The brass hinges have arrived today and it is time to get serious. I do have a lot of worries about and what-ifs when attaching it to the Tricorder. The size is 8mm by 19mm with a thickness of 0.36mm. I would like to use the ‘traditional’ way which is to screw into the body. But, this 3D body is literally hollow…
HINGES ON THE MAIN BODY
There are a pair of very thin slits which lets you insert the brass hinges. This design needs you to SuperGlue the hinge to the inner side. There is no other way to secure the hinge. The only solution is to break or cut out the slits, then make two solid epoxy blocks. This methods allows you to secure the Main Body’s side of the hinge with screws. Of course you would need to solder a length of wire to it beforehand. Then using more epoxy, cover the whole area and smoothen it.
HINGES AT THE LOWER FLAP
The flap would also need to have the same epoxy blocks as well. There is a small problem where the indented area is too shallow and when you insert the screw in, you will notice them even of you have puttied them over.
HINGE MEASUREMENTS
THE GAP
There is a 0.93mm gap. I will get a much clearer measurement once I know how to do it with the FreeCAD software.
Yeah, I got lazy and measure the parts instead of using FreeCAD.
THE SOLUTION?
The only solution I can think of at this juncture is to break the area for the hinges and replace them with epoxy blocks and hope that they will stick. But ideally, I need to discuss with Mr. Duchette to ask him to re-design the area since I am still fighting with the 3D software.
The epoxy or resin blocks will be about 5mm deep. and the recessed are would need to be deeper up to 2mm instead of the current approximate 1mm deep. Yeah, this is going to be a challenge for me.