Reparing magnesium...

After the TB bug hitted me, the disease is becoming bigger and bigger , so my last purchase was a CF-18 900mhz (no hd or caddy) for 200 bucks for spares for my very battled 1.1mhz.
The laptop was incredibly new: 100% battery, perfect touchscreen, not a scratch in site, all the covers in place, maybe less than a couple of hours of usage. The only defect is a... hole in the LCD magnesium cover .
What do you think about the deal?
Are you aware of a practical way to repair that hole (I was thinking about liquid metal or similar putties...)
Thank you

 

Personally I'd look for a spare... However... If you want to fix it... I would tape the outside with perhaps a wax paper release and then flow JB Kwik into the hole and let it set for a good two hours.... Then you could peel away the tape and wax paper and see what you've got. It would certainly last though it may not be too pretty. With some artful filing/sanding and some Testor's Steel colored paint... You could make it a pretty close match.

 

Well it is possible to weld, or so I have heard...

But I am in favor of the J&B Weld (liquid metal) idea as suggested by you and elaborated upon by Toughbook!

An option that I considered was to make patch out of magnesium or aluminum and pop rivet it in place! This could be done in two ways, one an attractive plate with your name and contact information engraved on it, or a rough patch that looks like it was made by a medieval blacksmith selected for the rugged chic look so in vogue now...

Let us know how you choose to proceed.

 

OR, he could use one of those STOP THEFT stickers over it! :laugh:

 

I hear Rob has a supply of used ones...he is still trying to get rid of!!

 

i've seen enough of them to have nightmares...

Silver: please tell me that there isn't one on the lappy i bough from you
btw, whats up overseas? quarantine or something? its still stuck in ST Joe...

 

Nope, no sticky on the one coming to you. It sometimes takes a day or two for the system to catch up with the movement. It is going priority mail so the 7-10 days should still be good. Now, once it gets in country with you, customs is another story entirely.

 

yeah about that. i'll probably get a bag of computer parts in the mail. customs use the same guys to check questionable items as the swedish police. hope they get its a normal laptop, they're quite paranoid about them for some reason. airports too. last year, stockholm airport, they even wanted me to test the wifi cause if you remove it you can fit a bomb in there... people's paranoia never seizes to amaze me...

 

Band aid????

 

I used this stuff to fix a puncture in an aluminum fishing boat like 10 years ago... my buddy in FL is STILL using it that way.

http://www.jcwhitney.com/stainless-steel-tape/p2000575.jcwx#prodDetailTabPanel

mnem
Sticky.

 

Jeez... I remember ALL those JC Whitney Catalogs we used to get when I was a kid. They we always so fun to go through... I had forgoten about them...

 

I always wanted to build a stainless steel CJ-5 Jeep out of the body parts they had available one year!

They seem to have quickly discontinued those parts.

 

Yup... good ol' JC Whiplash... they kept my dune buggies rollin' for almost 20 years...

mnem
Rollin' doughnut...

 

Hey all,
I'm new on here, but I figured I would throw in my 2 cents as well. I am a collision repair technician and I can tell you with 110% certainty that you CANNOT weld magnesium. Believe it or not, but magnesium is a flammable metal. If you attempt to weld or heat magnesium, it will ignite and only a class D fire extinguisher will put it out. Magnesium is the main ingredient in flash grenades and in fireworks that produce an extremely bright white light. As for the hole in the toughbook case, an epoxy such as JB Weld or if you have access to professional grade adhesives, automotive panel bond would work even better.

 

Dewed -

I'm a certified welder. I'm telling you you CAN weld magnesium. I've DONE IT. If you don't believe me, here's a WHOLE PAGE of the filler rod you use to do it from one of the biggest welding supply companies in the world...

http://www.airgas.com/browse/product_list.aspx?catID=130&WT.svl=130

mnem
arc-ed.

 

Hi Trev,

We are talking magnesium alloy here (although I have no idea of the particular alloy Panasonic use) which can in fact be welded using tungsten arc (TIG) or argon arc techniques. Even magnesium itself will not ignite until it melts, except in the very finely divided form used as you say in fireworks. However, magnesium has a high coefficient of expansion and a high thermal conductivity (hence it's choice for heat dissipation in Toughbooks) so it is very easy to distort thinner sections during welding. Somehow, I can't imagine trying welding a Toughbook housing!

My dad was a collision repair technician, but back then they were called panel beaters - at least in the UK! As a kid I used to love watching him turn mangled wrecks back into pristine vehicles and this was in the days before hydraulic rams and plastic fillers. Hammers, dollies and flippers were the tools of his trade and lead-loading was the only way of finishing repaired panels.

I love the esoteric nature of this forum!

 

Damn - you have to get up early in the morning to beat a crusty old tinker dwagon..............


...................or should that be go to bed late?

 

I am sure that you mean well, but really, you can. I have done it many times, just not lately.