computer case questions

[ANON]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware,uk.comp.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

where can I buy thumbscrews for the 3.5" HDD bay and 5.25" drive
bays? do they even exist?

(i've only seen thumbscrews for cases)

A concern that I have regarding thumbscrews for the 3.5 and 5.25" bay,
is that there is no standard screw size for Floppy drives or CD
Drives. Call me unlucky, but I've had situations where i've used
screws from another CD drive in a CD drive and the drive has not
worked. Then I unscrewed the screws, and it worked. And the drive
worked with its own screws.
I had a similar experience with a floppy drive. The screws from
another floppy drive caused my floppy drive to not work (until i
removed them).

Thus, when it comes to thumbscrews or 'screwless' designs such as
antec's screwless rails or chieftec's screwless HDD rails, I wonder
whether they would cut out the drive. Are my concerns warranted? If
I knew the reason why some screws were cuttnig out drives, then
perhaps they'd be a way to guarantee that screwless designs wouldn't
cut out drives.

At least antec's screwless rails look like standard sized rails, and
if they didn't work, I could use normal rails. But some chieftec use
a screwless 5.25" design (no rails) so no option. And patented
screwless HDD rails.

To get around this whole screwless issue, i'm thinking of getting a
mobile rack. Screwing that in the normal way, )or with thumbscrews)
and taking out my drives easily without touching any screws. i've
heard that with those things you put each drive in a cartridge and
the cartridges in a frame and can slide each drive out of its
cartridge. However, when I browse around the web, all I can find are
mobile racks for 1 drive. Where can I buy one for many?


Thanks in advance.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware,uk.comp.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Anon wrote:
|| where can I buy thumbscrews for the 3.5" HDD bay and 5.25" drive
|| bays? do they even exist?
||
|| (i've only seen thumbscrews for cases)
||
|| A concern that I have regarding thumbscrews for the 3.5 and 5.25"
|| bay, is that there is no standard screw size for Floppy drives or
|| CD Drives. Call me unlucky, but I've had situations where i've used
|| screws from another CD drive in a CD drive and the drive has not
|| worked. Then I unscrewed the screws, and it worked. And the drive
|| worked with its own screws.
|| I had a similar experience with a floppy drive. The screws from
|| another floppy drive caused my floppy drive to not work (until i
|| removed them).
||
|| Thus, when it comes to thumbscrews or 'screwless' designs such as
|| antec's screwless rails or chieftec's screwless HDD rails, I wonder
|| whether they would cut out the drive. Are my concerns warranted? If
|| I knew the reason why some screws were cuttnig out drives, then
|| perhaps they'd be a way to guarantee that screwless designs wouldn't
|| cut out drives.
||
|| At least antec's screwless rails look like standard sized rails, and
|| if they didn't work, I could use normal rails. But some chieftec
|| use a screwless 5.25" design (no rails) so no option. And patented
|| screwless HDD rails.
||
|| To get around this whole screwless issue, i'm thinking of getting a
|| mobile rack. Screwing that in the normal way, )or with thumbscrews)
|| and taking out my drives easily without touching any screws. i've
|| heard that with those things you put each drive in a cartridge and
|| the cartridges in a frame and can slide each drive out of its
|| cartridge. However, when I browse around the web, all I can find are
|| mobile racks for 1 drive. Where can I buy one for many?
||
||
|| Thanks in advance.

Prolly the screws where to big, and when screwed in to the drives they were
touching the PCB of the drive, shorting something out.




m

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware,uk.comp.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On 12 Sep 2004 09:55:38 -0700, q_q_anonymous@yahoo.co.uk
(Anon) wrote:

>where can I buy thumbscrews for the 3.5" HDD bay and 5.25" drive
>bays? do they even exist?
>
>(i've only seen thumbscrews for cases)


HDD uses same size (6-32) as case.
With 5.25", it can depend on the drive, some may use 6-32
but most (like optical drives or floppies) use 4-40. I
don't know where to find 4-40 thumbscrews but Google might.

