changes were made in the third or later runs?)

It's definitely benefited from the bending the metal cover.  It was only a very slight bend — hardly visible — but now if I hold the Gemini by the keyboard at any angle, the screen doesn't sag like it used to; and it bounces much less when typing hard. 

So I'd still recommend trying this if you have those problems.

But, as mentioned above, I'd suggest taking care: don't overbend the metal; and be very careful when removing and replacing it, to avoid damaging the plastic clips holding it.

[dogomalaika]

@kiko88

I can not tell you how grateful I am to you, for your post. So you and not Planet,  have solved my biggest problem with the Gemini.
As others have mentioned, this post really deserves to be pinned, or to be part of the instructions.
Many thanks.

dogomalaika

[NCI]

Removed hinge on mine and bent it thoroughly, the difference is night and day. Thank you very much for the guide!

[speculatrix]

Since I had it, I've wanted to address the floppy hinge and sharp edges on it, but apart from fitting the camera, memory card and SIM when I first got it, I'd not taken the covers off my G.

Last night I needed to swap the SIM out, and I took the cover off and cleaned out the small amount of dust. I looked carefully at the hinge cover/spring and found it was really easy to pop it off with the phone open just over 90 degrees.

I realised that what we've been calling the hinge is actually the hinge cover and spring. My spring was so floppy it made almost no difference when removed!

Using a fine file, I de-burred the edges of the camera cover and hinge cover edges (literally a few strokes), bent the spring to nearly 90 degrees and refitted it - it just pops back on. Just be sure to wipe off all filings carefully of course!

Wow, what a difference. It's so much better, the screen doesn't wobble as I type, and doesn't shift much as I touch it. Before it wasn't very nice trying to use it entirely hand-held, but now that's feasible.

So if you haven't done this and your screen is all floppy, I highly recommend it. Takes about 10 minutes all in all, even including the filing the edges smooth.

[jakfish]

I took a different approach to this issue, took it two weeks ago, and it seems to work. I was wondering if people could tell me why, since I'm no engineer.

Without opening anything, I lay the device bottom up, I cut a coat hanger the length of the hinge, filed both cut ends smooth, and laid the wire in the hinge's groove. I then fastened the wire in place with a piece of black duct tape that covered the Gemini logo and extended 1/2" on the bottom of the device.

The new stability is remarkable and I thought it was because I had made a new tripod to rest on a surface--edge of hinge, coat hanger, edge of machine. But my new wire doesn't touch any surface.

Have I reinforced the hinge? The wire seems to split the tape's tension, distributing it to both the back of the machine and the bottom. I've removed the duct tape once, to change it, and the tape does not damage the device's case.

Why does this simple thing work?

Jake

[speculatrix]

I lay the device bottom up, I cut a coat hanger the length of the hinge, filed both cut ends smooth, and laid the wire in the hinge's groove

please can you post a picture, I'm having trouble visualising it.

thanks


p.s. you can attach photos to the forum posts

[jakfish]

 [ Invalid Attachment ] As you can see,  the black duct tape covers the wire that lies in the groove of the hinge on the machine's bottom.

Jake