I am looking at the 12th gen model with the new top cover. The FW team specifically mentioned that they used a CNC-milled 6000 series aluminium to craft the new top cover as a replacement of the old aluminium forming one.
However, I cannot find any information about the material and processing of the keyboard & palmrest and bottom cover. Are they also unibody CNC-milled like the good razerbooks and macbooks? Are they also crafted using the 6000-series aluminium alloy?
aluminum alloy, I think the answer is yes.
All of them must be at least partially CNCed (to make the keyboard holes and openings for cards, for example).
Unibody, I think you meant that the piece (e.g., palmrest) is made from a single piece of aluminum and not welded together. I also think this is true.
6000 series is perhaps also true. However 6000 series is still too great a scale.
6061, for example, is used in Giant Bicycle, because of its strength (and ease of weld) but must be heat treated well or else they wont be as strong.
6063 is used in Frameworkâs new CNC top cover. It does not require heat treatment and have good strength and flexibility because it has a little bit more ⌠magnesium. or whatever.
whether they still used this exact grade on other parts, I am not sure. They might have chosen a more standard grade on those (which donât need as much flexibility), or perhaps because of the recycled materials (which probably made it difficult to cover the exact composite).
My question is more on the processing part, about how the covers and panels were crafted, as aluminium forming and unibody CNC can be kinda different for a product, especially when someone is trying to craft something by his own here.
I suspect that the keyboard panel is processed by aluminium forming, and I am not sure about the bottom cover. I would love to hear from a FW team member if possible.
I did look into the announcement. Honestly, what I can get from it for sure is that the old lid is aluminium forming. The rest parts are still unknown to me, while I do assume that they have a good possibility to have everything crafted using the same process.
Honestly speaking, CNC milling does not only add rigidty over aluminium forming. They can both handle the stress just fine, without too much diff on the material strength.
What it differs more is the precision and accuracy of processing. CNC milling usually provides products with much lower marginal tolerance than the aluminium forming, which can be even important on framework with its ports design and opening up from keyboard cover, for which I have observed quite large interspace between the keyboard cover and bottom cover in some machines.
For a machine with such premium price like framework, I would expect premium feelings on its builds. That is a reason for me to expect unibody CNC like razerbook and macbook.
The Input Cover and Bottom Cover are aluminum formed (I believe from a 5000-series alloy, though I have to dig up which one). We didnât use a full CNC process for these since the base assembly is already super rigid and robust without it, and we can avoid the cost and aluminum waste that comes from CNCing from a full block.
While I do think the thing is super rigid and robust, I have more concern on the interspace between keyboard and the bottom cover, like the picture shown:
This is common on some machines, while significantly smaller on the other ones. Is this noticeable space reasoned from some processing error? Is this controllable and/or fixable?
It looks like either the keyboard panel or the bottom cover is curvatured. None of the inners seems wrong. So I do think that this is some crafting thing with aluminium processing.
Aluminium forming is able to generate things which are flat. Just look at basically every aluminium laptop. They are pretty much using aluminium forming and they can generate flat lids.
There are two issues in this picture. The first is the curvatured top cover, which is clearly an infer of unexpected forming failure. The second is the large interspace between the keyboard and the bottom cover, which also looks like some large processing marginal error. It is more of an unsatisfactory QC issue with the processing on my side.
Your machine looks promising. It would be something worth the $$$. Your bottom parts work close enough, so I guess my questions seem to be just some QC issue.
I believe that the soft lid is something they specifically mentioned in the new 12th gen upgrades. Using assumably the 6063 alluminium alloy and CNC milling, it should has better strength.
you meant a seam between the two parts.
While I think the seam can be minimized by a more precise machining/manufacturing process, I think it will come at a cost of:
Increased number of sharp edges (due to the need to keep the âmating surfaceâ as smooth as possible, thereby disallowing chamfer/edge blend)
Reduced ability to open up the laptop cover (might need suction cups)
Increased cost (due to increased precision)
While itâs possible for this âseamâ to be hidden elsewhere (e.g. the palmrest surface), basically all laptop have a seam and I think itâs not a big deal. Itâs almost completely irrelevant, in fact.
While yes, all laptop may have a seam, the problem here on framework is much more relevant due to its design. Most of the ultrabooks use downward-facing motherboard and are opened from the bottom cover, so they may well hide the seams under the bottom, which users do not usually touch or see. FW however opens from the keyboard side, for which the seam can be pretty obvious and large seams will be much more of an issue when touched.
And no, there will not likely be any more sharp edge or reduced ability to open if the keyboard and bottom cover can be precisely CNCâd. And the seams are supposed to be much smaller than aluminium forming.
It would also be good to have 6063 aluminium alloy than the 5000 on the keyboard plate and the bottom cover. It will help with the issue that the keyboard plate is slightly weaker and can be bent when more force being applied along the center of the plate.
