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-- Safe use of hard cover avoiding slot crack (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=2714)

My first Ice Deluxe got replaced due to the dreaded springboard hard case cover crack issue. Just curious, has anyone perfected a method of using the hard case without developing a crack?

In some tests I've done on my old one, well, after the crack developed, pushing aggresively with my left thumb about mid-screen can cause the cover to flex a bit. With my right hand, I pull it back slowly. Not sure if over time this will cause another crack to develop. So, looking for individuals who have perfected removal of the hard cover without developing a crack.

Thanks

I dunno if I "perfected removal of the hard cover", but I never got a crack.

I just made sure that I always gently pried up the lip of the cover at the top when I removed it.

And was careful putting the cover on, inserting the bottom, prying up the top, moving it in place, then gently letting it down. NEVER just snap it into place.

But now I have a Rhodiana case so I don't use the hard cover any more.

Hello to everyone. I just bought my visor. I have a guess to why the crack develops.

When I got the visor, I didn't realize that you would have to insert the bottom of the cover into the slot provided in the visor first and then slowly snap the top of the cover to its place. i inadvertently was doing the other way. I felt that the cover was too tight to snap in its place. I think inserting the top first would cause enormous stress on the visor and could be the reason that the crack is developing.But the hard case snaps so easily if you do it the right way.

If people who had instances on cracks seen on visor, could comment on this, that would be great.

Musicfan, I think the crack develops at the top hinge simply because the lip is too small. Given the force applied when one uses the hard cover, without careful attention, it may split there. There is another thread on this, even with a picture of a crack, that someone posted months ago. I don't have the URL handy.

My original question was if the hard cover could even be used at all carefully and not develop a crack. Just checking to see if anyone has lasted a few months with the hard cover and is crack-free.

As safe and gentle as I was using the hard cover for a few weeks, I still developed a very small crack. I believe it actually happened while the Visor was in my pocket and pressure was applied to the top slot. In any event, once my E&B Slipper came, the hard cover went in the box on the shelf. As for the crack, a small piece of clear tape inside the Springboard slot seems to be keeping it from falling off.

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MarkEagle - Ice is nice!

Ok, take this for what it's worth, but this is my assessment on the cracks developing on the visors:

If one were to look at the slot straight-on, you would see that the weakest direction would be in the direction of the smallest net cross-section. In other words, if one would have the "lip" of the cover on, any force exerted in that direction (normal to the visor's screen plane) would cause a pretty high tensile stress level on the edges of the slot. So agressively removing the cover would not cause the crack because it puts the slot in compression (which it has a lot of material to distribute the load), but when one has the cover on the back of the visor, removing it hastily can put a lot of force on the slot in the weak tensile direction.

Ok, wake up. This would be a lot easier with pictures.

Anyway, the reason why people with the handpsring cases have problems because, when you remove the visor without properly making sure the "lip" clears the slot, the "lip" will pull on the slot in the weak direction that I mentioned earlier.

So my recommendation would be to pay more attention to how you remove the cover when it is on the BACK of the visor, not when it is in the front. This is the same when removing the visor from a handpsring case.

As for having the cover and visor in a tight pocket, I think you will be ok because the cover "bottoms out" on the visor frame/body before it loads up the slot. However, if for some manufacturing tolerance reasons, the cover does NOT bottom out on the body of the visor, it WILL load up the slot in the weak direction and cause a crack.

Since this explaination has "NERD" written all over it, I will deem this my 3 cents, instead of 2.

Am on now my second Visor. I now use the hard cover all the time (did not use it that much on first). I don't have a crack showing (wait that doesn't sound right!), make that, my Visor hasn't developed a crack yet. I am very careful snapping it on AND off. I have always used the "flex" method described by AndrewB. I don't forsee a problem in the future because the front cover never puts pressure on the lip the way I use it. I have always had a module(8mb or back-up) in place too, if that adds anything.
Michael

My visor has chipped away all the little plastic where there's a slit for the cover and springboard module (you should know what I"m vaguely talking about) and the cover itself is developing a crack about 1/4" long right from the "lip" and starting to move down. I hope it doesn't get any worse... but I'm afraid to call for a new Visor because this one has been flawless and I don't want to risk getting one that would put me through hell.

You may want to put a little super glue on the crack to try to prevent it from propogating.