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I finally gave in and tried the freezer trick on a stuck laptop hinge
Had a Dell Latitude come in with a hinge so seized it wouldn't budge. I always thought putting electronics in the freezer was a joke, but after 20 minutes of fighting with penetrating oil, I wrapped the whole bottom chassis in a bag and left it in my shop freezer for about an hour. Pulled it out, let it warm up for five minutes, and the hinge pin popped right out with a light tap from my punch. I was sure it would cause condensation issues, but it was bone dry. Anyone have a better method for this, or is cold really the way to go?
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allen.ruby6mo ago
I did the exact same thing with an old ThinkPad last year. The cold shrinks the metal just enough to break the corrosion bond. I was also worried about condensation, but letting it warm up in the bag did the trick.
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rodriguez.cora5mo ago
Respectfully gotta disagree with the cold shrink theory. Metal expansion and contraction is real, but it's usually way too small to break corrosion bonds that have been building for years on old electronics. More likely the cold just made the board stiff enough that when you flexed it putting it together, you cracked loose the worst of the gunk. I tried the freezer trick on an old Dell with bad RAM slots and it did nothing, ended up needing to hit the contacts with deoxit and a fiberglass pen to actually fix it. The bag trick for condensation is smart though, should help avoid shorting stuff out when it warms back up.
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