On Game Boy Advance SP Hinges
Channel: makho
Date: 2020-07-17

The topic of GBA SP hinges is a lot more complicated than it seems on the surface.

TL;DW, there are three different styles of hinge, and of those three, both a left and right hinge. There's OEM hinges, older all plastic aftermarket hinges, and newer OEM style aftermarket hinges with metal bits in the proper spots. 

The OEM hinges have a flat pin in them which allows them to be used with both OEM style hinge caps and the new transparent hinge caps. Both aftermarket styles have either a rivet or a c-clip and are not flat enough to be used with OEM or the transparent hinge caps. Both hinge caps can be modified by removing extra material but it's very difficult to do properly due to the size of the parts. The opaque aftermarket shells come with modified hinge cap designs which allow the caps to be used with any style of hinge. 

Left hinges are usually identified by the clip part of the hinge being made with darker colored plastic (black on OEM hinges and most aftermarket, blue on some aftermarket hinges) and right hinges have the clip part made of lighter colored plastics like gray or white. 

Insertion and removal of the hinges requires the SP to be in the normal, open position. You can release the clips in the closed position but for full removal, the console will need to be opened. 

Here is an imgur album that details the install a bit more closely: https://imgur.com/a/z21z1

If you do have a 3D printer, the tool I made can be made very quickly and cheaply. It's very small and uses what I consider to be a negligible amount of plastic. Check out my thingiverse for the model here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3671526

If you do not have a 3D printer, don't have a friend, library, or makerspace with one either, there is also the BIC pen trick (video overlay @ 14:10): https://www.reddit.com/r/Gameboy/comments/bxzub8/how_to_easily_remove_the_hinges_from_a_gba_sp/

Looking for more videos to watch?

I refurbished a SP someone sent me with a hinge issue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7RiStBBdsw

Longer video of me restoring/rebuilding an iQue AGS-101 using the shells I used in this video: https://youtu.be/-LEozSyON4k

Fantastic video from @Tronicsfix restoring a SP (aside from that part with the hinges): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqzzA8HH4gY

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