>
>A concern that I have regarding thumbscrews for the 3.5 and 5.25" bay,
>is that there is no standard screw size for Floppy drives or CD
>Drives.

See above, it is a standard.


>Call me unlucky, but I've had situations where i've used
>screws from another CD drive in a CD drive and the drive has not
>worked. Then I unscrewed the screws, and it worked. And the drive
>worked with its own screws.
>I had a similar experience with a floppy drive. The screws from
>another floppy drive caused my floppy drive to not work (until i
>removed them).

Screws were probably too long, which with modern drives,
will short out the PCB or move/flex it such that it might
not make contact with pads on the reverse side of PCB...
simply use shorter screws or put a nut on one you have,
grind or file it down a bit, then take nut off (recuts end
threads by keeping nut on prior to grinding/filing).

>
>Thus, when it comes to thumbscrews or 'screwless' designs such as
>antec's screwless rails or chieftec's screwless HDD rails, I wonder
>whether they would cut out the drive. Are my concerns warranted? If
>I knew the reason why some screws were cuttnig out drives, then
>perhaps they'd be a way to guarantee that screwless designs wouldn't
>cut out drives.

I have a few cases with drive rails, don't have a problem
with any of them... methink it's just that too-long-a-screw
issue, but when using rails the rail is often thicker than
the case wall sheet metal, so it would allow a screw to be
slightly longer and still work.


>At least antec's screwless rails look like standard sized rails, and
>if they didn't work, I could use normal rails. But some chieftec use
>a screwless 5.25" design (no rails) so no option. And patented
>screwless HDD rails.

You are overthinking this, normally no attention is needed
to this detail, simply using screws that come with optical
drives works fine for me... or same length.


>
>To get around this whole screwless issue, i'm thinking of getting a
>mobile rack. Screwing that in the normal way, )or with thumbscrews)
>and taking out my drives easily without touching any screws. i've
>heard that with those things you put each drive in a cartridge and
>the cartridges in a frame and can slide each drive out of its
>cartridge. However, when I browse around the web, all I can find are
>mobile racks for 1 drive. Where can I buy one for many?

Racks/cartridges/etc are fine if you NEED to remove drives
often, but otherwise it's not at all necessary to combat the
supposed screw/mounting issue.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware,uk.comp.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

"Anon" <q_q_anonymous@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:61f945bb.0409120855.5e345843@posting.google.com...
> where can I buy thumbscrews for the 3.5" HDD bay and 5.25" drive
> bays? do they even exist?
>
> (i've only seen thumbscrews for cases)

Case thumbscrews should also work on most HDDs

> A concern that I have regarding thumbscrews for the 3.5 and 5.25" bay,
> is that there is no standard screw size for Floppy drives or CD
> Drives. Call me unlucky, but I've had situations where i've used
> screws from another CD drive in a CD drive and the drive has not
> worked. Then I unscrewed the screws, and it worked. And the drive
> worked with its own screws.
> I had a similar experience with a floppy drive. The screws from
> another floppy drive caused my floppy drive to not work (until i
> removed them).

Very unlucky, or not good with a screwdriver... How long are the screws you
are using???

> Thus, when it comes to thumbscrews or 'screwless' designs such as
> antec's screwless rails or chieftec's screwless HDD rails, I wonder
> whether they would cut out the drive. Are my concerns warranted? If
> I knew the reason why some screws were cuttnig out drives, then
> perhaps they'd be a way to guarantee that screwless designs wouldn't
> cut out drives.

Screws won't break drives unless they're too long.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware,uk.comp.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

kony wrote:
>
> HDD uses same size (6-32) as case.
> With 5.25", it can depend on the drive, some may use 6-32
> but most (like optical drives or floppies) use 4-40. I
> don't know where to find 4-40 thumbscrews but Google might.

