iBook hinge/screen repair

[joy]

Hello iBookers,

I was glad to find this list, and I would very much appreciate any
information or advice you might have for me as I wade into deeper
waters than I'm accustomed to.

Background: my husband bought an iBook in May of last year (600
Mhz, 20GB/128MB/Combo/56K). In a stellar example of clumsiness, I
managed to knock it off a table in July and broke the hinge. At
first, it was simply a little harder to close than normal, and he
never could seem to find a good time to send it in for repair, so
he continued to use it (sigh). Finally, in October, the screen
stopped working entirely. We were able to hook it up to an old
Apple monitor I had found at a yard sale, and we set it up for
desktop use only. My husband bought a second iBook for
portability.

Well, I finally got around to peeking under the cover of the
broken iBook. I found that the magnesium screen support is broken
in two places--at each joint to the hinges. This isn't covered
under warranty, and due to the cost of getting repairs done by
Apple (and partially due to my urge to take things apart), I am
considering replacing this part myself. I know these are available
at pbparts.com and I'm also keeping my eyes open for other
(hopefully cheaper?) sources.

The screen isn't working, either, which is almost certainly due to
a sharp edge of the broken frame chewing into one of the wires.
Hopefully, I'll be able to simply repair a single wire (I can
actually *see* damage to the casing of one wire), but I don't have
my multimeter at the moment, so I'm not yet sure if there are more
damaged wires. I have been looking for a copy of the dual-USB
iBook Service Manual online, but haven't yet found one. Of course,
it's possible the manual wouldn't be of any help in identifying
the various wires running through the hinge anyway, in which case
I'll just have to puzzle it out myself.

I would appreciate any info you might be willing to give me on
where to find a copy of the service manual, any alternate sources
for parts, or any advice from others who have made such repairs.

Thanks in advance,
Joy Freeman
Atlanta GA