Do mainboards from the marketplace come with screws?

Community Support Question
#1

If I were to buy a mainboard from the marketplace, I would likely want to keep my old mainboard as a desktop by using the 3D printed case from Framework or any community alternatives.

However, to get my old mainboard into the 3D printed case, I assume I would also need 5 screws like I do on the laptop. Do new mainboards come with these screws, or do I need to obtain them separately? If I do need to obtain them on my own, how would I do so?

Additionally, I have seen some reviewers attaching antennas to their 3D printed Framework mainboard enclosures for WiFi/Bluetooth. Where can I obtain these antennas/what are the measurements for them?

Thank you for any information you can provide.

#2

Good question - although the screws are extensively documented, they’re hard to find. Fasteners Guide - Framework Guides

You need MHF4 connectors but any antennas for WiFi/Bluetooth should work:

Probably best to get an MHF4 to reverse SMA cable and an SMA antenna (search and you’ll see various sensitivites in dBi - larger ones are more sensitive).

You might also be seeing a USB wireless adapter with large external antennas:

https://www.amazon.com/Techkey-1750Mbps-1300Mbps-Antennas-Wireless/dp/B07PKMFPF7/

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#3

Thank you for supplying links to the antennas/cables, that’s super helpful!

It’s unfortunate that the screws are so difficult to find. I tried looking around the internet for a while but I couldn’t find any. I’m hoping that new mainboard either come with the screws or they add an option to include them since they would be necessary to still use both a new and old mainboard.

#4

The issue is that the screws have very specific dimensions and it’s hard to find exact matches - for the motherboard it’s an “M1.6 1.5mm fastener with a 5.5mm diameter, 0.6mm thick T5 head”.

But if you are not using it in a Framework bottom cover, you don’t have to respect the height or the head, just the diameter. So any M1.6 screw will work, it just won’t sit flush if it’s longer than 1.5mm - you need washers or a deeper threaded socket. A 5.5mm diameter head or washer would spread the load though.

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#5

@CSab6482
I recently built a super-DIY Framework using only components from the marketplace (meaning I still dont have a battery, grr!) I wound up with a complete Framework minus the SSD and RAM that I already had. I wonder how warranty works in this situation…

Unfortunately, three vital sets of screws were missing: the four screws that hold the display to the Top Cover Kit, the five screws that hold the motherboard to the Bottom Cover Kit, and the four screws that hold the hinges (already attached to the Top Cover Kit) to their attach points on the Bottom Cover Kit. If one were to buy the discrete components instead of the kits (speaker, webcam, etc) those would likely be missing too but I can’t say for certain.

Long and short of it, no, the Mainboard (disclaimer: 11th gen) does not currently ship with screws. And yes, the worst ones to find are specifically the M1.6 wafer head motherboard screws. I ordered some from a merchant called MetricScrews, but the head was only 4mm wide so not wide enough to actually hold anything down, so I’ve ordered some longer M1.6 wafer screws and washers that arrive tomorrow.

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#6

Thank you for your answer, as well as for a vendor that carries screws! It would be nice if the screws could also be purchased from the marketplace, but I assume there are some logistical messes there preventing it from happening.

#7

The answer to “screws in Marketplace?” comes up in this post:

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