I've seen many 5.25" drives with holes tapped for the 3.0mm screws
supplied with the drives. I've also seen many drives attached with 4-40
screws. (3.0mm = 0.118" ~51tpi, 4-40 = 0.112" 40tpi) 1/4" 4-40
screws work fine and are much easier to find than 3.0mm. if you lose the
original ones. The thin metal of most CD housings will shape the screw
to fit, or shape itself to fit. The newer drives seem to be 4-40 as
recieved.

Virg Wall
--
A foolish consistency is the
hobgoblin of little minds,........
Ralph Waldo Emerson
(Microsoft programmer's manual.)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware,uk.comp.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

kony <spam@spam.com> in news:2q39k0hednvat8pqvngii8s9nj099o2umq@4ax.com:

> simply use shorter screws or put a nut on one you have,
> grind or file it down a bit, then take nut off (recuts end
> threads by keeping nut on prior to grinding/filing).

if the screw is pan or round head (not hex), the nut also gives your vise
or channelllocks something to grab... easier hacking or grinding

 

[ANON]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware,uk.comp.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

"Noozer" <dont.spam@me.here> wrote in message news:<V111d.386138$M95.385233@pd7tw1no>...
> "Anon" <q_q_anonymous@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:61f945bb.0409120855.5e345843@posting.google.com...
> > where can I buy thumbscrews for the 3.5" HDD bay and 5.25" drive
> > bays? do they even exist?
> >
> > (i've only seen thumbscrews for cases)
>
> Case thumbscrews should also work on most HDDs
>
> > A concern that I have regarding thumbscrews for the 3.5 and 5.25" bay,
> > is that there is no standard screw size for Floppy drives or CD
> > Drives. Call me unlucky, but I've had situations where i've used
> > screws from another CD drive in a CD drive and the drive has not
> > worked. Then I unscrewed the screws, and it worked. And the drive
> > worked with its own screws.
> > I had a similar experience with a floppy drive. The screws from
> > another floppy drive caused my floppy drive to not work (until i
> > removed them).
>
> Very unlucky, or not good with a screwdriver... How long are the screws you
> are using???
>
> > Thus, when it comes to thumbscrews or 'screwless' designs such as
> > antec's screwless rails or chieftec's screwless HDD rails, I wonder
> > whether they would cut out the drive. Are my concerns warranted? If
> > I knew the reason why some screws were cuttnig out drives, then
> > perhaps they'd be a way to guarantee that screwless designs wouldn't
> > cut out drives.
>
> Screws won't break drives unless they're too long.



What length 6-32 and what length 4-40 should I use?

Would I use a longer length for the case than for the HDD?

Seagate HDD online manuals talk about 6-32 screws not being longer
than about 3.55mm on the side and 5mm on the bottom. So i'm thinking
about getting 3mm ones. But maybe they'll be too small for the case.

I don't know what length 4-40 to use for the optical drives though.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware,uk.comp.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On 13 Sep 2004 22:10:27 -0700, q_q_anonymous@yahoo.co.uk
(Anon) wrote:


>What length 6-32 and what length 4-40 should I use?

The shortest ones you can find, usually. Those coming with
drives are about 3-4 /16 ", 5-6mm (length of threaded
portion).

>
>Would I use a longer length for the case than for the HDD?

Generally no, same screws. Cases and drive bays can vary
some, many don't even need 5-6mm length, but some do. If
you don't have screws just head over to any mom-n-pop
computer shop, they probably have been throwing them away
and have plenty to spare. They can be bought online too,
but the shipping would be pretty high % of cost and some
places may have ridiculous costs like $1 for 4 screws... you
should be able to get 100 or more for a few $.

>
>Seagate HDD online manuals talk about 6-32 screws not being longer
>than about 3.55mm on the side and 5mm on the bottom. So i'm thinking
>about getting 3mm ones. But maybe they'll be too small for the case.
>
>I don't know what length 4-40 to use for the optical drives though.

5 mm for those too, at least that's what many retail
packaged drives come with. If you think 5mm is too long for
(seems like you have some unusual problem here) unique
parts, shoot for 4 mm.