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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."
So that some crazy Loonix zealot can't screw up your computer.
They go where they fit and they don't go where they don't fit (unless you are in a hurry.)
If they can tell me where the one I always have left over is from, I'll be happy...
If it's Microsoft we're talking about, you always screw the little guy. ;)
Looks like their webserver is about to receive the biggest scew of all.
...I'll procrastinate tomorrow...
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I'm an expert at screwing!
This story will get more than 500 replies because it has the word "screw" in it and geeks are intrigued by experiences they haven't had yet!
...except the last one! And it's that last one that's always left over and never fits anywhere. I would like to know where that one goes!
libertarianswag.com
Their server is screwed.
Ba da da bum....it had to be said...
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
Old 5 1/4" HH Seagate hard disks could be damanged (case warp) by using 6-32 UNC screws of the wrong length.
Center IDE-era disks (early maxtors come to mind) could have the PCB damaged by using 6-32 UNC screws of the wrong length (i.e. case screws)
Seen both happen personally. Did neither. The first one ruined the seals on the disk. The second one let the smoke out.
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
Some years ago, SomethingAwful one-upped you. Slashdot linked to an article there, and ate up so much bandwidth that the admins redirected all accesses with slashdot referers to goatse.cx.
BTW, /.'d before there were a dozen comments.
I'll wager there are a lot of guys out there who have asked themselves on more than one occasion which screw are you REALLY supposed to use where,
Hey, if she doesn't complain...
The coolest voice ever.
Here's the recipe to simplify your life with computer case screws (no I'm not kidding):
- Go to your local computer hardware shop and beg them for a bag of screws. I say beg them, because they usually hold on to them like Ted Kennedy on a bottle of bourbon.
- Whenever you screw something in your case, use the biggest screw that'll fit. In the case of hard-disks, you'll have to use the right fit, with the flush head probably. With the cases' sheet-metal holes, and with most CDROM and diskette drives, if the screw is too big, just force it in real hard until it gives way.
- After a little while, and especially if you tinker in your case often, you'll notice that all the screws you need are the big ones. No need to remember what goes where. Voila!
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
OK, so, where's a good place (online) to buy a set of extra screws? They tend to disappear like ball-point pens (especially case screws), but I know where to buy pens.
Ideally, I'd like a set that includes all the common screws; I'd also like to be able to buy a package of each type separately. It'd be really cool if each type was a different color or something, making it easier to tell them apart at a glance, but this is probably silly.
Recommendations?
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
It seems to me that the Internet is still growing, larger and larger, every day. It is a beautiful thing.
...
The fact that there is now a 'screw guide' in existence just floors me, at a point in my life where I simply thought I would never be flabbergasted again
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
There are two, sometimes three thread sizes with your standard clone PC case. Small fits floppy disks, CD/DVD drives and holds the motherboard down. Large fits hard disks, holds the blanking plates in place, and fits the power supply, usually also the case. Sometimes the case has a larger thread size.
I thought this was obvious - screw goes where it fits, as you say. I recently went to a reasonably well respected computer shop and was served by an assistant aged around 19. I'm 30 and I've been building PCs since I was 19. The guy tried to sell me small screws for a hard disk. I told him what I thought. He pulled out a hard disk and one of his little screws and screwed it in as if to say "see?". I said to him, keep turning. Needless to say the screw had zero purchase in the hole. He still would not accept his incorrectitude.
I really wanted to punch his spotty little face. But I didn't, as I know better.
Stupid, pointless rant? Yes. But I've not spoken to anyone about this incident (how do you bring it up in normal conversation?) and this is truly a release to get it off my chest.
Yours Sincerely, Michael.
i would like to see some clip-on/slid-in cases and parts.
many furnitures can be assembled without screws, and they're pretty solid and stable, i'm sure one can achieve that in computers.
the lack of screws will also eliminate newbie mistakes of "make sure your motherboard is not in any contact with the case because of screws".
As long as you have nerve endings in your fingers, you should not need a guide for what screw goes where.
;)
Just try one that looks right. If it's too small go bigger. If it feels like it's cross threading, use the other thread style (fine/coarse). If it feels like it's getting hard to screw too soon try a shorter one.
There, that's the whole damn guide. We're not talking a about a device that needs grade 5 bolts in one place an normal bolts in another. It's all obvious. Just follow this simple rule:
If it feels wrong, it's wrong, don't force it.
It should be applied to ANY screwing you do
Life is too short to proofread.
...Push hard enough and they will fit in any hole. (mod me down)
adventure-today.com
Three screws? For what? Most of mine do just fine with 2 each. That way I always have just enough for the next drive. :)
CyberGuys sells both every type of screw conceivable and a bin with a screw assortment (just in case you need a particular kind).
