Alternative bezel for my laptop DVD drive?

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Mike wrote:
> I've had my Acer TravelMate 8000 for almost a year now. The Matsushita
> UJ-820B DVD write that came with it was a bit slow, so I just
> replaced it with a Lite-On SOSW-852S. Which works just fine, except
> the bezel doesn't fit my laptop very well - there are now unsightly
> gaps in the side, the colour's a bit off too but that doesn't bother
> me.
> I tried screwing off the old drive's bezel and attaching it to the
> new one, but they both have completely different fastening mechanisms
> so that one didn't work.
> Does anyone know where I might get a replacement bezel from? I know
> Acer use Lite-On drives in some of their notebooks so am a little
> hopeful. Should I contact Acer, Lite-On or maybe some third-party
> dealer?
>
> Would appreciate any help. Thanks in advance!
>
> Mike

This is the downside of optical drive replacement. There's not any hope
of finding a bezel if the original cannot be installed on the
replacement. This is the reason (or part of the reason) that purchasing
a replacement from the laptop vendor is so painfully expensive.

As an aside, it is not clear if you tried to install the old bezel over
the new one or tried to replace the new bezel with the old one.
Normally, the old bezel is placed over new bezel if the eject button and
operating light are in line. BTW, when I write "bezel", it is just the
trim piece, not the entire door panel.

Q

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

What Quaoar said is true, but he left out a very important point: There
is no real hope of using the original bezel when the original drive and
the replacement drive are not made by the same manufacturer. Here, a
Matsushita drive was replaced by a lite-on drive, and there is no real
chance that a Matsushita bezel will fit a lite-on drive.

In fact, it's worse than that, I replaced a Toshiba DVD-ROM drive with a
Toshiba combo drive (reads DVD, burns CD), and the bezel attachment was
different. Even being from the same mfgr. is no assurance of being able
to move the bezel, but being from two different mfgrs. is pretty much a
good assurance that you will not be able to move the bezels.

And Mike is very much right, if you change the drive, there is a very
good chance that the "generic" bezel won't fit right, or at all, and
this is a huge, huge issue in optical drive replacement in laptops.

[I consider my 2805's to be a worst case, because the custom bezel is
neither rectangular nor flat. Toshiba's custom bezel design has
artistic "curves" in two axis. Arrrggggggg ......]


Quaoar wrote:

> Mike wrote:
>
>>I've had my Acer TravelMate 8000 for almost a year now. The Matsushita
>>UJ-820B DVD write that came with it was a bit slow, so I just
>>replaced it with a Lite-On SOSW-852S. Which works just fine, except
>>the bezel doesn't fit my laptop very well - there are now unsightly
>>gaps in the side, the colour's a bit off too but that doesn't bother
>>me.
>>I tried screwing off the old drive's bezel and attaching it to the
>>new one, but they both have completely different fastening mechanisms
>>so that one didn't work.
>>Does anyone know where I might get a replacement bezel from? I know
>>Acer use Lite-On drives in some of their notebooks so am a little
>>hopeful. Should I contact Acer, Lite-On or maybe some third-party
>>dealer?
>>
>>Would appreciate any help. Thanks in advance!
>>
>>Mike
>
>
> This is the downside of optical drive replacement. There's not any hope
> of finding a bezel if the original cannot be installed on the
> replacement. This is the reason (or part of the reason) that purchasing
> a replacement from the laptop vendor is so painfully expensive.
>
> As an aside, it is not clear if you tried to install the old bezel over
> the new one or tried to replace the new bezel with the old one.
> Normally, the old bezel is placed over new bezel if the eject button and
> operating light are in line. BTW, when I write "bezel", it is just the
> trim piece, not the entire door panel.
>
> Q
>
>

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Well I don't know how capable the rest of you are at manufacturing your
own bezel, but it sounds pretty easy to me if it were my problem (as I
manufacture my own stuff all of the time). If this is above your skill
level (or having the lack of tools to do so).

Then one source I would check out are those at your local RC flying
field. There are usually lots of guys there that manufacture their own
aircrafts. And they are usually more than happy to build almost anything
you want for next to nothing. Some even just enjoy manufacturing
something and would probably do so for free. And manufacturing a bezel
for a CD/DVD drive is about as simple as it gets. <grin>


Cheers!


______________________________________________
Bill (using a HP Pavilion 8655 & Windows 2000)
-- written and edited within Word 2000



"Barry Watzman" <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote in message
news:428CCC12.9020606@neo.rr.com...
Date: Thu, 19 May 2005 17:25:35 GMT

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

The bezel is more involved than you might imagine. It fits the laptop,
of course (and may be neither rectangular nor flat, such as the 2805
bezel), but also it has the lens for the LED in it, the hole for the
eject button and the emergency "paper clip" hole, all of which have to
be in the right place. But it also has to have usually 3 "hooks" that
engage the media tray mechanism to attach the bezel to the drive. It
is, or can be, far from a simple flat piece of plastic.


BillW50 wrote:

> Well I don't know how capable the rest of you are at manufacturing your
> own bezel, but it sounds pretty easy to me if it were my problem (as I
> manufacture my own stuff all of the time). If this is above your skill
> level (or having the lack of tools to do so).
>
> Then one source I would check out are those at your local RC flying
> field. There are usually lots of guys there that manufacture their own
> aircrafts. And they are usually more than happy to build almost anything
> you want for next to nothing. Some even just enjoy manufacturing
> something and would probably do so for free. And manufacturing a bezel
> for a CD/DVD drive is about as simple as it gets. <grin>
>
>
> Cheers!
>
>
> ______________________________________________
> Bill (using a HP Pavilion 8655 & Windows 2000)
> -- written and edited within Word 2000
>
>
>
> "Barry Watzman" <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote in message
> news:428CCC12.9020606@neo.rr.com...
> Date: Thu, 19 May 2005 17:25:35 GMT
>

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Thanks guys for your helpful replies. I tried removing the new bezel and
attaching the old one, but had no luck since one of them clips on and the
other is fastened with screws. Sticking one on top of the other is a no-go
too, since annoyingly the eject button and LED are in different
positions.... yes that really does seem to be the curse of optical drive
replacement - either I stick with my nicer looking but slow original drive,
or I use a better one that looks noticeably "foreign" in my laptop. Sigh...
you would have thought something like this would have become standardized
by now. Have had more luck replacing other parts in laptops like hard
drives!

Thanks anyway,

Best Regards
Mike

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

A later drive made by the same OEM as your original drive might use a
compatible bezel mount. Sometimes they do, but not always.


Mike wrote:
> Thanks guys for your helpful replies. I tried removing the new bezel and
> attaching the old one, but had no luck since one of them clips on and the
> other is fastened with screws. Sticking one on top of the other is a no-go
> too, since annoyingly the eject button and LED are in different
> positions.... yes that really does seem to be the curse of optical drive
> replacement - either I stick with my nicer looking but slow original drive,
> or I use a better one that looks noticeably "foreign" in my laptop. Sigh...
> you would have thought something like this would have become standardized
> by now. Have had more luck replacing other parts in laptops like hard
> drives!
>
> Thanks anyway,
>
> Best Regards
> Mike