Damaged CF29N - repair, or duct tape?

Hello,

I work as a contractor in the Middle East, and just returned home from a 6 month rotation. Three weeks before I left I was in an incident, and my rucksack got torn up a bit. Inside the ruck was my CF29N; upon inspecting it I saw that the Toughbooks lid now has a small hole in it. I have duct taped it up, figuring that that is probably enough - but want to ask for advice to be on the safe side;

Should I repair it? The machine do see a fair amount of abuse(both by its user, me, by those around it, by nature herself, and by the gods of travel) - will the duct tape hold off moisture well enough to prevent a monitor failure?

Is there any internal protection within the screen that will prevent it from failing if water gets in through the hole?

Is duct tape 'enough' or do you have any other suggestions?

If I should repair it, then do I need to replace the whole monitor?

I really would appreciate some feedback on this. Not an IT guy, and the Tough Book is my private machine - it has served me well since I got it and I believe it to have many fine years of service downrange in dustbins and sandboxes alike ahead of it.

I have attached images of the machine to this post.

Best Regards
John

 

If it was me, I would replace the part with the hole in it. You would have to transfer the other good parts from your screen assembly though.

 

If you don't care about appearance, just use some JB Weld to patch it. The back of the LCD can be easily replaced. Sometimes you'll find them on eBay.

You should do one or the other to keep water and debris out.

Here's one: PANASONIC TOUGHBOOK CF-29 LCD SCREEN BACK COVER | eBay

and another: http://cgi.ebay.com/Panasonic-CF-29...ultDomain_0&hash=item41591df730#ht_880wt_1139

 

Repair as mentioned, or replace:

Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 Back/Front Cover, Hinge, Screws

 

This is the best buy I have seen for a while , I would grab that now.

 

I am quite partial towards the repair notion - so think I will proceed with that one. Thanks guys!

Question though; how hard is it to replace the LCD Top Cover if I decide to go that route at a later point?

 

Can't be hard, I do it all the time.

To get a good patch on the back I recommend pulling the lid anyway. Put a piece of window screen on the inside (glued with JBWeld worked into the holes maybe.) And as long as it's off you can look around for future reference.

Truth be known the first one is intimidating after that not bad at all. Use a good screwdriver.

Search for Wiha here.
TEST site:forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic - Google Search
Replace TEST with Wiha. This link lives on my tool-bar.

BTW welcome to the nut-house.

Jeff

 

Well I decided to pick that LCD lid up anyway - what the heck, right? Spare parts are good to have. One is none, two is one. Just wish it was this easy to get spare parts for my aging body Oh well, duct tape to the rescue.

I will give it a whirl, see how badly I can screw up the change of the lid. You'd be surprised what I am incapable of! I am like Tim Taylor, just blonde.

 

1. Remove keyboard retainer/ Bezel.
2. Remove hinge covers. (They wrap around the lid lid)
3. Pull the lid screws. Drop several on the floor.
4. Slide fingernail between lid parts to break the seal.
5. Roll the lid off as the antenna leads connect it to the lower case. That sound you heard was the latch falling onto the back of the LCD. I like to tape the latch to the lid if I remember before splitting the lid. Quieter.
6. Sit there a bit and make a plan. Take a digital image or six of what's going on in there. Pretty straight forward now.

When you close it up the secret of the latch is to roll it into it's hinge points, Put lid pieces together, put a couple screws in near the main hinges loosely and then crack the lid open at the latch a little so that little spring springs into it's retainer. Then press it shut. The second time is a piece of cake.
The yeller tape is Kapton tape.

Holler for help if you need it. And you will need it and not get any help if you don't use a good screwdriver.

Good luck.

Jeff

 

What, for that little hickey?

Jeez... just mix up some flipping epoxy and use it to glue a dime on over the hole; then get on with yer life. Total cost: $1.89, including the sacrificial dime. Plus you save about 30-60 minutes messing around with the lid; time you can spend laughing at all the mokes who try to take the dime off your laptop.

mnem
I probably spent longer typing this than that would take to fix...

 

Mnementh's response made me chuckle, so I decided to go with his approach more or less. Will post photos tomorrow when I am back home.

Regards

 

Adding to mnementh's response: try to find a dime of the same year as your CF-29's Date of Manufacture; just for "scheiß und grinsen."

Be sure to soak the dime in Coca-Cola to get it clean first.

 

When I had a 29 it was in the back of a van and a dewalt 18V drill in its case (with 2 batteries) dropped onto the unit and put a considerable dent and hole in the lid.

I got a new lid from the US and replaced it.... Im not sure if I did it 'correctly' to the repair guide, but only took about an hour and was quite simple enough from what I remember.

S.

 

Well, you could always TIG weld it ...

Right Dwagon?

 

Yes... yes you could. And that's all I'm going to say on the subject, lest we get into another conversation about tritanium-reinforced carbon-fiber earplugs.

mnem
You REALLY hadda be there...

 

Ummmm, is there a chance that a piece of what made the hole is still inside the case? I don't think a piece of metal (for instance) that size could short the inverter but........

Jeff
shake, rattle or look?

 

I apologize for the delay in response - but here we are; I ended up JB welding on a piece of hard end blister pack material from a pack of meds that I had laying around. Think it will hold up pretty well, but I will keep some duct tape over it just for the sake of it. Quite like duct tape.

Gentlemen - Thank you for your help, it was much appreciated.

Take Care!

 

Good question - I think it was pieces of flying debrief in the form of gravel that caused the puncture. Nothing rattles around inside the laptop - but the backpack it was in (which was thorn up from the incident) had a lot of small pieces of gravel, rocks, and more than the usual amount of sand in it.

 

Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together.

 

Yes, but why in the world would you want to tape a duck?

mnem
Inquisitive dwagons want to know...

 

for the act

 

To keep the quack from spreading.

 

So thy don't explode?

mnem
The official touch-up paint of NASCAR...

 

That joke was pretty fowl...

 

There was a joke in there somewhere?

 

Yes. and as usual, it was on me.

mnem<~~~Assigned Victim~~~<<<

 

The only reason I'm not banned is nobody gets obscure Lenny Bruce references.

 

Yes, sir, there is ONE other sinner who has...

mnem<~~~obnubilated~~~<<<

 

Dragons have souls!

 

CLAMS GOT LEGS!!!

mnem