Clara HD My Clara HD's power button has developed a hairline fracture

[Cactus Chef]

Apologize for the quality of the pictures, the camera was absolutely refusing to focus on the bit, and I just had to take a dozen with flash and hope I got lucky.

So, as mentioned, the power button seems to have two curved hairline cracks running down the center of the button. I think they are completely separated at this point, because I can gently depress the left side of the button and see only that half the the left of the crack flex.

I am curious if there's anything I can do to stop it from getting worse. I'm a bit peeved that this happened at all, because I've had it in an official Sleepcover since maybe Week 3 of owning the device (back in 2019), which contains a magnetic flap that is specifically supposed to protect the power button and charging port!

[Aleron Ives]

The main thing to do would be to never press the power button unless you must. Use the sleep cover for waking and sleeping so you don't need to touch the button.

[Calenorn]

Oddly, my Clara's power button just disintegrated yesterday. The rubber-like material split in the middle, grew crumbly, and all the pieces just fell out.

The small, white power button (formerly covered by the black rubber button) still works. I have to push it with a straightened paper clip.

Honestly, I never liked that button. I have big fingers! The button is so small that you need good fingernails to use it, and it does not click or latch to let you know that you've successfully pressed it.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

The main thing to do would be to never press the power button unless you must. Use the sleep cover for waking and sleeping so you don't need to touch the button.

And for those who don't use a sleep cover, NickleMenu can be used to sleep and power down.

[Aleron Ives]

Yes, but then you have no way to wake from sleep without pressing the broken power button. You need either a sleep cover or a magnet to handle the wake up situation.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

Yes, but then you have no way to wake from sleep without pressing the broken power button. You need either a sleep cover or a magnet to handle the wake up situation.

Yes. Though I've repaired buttons using dismantled €2 calculators.

[Alastair_S]

You could try putting a dab of glue on the end of a cocktail stick and working the glue into the cracks. I'm just not sure which type of glue would be best.

[Cactus Chef]

*sigh*

I took it to a friend who has helped me do some delicate glue-working in the past to see if he thought it would be feasible to try putting some glue on the end of a needle.

For reasons unclear to me, after advising that the button was splitting in half, he then decided to start aggressively pushing the button on both sides of the fracture, which has now reinforced the split and pushed half of the broken plastic into the device. Suffice to say, I won't be taking it to him in the future.

The right half still seems to give some resistance when I push it, so I'm assuming this is the half that is glued on and over the sensor. I'm just not sure what I can do at this point to prevent it from getting any worse.

The device otherwise still works well, and I travel with it all the time, so it would be a huge shame to have to consign it to a drawer because of the loss of 5 cents worth of rubber.

[Pierre49976]

I happened to me, I removed the desintegrated rubber parts by opening the reader and then used the smallest euro coin to switch on my Kobo.
And then, for some reason, 1 or 2 years later it decided not to switch on anymore.
So I bought a Kobo Clara Colour whose contrast is awful compared to my good old Clara HD, and now I'm sad

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Pierre49976

I happened to me, I removed the desintegrated rubber parts by opening the reader and then used the smallest euro coin to switch on my Kobo.
And then, for some reason, 1 or 2 years later it decided not to switch on anymore.
So I bought a Kobo Clara Colour whose contrast is awful compared to my good old Clara HD, and now I'm sad

Get rid of the Clara Colour and get a Clara BW. You'll get your contrast back.

[Renate]

Obviously you just need to have the switch replaced by a competent technician.
Er...

[Pierre49976]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Get rid of the Clara Colour and get a Clara BW. You'll get your contrast back.

Done! Contrast is back and I'm happy again

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Pierre49976

Done! Contrast is back and I'm happy again

Well done!

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by Renate

Obviously you just need to have the switch replaced by a competent technician.
Er...

Welp, the rubber finished disintegrating today, and I had to fish it all out with a toothpick, so I guess I'll be needing your expertise! What did you use to accomplish this?

[Renate]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

What did you use to accomplish this?

Yes, I did repair my Nook Glow like that and it works, but I was being a bit flippant as I didn't think that that would be acceptable to most users. The original switch was very tiny and I did not have any switch that would fit internally. As that model at that time was only used for regression testing I wasn't concerned with ergonomics.

I used some 30 AWG "wire wrapping" wire to connect to the original traces. I soldered the switch on the outside, then stuffed the small amount of slack inside the case, then gooped it all with hot glue.

Since your problem only seems to be the pushbutton top itself maybe you could try to carve yourself a piece out of some hard plastic?