If I replaced the whole hinge, I'd have to find out how to take the laptop
apart to get to the other part of the hinge, C-clip or whatever is buried
inside. Anyone's guess what chance of colateral damage just doing that.
Obtain a part, without being ripped off and having the correct one
supplied.
Whereas all I've to do is find a way of building up the lost few square mm
of aluminium of the hinge anchor plate and make good some of the broken
away
and missing plastic of the display surround/lid. All nicely exposed and
easy
to work on. Why go to all that bother if a bit of epoxy and some Al mesh/
minimal hardware/drilling is all that's required. The hinge mount failed
in
quite normal use , so direct replacement likely to do the same.


So if an actual replacement is expected to fail in the same fashion
what makes you think you can make a stronger repair? Sure this is
possible but having intimate knowledge of laptop repair and the
structure and stresses imposed I think you'll find out in the end you
are wasting time. And while that in its self isn't a real horrible
thing to do if it interferes with your credibility on a shoddy
solution was it worth it?

You can usually find disassembly instructtion for laptops online so
really no excuse not to splay it out and do a proper repair.

That's my feeling too, and whilst the first one of any particular model
might take a while to get apart, the next one will be a lot quicker.
Personally, from a credibility point of view, I would not consider repairing
a laptop hinge for a customer, in any way other than to replace it.
According to my mate, most if not all are available at reasonable cost, and
the time to dismantle and put a new one in, is not going to be any more -
and probably a lot less - than a cobbled up 'repair' to the broken one would
take. If the customer was not prepared to pay the cost of proper replacement
parts, then I would still keep the deposit I'd taken for quoting it, and
hand him it back. If he then went on to find a cheapskate who would bodge it
up for him, chances are I'd still have the last laugh when it failed again
shortly after the three months' repair warranty expired (if he even got that
....) knowing that he would probably be thinking that he should have had me
do a proper job in the first place, and now daren't come back to me ... :-)

Arfa