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Which Screw Goes Where?
Anonymous Coward writes "I saw this link over at HardOCP. Finally, a definitive (well, they hedge a bit at the end) guide that explains
where to use each one of those little screws that come packed with new PC cases. All that and a 'test your knowledge' quiz in the bargain. Definitely bookmark-worthy."
CyberGuys sells both every type of screw conceivable and a bin with a screw assortment (just in case you need a particular kind).
CyberGuys (Small Hardware)
Probably cheaper to go troll the dumpsters, if you can find an old 286/386/486 being tossed you can probably scavange a dozen of each size. Anytime I toss an old system, I take the 15 minutes to strip it of any screws / connectors / etc.
The small screws (usually for mounting CD-ROMs to the side-brackets) are 4mm fine, the 6mm (6x32) screws are for the case / slot covers / hard drive mounting. Don't forget to either get small snack-pack rubbermaid containers (about 2" round, 1.5" deep) to hold the screws/bits, or those yellow plastic stopper tubes (1/2" x 5").
(I really don't understand the fuss about the issue at all... there's pretty much just the 2 types of screws, 4mm fine and 6x32.)
Wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?
About the floppy / CDROM / hard drive screws and why are they mixed. When I was working for Olivetti back in the early 80's, we saw some of the first 3-1/2 inch floppy drives from ALPS and Sony. Since these came from Japan, and Japan uses metric sizes, they designed them with metric screws. The original 5-1/4 floppy drives came from the USA from Shugart (the original designers). The first Winchester hard drives originally came from IBM, IIRC, and since IBM is a US company, they used #6 screws. When Shugart and others (mostly US companies) started to build 5 1/4 hard drives, which are the same size as the 5 1/4 floppy drives, they used the same screws and mounting pattern as the Shugart "standard." They also used the same power connector so things would connect together with a minimum of odd connectors. So when manufactures started to build 3 1/2 sized hard drives, they used the same screw as the 5 1/4 hard drives. CDROM drives first came from Japanese / European manufactures (IIRC - Sony / Phillips), so they used "proper" screws - metric, not the holdout, oddball USA, still using the now outdated English sizing. One note about CDROM screws - IIRC, Floppy screws and CDROM screws both come in the short M5 4mm length. It seems that some of the early CDROM drives could get ruined if long (greater that 4mm) were used. The electronics were packed right up to the edges, and one could short out things inside if one used long screws. This problem has gone away, since the shrinking of the electronics, and dumb people who used the long M5 (greater than 5mm length) screws ruined the drives.