Digest Articles Re: cracked poqet by Don Yates From: Don Yates Subject: Re: cracked poqet Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 01:36:32 -0500 (EST) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII In-Reply-To: <199701030400.UAA20738@xxxxxxxx> My original Poqet started losing the display one summer -- vertical blank lines appeared, proliferated and finally pretty much ate the display; and then I noticed the crack. (It had seen moderate use -- mostly travelling -- for about five or six years as I recall.) I sent it back to Fujitsu (?) hoping my insurance would cover what seemed to be accidental damage. Turns out the thing had been put together wrong, with pressure on the hinge where it should not have been. They replaced the thing with a new one, no charge and it has been working fine since. The crack took a long time to show up, and I noticed the dmage to the display first, FWIW. Condolences on all the cracked Poqets. DY Re: "Death of a Poqet" or "Everything Hinges on a Hinge" by Bryan Mason From: Bryan Mason Subject: Re: "Death of a Poqet" or "Everything Hinges on a Hinge" Date: Fri, 03 Jan 1997 10:21:13 -0800 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" On Thu, 2 Jan 1997 at 3:57pm, "Psycho Bob" > Is it that the pressure tab is exerting too much pressure? The hinge crack (if it's the one I think you all are speaking of), is caused by the pressure exerted by the hinge pin. If you look at the pin that's holding the hinge together, you'll notice that it's a rolled piece of metal. The rolled pin wants to unroll a little bit, which exerts enough pressure to keep the pin in the hinge, but in some cases, it exerts a little too much pressure, which tends to crack the hinge. The spring that rubs against the hinge to keep the display open doesn't put that much pressure on the hinge. It's mostly a friction thing. On Wed, 1 Jan 1997 at 7:33 pm Robert Zarcone >So then I thought: "Okay. . . don't panic. Maybe it was DESIGNED to do >this. They spent all of that R & D money on ultra top secret power >saving devices and instant on modes and well. . . when all the big money >ran out the guys at Poqet were forced to contact Harry's House of >Hinges." Actually, it is true that the electrical engineers who did the Poqet were top-notch, but the mechanical designers left alot to be desired. If you think the production Poqet has problems, you should've seen the early production/prototype units (ugh!). Seriously, though, the rumor was that the hinge design used by most palmtops and laptops, where the cable to the display goes *through* the hinge, was patented, and Poqet didn't want to have to pay royalties on the hinge. Not entirely sure if that was the actual case, but that was the rumor at Poqet for some time. -- Bryan