Zool! Arty Workshop

Lenovo Y50 Hinge Problem #1: Screen Lid Screw Posts Came Off or Destroyed

Tags: laptops, Lenovo

Lenovo Y50's hinge applies on the screen lid quite extensive load. So, this laptop often has issues with the hinge screw posts inside the screen lid.

One possible way of dealing with this issue is shown below.

The vast majority of screw posts in Lenovo Y50 are made of a plastic post and threaded expansion insert fused together. It's not a big surprise the threaded insert can easily come off due the insufficient plastic quality. In the video fragment you see the screen lid screw posts for the right hinge having this problem:

An easy and reliable solution to this is to not use the fastening system provided by Lenovo at all. It's possible to substitute a destroyed screw post with our own bolt, nut, and washer. They can fasten the hinge to the screen lid without any fragile plastic involved. But, drilling the metal screen lid cover is required.

I used 2.5M bolts, but I drilled 3 mm holes for the bolt head to be hidden. At first, put the threaded inserts on their places and drill 1 mm holes using the inserts as guides. Having the 1 mm holes drilled on the right spots, drill thicker holes for your bolts. This is how the screen lid cover may look after drilling:

Now it's already possible to fasten the hinge with a bolt put through the hole and hinge from outside, a washer placed on the hinge from inside, and a nut on top of it. But, I suggest using an additional washer between the hinge and just made hole. This washer should compensate for the absence of the threaded insert, and relay the load to the cover. Without it the load goes to other threaded inserts, thus to the fragile plastic. Such a washer can be made from the threaded insert itself – just remove the thread with 2.5 mm drill bit.

As to the washer on which the nut is placed, it can be made from the bolt Lenovo used to fasten the hinge. It has a thin and drillable head, and easily removable shank. So, make a washer from this bolt, if you don't have a suitable one. The next video fragment shows such a bolt, as well as washers made from bolts of this kind:

To summarize, our new hinge fastening node consists of:

1. 2.5M bolt (outside)
2. washer made from a threaded insert (inside, between the just made hole and hinge)
3. hinge hole
4. washer made from a bolt used by the manufacturer or another suitable washer (inside, on the hinge)
5. nut for fastening all the above to the metal cover (inside, on the washer)

Together, without a hinge, it may look like this:


Also, watch this video for more comments on the hinge fastening parts:

If you fasten the hinge through the holes using the parts listed above, the result should resemble the one in the video:

Also, here is the photo of an assembled laptop with the screen lid closed:

In the next article a solution to the bendy palmrest problem of Lenovo Y50 will be shown.

17 May 2019