Every couple of weeks or so I hear a screw rolling around in my Reform’s chassis and have to open it up to put back whichever screw (usually off the motherboard or the power board) has come loose. I’ve just put Loctite Blue on all the motherboard, power board, and trackball screws on the underside of the machine, as well as all the keyboard screws under the frame, and some of the monitor screws I noticed were loose. (My original plan was just to coat the motherboard and power board screws, since those were what kept coming totally unscrewed, but I went over every screw in my machine and found quite a few others were working themselves loose as well.)
If this turns out to have been a bad idea, I’ll report back. Otherwise, consider this a reminder to check all the screws on your machine to make sure none of them are coming loose. Having a loose screw short out some some part of your battery board is sure to be a bad time. I was surprised to find that even the screws on my monitor’s frame had come loose enough to wear off the coating on the metal opposite when the laptop is closed.
Hmmm, can I ask for how long you’ve had your reform? I have had mine since near the middle of December last year, and I have not noticed anything similar. I’m trying to gauge how often I should be checking.
I really do love the way the Reform is assembled. Very easy to get to everything.
It didn’t come down to the screws rolling free in the chassis for me, but I did notice the bottom cover screws are constantly becoming tactile - they should be hidden in countersinks normally (and they are initially) but then I start feeling them with a time, till i tighten them again. I didn’t check other screws though last time I opened the chassis, maybe other screws are about to fall out.
I’ve had mine since the beginning of September last year.
Yes, the build is nice. I’ve certainly appreciated the ease with which I can access everything. Much less of a hassle to take apart than the old Thinkpad T500 I had before. I imagine there’s some variance with regard to manufacturing, and I might have just gotten one with slightly looser screws or something. Also, patterns of use differ, and I may be subjecting it to more vibration than average for all I know. But if you’re like me and find yourself opening the bottom to clean things up whenever you notice crumbs and hairs accumulating there, it might not hurt to also check up on your screws while you’re in there.
Not sure. I do know that you are not supposed to over torque the screws going into the acrylic bottom cover. Excessive pressure from the screws will cause it to crack.
Everything else I’m not sure. After reading this I went to and retighten all the mainboard screws I could reach easily. I too have a DIY version.
My reform arrived with 3 of the screw holes that hold the acrylic bottom on completely stripped. I find it a bit unfortunate that they went with such a fine thread in such soft aluminum, and also left so little extra material that it’s basically impossible to drill and re-tap them with a larger thread. I will be attempting to insert coil threads in the damaged holes, but I really wish I could just order a new bottom chassis.
I would be more concerned with how your Reform must have been handled while in transit. I mean how in the world could your Reform have been handled so roughly that it stripped threading in 3 of your fastener points?
I don’t know if the aluminum being thicker or tougher would have helped in that case. Maybe talk with MNT about getting another chassis.
I personally have never thought the aluminum was soft. Quite the opposite. The thing is built like a tank.
That is why I would recommend talking to MNT about there maybe being something they can do to help in this situation.
+1 - my DIY kit arrived last year with all 4 of the bottom screw holes in the chassis, plus 1 towards the top stripped. It hasn’t bothered me enough since the other screws do hold the acrylic cover in place, but it is unfortunate as you say.
Yeah I had the same issue on mine a few times and would carefully power it off and get the screw out. I used the purple locktite as blue might be a little aggressive for such small screws.
I have had a Reform for a while now, but i have never had a problem with loose screws. I’m not sure why. I move the Reform around, but I always handle my electronics with care. Still I don’t really know what the difference here is.
Not soft in a way you can feel, but rather the difference between the softness of the aluminium, compared to the screws that interface with it.
If we look at the yield strengths of the two materials, the A2 stainless steel in the panhead screws is 450 megapascals (Newtons / mm²), and the 6061 aluminium alloy used in the main box and other case parts has a maximum yield strength of 240MPa. So if you overtighten a screw, the aluminium will permanently deform first. And since we’re talking about screw threads here, the surface areas where the forces are applied are really small, meaning that one can achieve really high pressure there with just hand strength.
I finger-tighten the screws on my unit, meaning I don’t use my wrist to provide additional torque, and this has mostly worked well. I’ve only stripped the threads on one of the battery board mounting points.
I’m not a mechanical engineer, but my intuitive hunch is that since the Reform is indeed built like a tank, it’s very rigid, and that rigidity transfers ambient vibration to the screws much more readily than, say, a plastic frame would.
This is a well-known issue in the aerospace field - Any amount of vibration over time is enough to loosen a fastener if it is only held in with friction, which is the case for all the screws in the Reform.
I’ve only had one occurrence of a screw coming loose inside the chassis. It’s a tricky failure condition if not noticed right away, as the screw may short out components inside if it falls in just the right spot. I periodically check those screws when I’m doing other work inside there.
The only screw that consistently works itself loose on my unit is one on the display housing, but that’s easy to spot.
In aerospace they use safety wire, but I’d say blue threadlock would be the apt fix here, it’s commonly used in other electronics too. I haven’t felt the need to apply that treatment on my unit yet, though.
