Hey All,
Has anyone found sources for any of the screws? It’s super-helpful that Framework publishes a list of screw dimensions, but I’m having a devil of a time actually finding a source for them…
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not that I’ve looked for these screws in particular but I do know that amazon sells kits that include multiple common screw sizes for electronics, have you considered looking into that?
Amazon was my first stop. I’ve scoured the available kits and have not been able to find, for instance, an M1.6 screw only 1.5mm long, much less with a 5mm head 0.6mm thick. The closest I’ve found is a 1.6mm screw that comes in a kit of 1,600, mostly of other sizes.
I’ve checked McMaster-Carr as well, which would allow a smaller purchase, but still no matches for the mainboard screws I need.
I’m hoping to avoid buying a kit with hundreds of screws in various sizes just to get the dozen or so I need in one specific size. I can probably adjust what I’m doing to take a longer screw - it’s a one-off project and doesn’t need to exactly conform to the screw dimensions used in the laptop itself - but I think a known supplier for these very specific sizes and dimensions would benefit the community as a whole.
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With your mention of McMaster-Carr I’m guessing you’re in the US. The US is a wasteland for metric screws. Heck, even in Canada where we’re officially metric it’s very hard to find metric screws. About the only ones readily available are for VESA mounting.
I learned this the hard way when I went on a service trip to Florida in my day job, we needed one measly metric screw to complete the installation and replace a stripped screw and wow what a pain.
You’ll have to look abroad, Europe or Asia. If you did want to keep looking domestically, look for a specialty industrial fastener shop. There are actually several right around here if you could believe it. They don’t sound like the most exciting of stores but when you’re looking for that one particular screw they sure beat The Home Depot. It’s most intimidating when you go into a giant home improvement store looking for a little wee thing smaller than your thumbnail, and so disappointing when you realize they don’t have it or anything even remotely similar to it.
Here’s my local supplier (almost within walking distance) as an example of who would have this and what to look for: https://www.boltandnutsupply.com/ I needed to go in a grand total of once and after some searching they came out with what I needed (metric stainless steel acorn nuts!) If a company like this didn’t have screws for the Framework laptop I wouldn’t know where else to go, but I would bet they do have them.
Come to think of it, maybe I should stop in with the list, buy in quantity (they only cost cents each!) and sell kits on eBay? Hmm. 
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There are certainly more dishonest ways of making a buck in this day and age
Might as well, especially if there is enough demand
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I wouldn’t take advantage, just make it worth my while.
However these screws really are difficult to find. Turns out there are 3 suppliers in town, two of them with online catalogues barely have any metric screws at all. These really are hard to find.
I’d like to ask for a quote from the first supplier I listed, but I’m not too confident they’ll have all of these.
Good luck convincing others of that, I wouldn’t call myself a regular seller but I’ve sold sufficient quantities of items of eBay that I know the price markup to justify listing will strike some as excessive, it helps that you would be selling a low-value item so the markup would only need to be a dollar or two to cover listing fees and it would be low volume enough that you could just buy the screws as orders come in.
For me, I don’t see it taking advantage to charge an extra few bucks profit (maybe $5 plus shipping?) since you would be providing convenience to users, nothing is stopping me from finding a local store as you said
I do doubt there is much demand tho and if there is, Framework would likely step in and sell direct from the market place as there isn’t really a way for you to advertise this on the forum without breaking rules and as a mod, that would look bad for you lol
Good point. I think this will be decided for me since it looks likely that I won’t be able to find these screws.
eBay has increased their fees so much I only make a few dollars on anything priced $15 or lower.
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A quick eBay search turned up a couple sources of M1.6 1.5mm screws… Nylok. I haven’t found any steel or even brass.
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It’s challenging for us to make these available too. The logistics and economics of selling small bags of different fasteners is really rough…
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I’d assumed as much - I figured if selling them was viable you’d already be doing it… Honestly I suspect the most practical approach would be for a number of us to go in on a group purchase, but even that would only be cost-effective if we lived close enough to avoid lots of little shipments. And could find a supplier.
If only we could 3D-print them…
This is not the advice of an engineer, try this half-assed solution at your own peril: M1.6x2 hex head screws, M2 washers at 0.3mm thick will bring us to 5mm width and pretty close to thread depth. Sandpaper/angle grinder if I bottom out the threads. My searches on Aliexpress were pretty abysmal. There’s this site, but I have no idea if they’ll do volume discounts.
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Good finds, @iaredavid. I’ve continued looking and haven’t come up with anything yet… For my needs I can just make the screw holes accommodate a longer screw; getting the correct screw diameter is more important.
Since the most likely use for the screws is rehousing a board, perhaps the mainboards available through the marketplace should just ship with the required screws.
Does anybody have a source for the screws that Frame.work uses/specs? They don’t sell them. They claim they are available at any hardware store. I cannot find them locally or online.
- I tried boltandnutsupply.com (mentioned here Has anyone found a source for screws?) without success.
- I contacted IFixIt, and they replied “Unfortunately, we don’t carry that product.”
For their specs, see: Fasteners Guide - Framework Guides.
Where does Frame.work get them? Thanks.
Which screws, the 4 case screws or internal? You know there is a few spare inside the case itself right?
They’ll have their own made to order, probably. All in all, you’re probably best off going to your local hardware nut and make it their puzzle to solve. That being said, they could probably make the screw for you by modifying something they have in stock, if you ask extra nicely, maybe.
As far as I am aware, FW have no intention of selling extra screws. It is not my place to comment on why, as it is beyond my realm of knowledge, so be careful with what you have, is all I can say, confidently.
Best Regards,
Varg
To be upgrade and repair friendly, it seems odd to use screws like these. I looked on eBay and AliExpress for the screws spec’d. There are some close matches (phillips-head screws with smaller head diameters) which might work for the M2 screws. I did not find anything like the M1.6 1.5mm fastener with a 5.5mm diameter head.
Yeah, it’s kinda strange they don’t sell the screws outright.
I asked about it and got responses like “shipping would be expensive” and “you have spare screws on the case” which are valid but only if there was a third party screw vendor which these weird ones don’t seem to have or are not findable.
Hopefully Framework sees this cause I’m clumsy and lose my screws often! 
Other topics echo this one; spec’d fasteners are almost impossible to find/source. I’m considering using glue instead. See: The 5 Best Multipurpose Glue for Electronics (2022 Review) - NerdyTechy