"There is an purpose for every screw, and a screw for every purpose."
Yeah it was a great poster until your English teacher busted in and tore it down.
it's all in the wrist!
The best part of the article is the link in the sidebar to Fastener Hut
-3Suns
~~~~
The Revolution will be Slashdotted
The M3 always seem to come in the same length and get used for 3.5" floppy drives, DVD-ROM, CDROM, Burner (ie anything that goes into the 5 1/4" bays). They usually get used to attach the motherboard by screwing into the brass standoffs that the mobo sits on (more on that later).
The 6-32 get used to secure PCI/AGP cards onto the case, for securing the case side panels, and sometimes also fit the standoffs used to secure a motherboard (Enlight cases are an example of this). If you try to put an M3 screw into a standoff that wants a 6-32, it will probably work going in but not out, which pretty much sucks but we've all done it. It's pretty hard to differentiate a 6-32 brass standoff from a M3 one just by looking at it.
Hard drives also use 6-32 screws, but they have to be shorter than what ordinarily gets used elsewhere. The hard drive manufacturers aren't obvious about what length is recommended, but 1/4" or 4mm is about right. For some cases with removable drive bays (like Antec), the hex head screws stick out too far and won't work, so you'll need a flat head. This is usually where the bag of screws you get with the case comes in useful, so I try to use those first. You don't want to use an ordinary 6-32 length screws (not sure how long they are), since they could damage the drive.
Other than screws, I suggest buying some paper washers that go between the screw and the motherboard. Not really necessary, but they insure that there's no electrical short and prevent damage of the motherboard. Well worth the $0.10 each or whatever.
Since you never seem to get directions with a case (or they're totally incomprehensible), I suggest separating all the hardware into groups to figure out what you've got. It's easiest just to buy the screws and washers in bulk and not mess with all the different weird screws you'll ordinarily get though.
Push hard enough and they will fit in any hole.
And exactly what sort of holes does one stuff whole women into?
The coolest voice ever.
Thank you, no. I've already bookmarked a 404.
Ignorance is the root of all evil.
Then after I suspend the site thinking it's being DDOS'd I come refresh slashdot and what do I see?
Folks that site is on a small shared server, their hosting plan is like a 3 gig per MONTH plan (and they've never used much over 2.5 gigs in a month) so that server croaked FAST.
Now that I know it isn't a DDOS I'll see if I can get them on something that can handle it.
(I host this site and just suspended it due to the traffic killing the server).
They're on an empty server and DNS is updated, with some redirects going on, hopefully that'll help now.
--- www.f-theocean.com
Suspended sites NORMALLY redirect to the control panel but suspending this site didn't help the server recover so I removed the control panel redirect which resulted into a redirect to www.8-95.com (still not sure where I managed to set that at) which then resulted in www.8-95.com getting hammered.
Now that I know this isn't a ddos (which is what I thought it was at first) I've put the content on a new server that should be able to handle this traffic.
DNS is also pointing to the new server.
In case you didn't figure it out I host this web site and have spent the last 30 minutes fighting what I THOUGHT was a DDOS and now that I check slashdot and see the link to this customer's site right on the top of the page, I KNOW what's happening and have done what I can to relieve the load.
--- www.f-theocean.com
Yeah, here goes the obvious:
With screwing in the title, of *course* it's for your mom.
To save you some bandwidth, I can try to help. Mirror
1st: scoring an invite to Orkut and subsequently having almost all of the invitations I send out being rejected.
2nd: realising I'm still an INTJ personality type despite my best effort to change.
3rd: scoring 5/5 on the 'name the screw test'.
Things aren't looking up for me in the get-a-life-dept. are they?
-Brad
They moved it to a new server and the DNS hasn't caught up. Here is a direct link:
http://216.180.233.175/~bunker/
Dude, I just use an old sock and some bubble wrap and kinda wedge the suckers in wherever I can fit 'em.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Those who sacrifice security to condemn liberty deserve to repeat history or something. - Benjamin Santayana
MCSE == Minesweeper Consultant / Solitaire Expert...
Never mind Spamassassin. When's Spammerassassin coming out?
All components using (metrical) M3 screws have originally been built by european and/or japanese companies: As far as I know, the 3,5" diskette has been introduced by Sony in 1980, the CD-ROM drive was originally developed by Philips and Sony and introduced in the midth of the eighties.
In contrast, the 5,25" floppy disk drive (which uses non-metric screws as well - if I remember correctly) was "invented" by Shugart in 1976, the harddisk is an american invention as well ...
Just an idea ...
---
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.
I thought it was "Must Consult Someone Else"