Rather disingenuous don’t you think ? Do you really think they went for cheap screws ?
It does seem disturbing and sure finding how they got into the production line and why they were even made would be useful to Framework, but Framework didn’t actually do that and that they are taking responsibility by swapping boards shows they are not cheap skates.
This is also one of if not THE most transparent laptop build process from both the manufacturer and the customer side since we have this nice little community forum. So though one’s personal experience has NEVER had a screw break like this, we don’t really know if this does or does not happen within the same “percentage of error” for other laptop manufacturers. And given the issue with the macro pad suppliers earlier, we can see that even when Framework takes all of the right steps to get parts for their laptops, ultimately they could have paid for high quality screws, and the supplier sent out a bad batch. Especially since these screws are miniscule, there might be one box that fits in one hand with the SSD screws for a few thousand FW16s, and if that’s a bad batch, That doesn’t mean Framework cheaped out, but they may be having a discussion with their screw supplier in the near future.
Well and truly screwed.
I imagine the torx hole in the head basically cuts into the shaft. Poor design as the slightest over torque will rip it off.
The mind boggles as how that isn’t likely to happen.
Thanks for the extra warning.
Copy of earlier post by @JosiahP with fingerprint blurred 
Same here, so frustrating. I’m waiting for supports response…
Hi januen and welcome.
What’s that image? All I see is a stripped pale blue rectangle.
Hm, tried several photos of the broken srew head, but no matter which one I upload they are all like this…
But it looks exactly like the one from the post from amoun just above mine. [edit: initially wrong quoted photo]
I am eager to try to get it out, but I’m also afraid ob breaking at it’s neck, what would make it comletely impossible to remove, at least for me 0.o
a) I don’t see any image from Ryn_win in this topic ???
b) as far as your photo goes
i) is with a mobile phone and then transferred to your computer to upload or are you uploading from your phone etc.
ii) Regarding uploading are you using the [fat arrow] upload or just draging from the desktop to the post you are typing - the latter is my preferred option.
i.e. Phone > Bluetooth to laptop > drag from desktop to post.
a) fixed that, I mean your post just above mine.
b)transferred via nextcloud, so their shouldn’t be a problem there. Tried both, drag’n drop & upload button, same problem.
But still, it looks exactly the same as the only photo so far in this thread.
Sounds terrible;
How did the image get onto nextcloud?
Back to the nutty screws.
I suppose the screw was already in position and you had to unscrew it and then screw it back in once you added your SSD.
If the prebuilds are OK and the screw was OK to begin with then clearly too much pressure or torque was used in the DIY action. This is not to suggest that the screws were hardly fit for purpose as I’ve not heard of it before.
With such fragile screws, size etc. then maybe the flat head with a hole all the way through it was a crappy choice.
It there is room for a similar screw with a more substantial head then that would be a better option.
If the top of the screw is proud of the bush then get some old end cutters (like electronics side cutters but with the cutting edges at right angles to the handles) and use those to grip the end of the screw while turning it.
If the screw is sub-flush with the top of the bush then sometimes it is possible to use a pointed object like the point of an old school compass to dig into one side of the screw while tapping the other end of the compass to make the screw turn.
Sorry to hear that you are having issues. I will say that your assertion that “they’d rather spend their time on new orders instead of helping people who have already placed and paid for their orders but are having trouble” makes some assumptions which may be incorrect.
They will get back to you. Sending additional emails will not speed things up; in fact, it may slow it down. I am not a Framework employee, so I do not have inside knowledge, but it sounds like their system may use some sort of “timer” and additional emails reset that timer, One can argue about whether that is reasonable or not, but it seems to be how this system functions currently.
If you are uncomfortable with a product for which support is handled via email, then this may not be a good fit for you.
With all of that said, from what I have seen in the forum around this issue, it likely will involve a mainboard swap. That’s a pain for the consumer and for the company, so I expect that behind the scenes they are working to figure out what is causing this and put a stop to it. In the mean time, if you are comfortable doing so, you could tape down the nvme drive where the screw would go, so that you can use the system until you get things resolved.
Again, sorry to hear that you are having issues. Best of luck getting things resolved, whichever path you choose. Have a great day!
I don’t think threatening is ‘good’ behaviour nor necessary. Once you have lodged the compliant, even without a response you are safe.
Sure being upset isn’t nice but it wasn’t intentional that the screw broke and there are slow responses, however your threats are intentional and I hope you see that is not productive to an amicable solution.
I’m sure you will hear from someone soon.
Take care and all the best in whatever you decide to do.
Thank for your input. The assumption I made was based on the auto-generated email they send after you contact them. The wording they chose in the email makes it sound like they’re too busy to reply in a timely manner because they’re inundated with new orders. Perhaps they could word that differently since that’s what I took from it. And I haven’t emailed twice, I emailed once, and submitted a support ticket once. If those go to the same box and restart a counter, then I have no way of knowing that. And I do agree with you that perhaps this isnt a good fit for me. I am a very patient person and never complain about things. But not being able to get an answer quicker than a week does bother me a bit and makes me uneasy as to what kind of company I bought from. I was nervous to begin with because I had never heard of them before, but my son assured me they are legit. I agree also with taping it down, and my son thought of that, but I had no idea what they will want us to do, and I was afraid to do anything more with the laptop until I could speak with someone about it in case they would want us to send the entire thing back, unused. And additionally I shouldn’t have to tape up a brand new, out-of
-the-box, $1800 laptop.
Yes it’s very unpleasant and you don’t have to use tape, it’s just an option if you want to try it out.
You will be safe trying, it won’t void any warrantee etc.
Here’s my take. Take it for what it is worth. Maybe zero, maybe more than zero, maybe less than zero.
If you got this far, thanks for reading, and have a great day.
It doesn’t tell me that, it tells me they have that many new items out in the field with niggling problems - just like yours - that they are snowed under with support requests, and it will take a few days to get to yours.
Why this screw? I haven’t heard much about others.
So is it particularly small, it is short. So could it just be that people are using too much torque. The Screw is meant to hold the ssd down, it doesn’t need to be tight it doesn’t help with any electrical contact.
- Using one finger gently hold the Storage module down to the Mainboard and use your other hand to screw in the fastener using the T5 bit in the Framework Screwdriver.
Be sure to not over-tighten the fastener.
Storage Replacement Guide - Framework Guides
I suspect the act of punching the Torx indent into the head goes too deep for the head thickness, leaving very little meat between the threaded stem and the head. The punch would need to be onlt slightly off centre to make this interface quite weak.
Yes I had already said much the same somewhere but that doesn’t equate to why other skinny screws of the same thickness and same torx ‘punched’ hole do not suffer.
In some way a longer screw may be even more vulnerable. ??
I don’t know, I wouldn’t have thought so though.
But to make it less susceptible to failure I think the screw needs a thicker head, if it was about 50% thicker it would pretty well eliminate the failures, and wouldn’t impact on the midplate.