hp J6480 left cover hinge broken while changing cartridge. How could I replace that?

[altalewd]

Mine just broke today, changing an ink cartridge.   I guess its now electronic junk!  Not built to last like the old ones.   Take note HP, beefier hinges please!

[TooTall13]

Yet another broken hinge, left side, next to the ribbon cables.

No solution from HP yet?

Thanks to everyone for sharing how to remove the hinge(s) so the printer will still work.

I'll try it and let you know....

[fhpamela]

I accidentally broke the hinge on my HP J6480.  I read blogs and tried to get to all the screws suggested to take the broken plastic part out of the door so it would lay flat, but my door would not do a 90 degree angle, so I couldn't get to all of the screws.  I decided to force the door to that angle on purpose to break the other hinge.   With the door free, then I had easy access to remove all the screws to both plastic hinge parts on the door.  Once those plastic parts are removed, the door then lays flat on the printer base.   You must be careful with the ribbons that attach the door to the printer, so I had someone help me by holding the door while I took out the screws and the broken plastic pieces.  In another simplistic approach to fix the hinge area, once the door could now lay flat, I placed duct tape over the hinge area in the back of the printer covering both the base of the printer and the door.  This allows me to at least lift the lid for copies and such and it stay in place like a hinge, when needed.   I realize when I change the cartridge, it'll need a little more support.   That was it.  It was easy and my printer works perfectly.  

[gmross3267]

It is not totally junk.  The hing has nothing to do with the printer working properly if you can get it closed.  Right, it is broken but not the printing part or alinement for doing everything. 

Good luck. 

[native_son]

Our left hinge went out today.  Thank you all for posting solutions - I was ready to toss it out the window.

I popped the lower part of the hinge out using a flat head scredriver (it has tabs on the sides).  I removed the two 1.5" brass springs and we're back in business... albeit less sturdy during cartridge replacement for sure.

These hinges appear to be the achilles heel of this otherwise sturdy little printer.  I hope we get another couple years out of it.

Good luck in your fix!

[fhpamela]

Guess I wasn't so clear on what I was trying to say.  Sure the printer will still work but only if the door is able to lay flat.  With a broken hinge, the door does not lay flat.  You receive an error message on the screen about the door and it will not allow you to print.

Therefore, in my situation, I was attempting to describe that it became easier to remove the broken hinge by just breaking the other one because I could not get to all of the screws in the position it was in.  The door would not stand up to a 90 degree angle.  Easier and cheaper to break the other hinge to remove both broken hinges from the door (not the base), then the door lays flat and I can print 🙂 . 

[go_jackets]

Same just happened on mine. I was able to pry off the bottom floater/rocker piece with a pocketknife without removing any screws and now its working.  And now my son can have 2 more springs to play with!

[fixitmom100]

I read all this stuff and could not figure a way to fix this stupidly designed item--liked the guy who pried out lower hinge, but could not figure out a way to do it --so I took my dremel  multi-max with the little 1 inch wedge blade and went after the center portion of the bottom hinge--from the back.  After a short while I was getting a lot of resistance and could see metal in there, so I angled around to the left and right a bit, but the metal was still there.  Quit and inserted a screwdriver blade into the gap I had made and rotated and surprise!  a piece popped off.    Th piece was holding in a pair of springs.  Lifted the lid and wiggled around with a small screw driver to pull out the springs.  The lid closed down where it had been held up.  Installed the cartridges and plugged the sucker in and it worked!!!  Mission accomplished!!

[TooTall13]

Recently had the same broken hinge problem on an OfficeJet 6310xi.

I have just set a telephone book on the left side to hold the top down.

Too bad when a perfectly good printer is rendered (almost) unusable due to the poor design of a hinge.

Wish HP would address the problem and offer a fix.

[altalewd]

My left hinge broke when changing the ink cartridges, and then the printer wouldn't run because the door open contact wouldn't close.   If I pressed down on it would work, so I got some big heavy rock bookends in my office and put them on that side over the doc feeder mechanism, and it has been working fine for several cartridges now.   It groans and strains and sounds like something else may break from the heavy weight, but now it prints, scans, copies.     The brass hinge expoxy fix someone else suggested sounds cool, but it would be on the back where you couldn't see it.  My heavy rock is a conversation starter   on the symptoms of the gradual, but steady, demise of Hewlett Packard's former standards of excellence, and the groaning noises the printer makes under my stone age fix are priceless.   I also have a HP laptop that gets so hot you can't touch it.   I have an old HP 4215, and still works as my main fax and backup printer that has outlasted two more recent HP printers (a 5610 that died one day, and now this J6480 hinge fail).    Way to rack up the crappy printer points HP!   You used to be the best!