eMate 300 repair

I rebuilt the pack in my Emate with 1800 mA AA NiMH cells, bought as (part of) a 9.6v RC pack at Rat Shack. You can't use LiIon cells in an Emate!

Oops, you'd think I'd learn not to use absolutes around here, someone is sure to call me on it!

hth,

dan k

I have a couple of dead batteries on hand, I was going to disect and find a match in my parts catalogs or online. Since I only need a few, I may go the Radio Shack route, although I am still pissed with them for not having vacuum tubes available when I ask!!!

--DDTM

On that same site there is instructions to refurbish the battery pack too. http://www.pda-soft.de/emate_battery_pack.html

I recently picked up a trio of replacement stylus for a Palm. They had detatchable heads on them (at the top of the stylus - not at the pointer end) which you could always screw something into if you needed to make a replacement stylus long enough to act as an emate replacement.

eBay of course . . . here's the sort of thing you could have used:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5732342298

sunremarketing has originals - a tad 'spensive though at $15 a pop:
http://www2.sunrem.com/sun02.w?pt=922-2682&catcode=11960

dan k

I had missed earlier.

--DDTM

This is a generic sub-thread for me to track the units repaired and what was done. Master record for this is on my eMate with full details for each unit.

...must remember to return them when I am through...

The referenced hyperlinks provide instruction on repairing the video cable by sanding down the protective coating on the video cable traces. I found that to be difficult and disruptive to traces not already damaged. As such, I found an old scalpel from a high school anatomy kit and used to sharp baled to scrap the coating clean for only the traces that needed repair. From there I masked the area with painters' tape and used solder to connect the traces.

I also found that trying to smooth the damaged area out and realign the traces was far more effective and easier than trying to fiddle with fillaments and solder them as bridges across the damaged area.

This approach worked better for me, given my approach to repairs. It may or not work for you as well. I just had trouble sanding the cable coating as prescribed.

Case Condition: Good - Several white scuffs that could be cleaned up with some effort.
Name Card: Present
Hinge: Excellent
Battery: Weak - Needs replacing or rebuilding
Display: Excellent
Touch Screen: Works
Stylus: No

Remarks: Noticed some weakness in the hinge. Visual inspection revealed that the screws holding the hinges in place (both on the body and on the lid) were very loose. Tightened screws and applied lubricant to hinges.

Case Condition: Good - Minor earing on case and some loss of color on the Apple logo.
Name Card: Present
Hinge: Excellent
Battery: Good
Display: Excellent
Touch Screen: Works
Stylus: No

Remarks: Visually inspected hinges, appear okay. Video cable perfect. Applied lubricant to hinges.

Case Condition: Good - Minor earing on case and some loss of color on the Apple logo. Some white marks that should scrub off fine. Cardbus slot missing lower door.
Name Card: Present
Hinge: Excellent
Battery: Good
Display: Excellent
Touch Screen: Works
Stylus: No

Remarks: Visually inspected hinges, appear okay. Video cable perfect. Applied lubricant to hinges.

Case Condition: Good - Minor gumming from an adhesive label on top should clean nicely. Cardbus slot missing lower door.
Name Card: Present
Hinge: Rebuilt
Battery: None - black battery cover is present
Display: Excellent
Touch Screen: Works
Stylus: No

Remarks: Rebuilt hinges and applied lubricant. Hinge is a little loose when lid closes, but holds position when upright (not bad for my first hinge rebuild). Repaired video cable.

Case Condition: Good - Cardbus slot missing lower door.
Name Card: Present
Hinge: Excellent
Battery: Weak - Needs replacing or rebuilding
Display: Good - one scratch on the screen
Touch Screen: Works
Stylus: No

Remarks: Noticed some weakness in the hinge. Visual inspection revealed that the screws holding the hinges in place on the body were very loose. Tightened screws and applied lubricant to hinges.

ooopps!

Do you have a place to buy batteries for the eMate 300? Please let me know.

...but keep an eye out. I will post details when I do. I expect to order a bulk quantity and the just rebuild from there. I have about 15 pack total I would be rebuilding. I will probally sell off the extras to recoup the cost.

--DDTM

Case Condition: Good - Excellent
Name Card: Present
Hinge: Excellent
Battery: Good
Display: Excellent
Touch Screen: Works
Stylus: No

Remarks: Visual inspection of hinges revealed imminent failure of one side of one spring. Rebuilt hinge accordingly. Applied lubricant.

Case Condition: Good - Minor white marks on caseshould buff out, plastics for IR lens has scrathces.
Name Card: Present
Hinge: Excellent
Battery: Good
Display: Usable - one very noticeable bad spot on screen, appears to be damage from pressure on screen.
Touch Screen: Works - Does not appear affected by blemish on screen.
Stylus: No

Remarks: Rebuilt hinge on bad side and tightened screws on all hinge anchor points. Applied lubricant to hinges. Video cable was perfect.

Whie attempting to rebuild the hinge of an eMate, I discovered that the hinge was afflicted by a broken spring. This meant the spring would most likely fail (moreso than it already had) in the future given that it would be left with one spring to shoulder all of the wear. I needed to replace the faulty part as repairing it was not possible. After a brief search around the garage for some everyday object that could be remolded into a spring, I recalled the obnoxious little key rings the auto dealer attaches to my keys every time I go in for service - you know, the ones that have the little paper tag with the number attached (at least mine does). The ring is a loop of study wire about an inch and a half or so in diameter - about the size of a size 9 wedding band. It is also of nearly identical guage and tensile strength as the material used for the original spring.

After several minutes of reshaping with a needle nose pliers and a vice-grip. I had gotten a shape that was close. Using the axle of the hinge as a guide, I finally got it. I used my dremel to trim the length and clean the rough edges. After some trial and error, I got the loop tight enough to fit right. It reassembled very nicely. I applied plenty of Lithium lubricant and worked the hinge back and forth to make sure that it got worked in real well.

Satisfied with the result, I restored the hinge to its orginal location.

Total time to complete this task: about 30 minutes.

No pictures were taken 'cuz, I really did not think about it until i had already put the thing back in. Maybe next time.

Case Condition: Good
Name Card: Present
Hinge: Excellent
Battery: Weak - Needs replacing or rebuilding
Display: Excellent
Touch Screen: Works
Stylus: No

Remarks: Noticed some weakness in the hinge. Visual inspection revealed that the screws holding the hinges in place (both on the body and on the lid) were very loose. It also revealed that one of the hinges had failed completely, damaging the video cable and the other hinge had a *broken* spring. Repairs for this are detailed further in another part of this blog (http://www.applefritter.com/node/view/5334#comment-12305). After fabricating the new spring and completing the rebuild of both hinge repairs, I repaired the video cable with some difficulty. Applied generous amount of lubricant to hinges and reassembled. Unit seems to work like new (previously had poor hinges, no touch screen and some screen artifacts).

For those of you who have read this far, i wanted to point out that when I rebuilt/repaired my hinges, I opted not to add in the washer as was done in the related links on this thread. With this singular exception, I did follow the repair demonstration in my repairing these eMates.

My rationale for this was largely due to a strong desire to keep the machines rather stock and concerns over how the washer fit. I did look at several washers as an alternative. Since the primary reason for the spring to have come out of its channel was the drying out of the lubricant which caused the spring to freeze and then wrap around the axle, I felt that the best cure was well applied lubricant in generous (but neatly) applied amounts.

I think the final result is more true to the original, and just as effective.

I just wanted to make note of this.

--DDTM

nt

Case Condition: Fair
Name Card: Present
Hinge: Excellent
Battery: Weak - Needs replacing or rebuilding
Display: Left half of screen has horizontal lines up to the middle of the screen. The left half is usable, but obnoxious.
Touch Screen: Works
Stylus: No

Remarks: Visual inspection revealed that both hinges had failed. One hinge had a *broken* spring. Fabricated a new spring and rebuilt both hinges. Repairs for this are detailed further in another part of this blog (http://www.applefritter.com/node/view/5334#comment-12305). Video cable had breaks in seven different places. Was able to repair cable to a point at which the unit is now usable, but the screen still displays some lines on the left half of the screen up to the midpoint. A replacement cable is highly reccommended - these can go for up to $50 (US) for a new one. Power cable to screen backlight was snapped. This was repaired without issue. If one were to attempt to dissamble this unit, they would want to know this as the repair is right at the hinge and may become damaged if taken apart without care. Applied generous amount of lubricant to hinges and reassembled. Unit is usable at this time (previously had poor hinges, no touch screen and the entire left half of the screen was garbage).