Disassembling laptops with multiple screw sizes

[Magic Miguel]

I'm curious to find out what you guys do when you are disassembling a laptop that has all sorts of different sized screws? In the past when I had much more time I've used a piece of paper and drew the basic shape of the laptop and then matched where each screw goes and taped it down and wrote a little note if it was something obscure. Lately I don't have that much time to actually diagram the entire thing and I won't lie, once in a great while sometimes I do end up with an extra screw after re-assembling the entire unit.

I found this magnetic mat that ifixit sells and it seems like a pretty good idea but it seems a little small. I'm thinking about trying to make my own mat. Another thing I worry about is the strength of the magnet on the mat, I would hate to move it slightly and then have all the screws fall off and out of place.

What do you do?

 

[James_S]

I use the ifixit mat and it works great. I don't usually run out of space when disassembling laptops. The magnet is not real strong but it's strong enough to keep the screws in place if you bump the mat.

 

[16k_zx81]

Solution:

http://prntscr.com/k54pn

 

[GeeksInKhakis]

I use an ice cube tray, small size cubes. 4 x 10 or something like http://www.kitchenproject.com/EnchantedSpice/VanillaSugar/VanillaSugarCubes/images/icecubetra.jpgthis. I just put the screw in the area that lines up generally with the bottom of the laptop. I label a few spots, MB, CD, etc.

 

[Martyn]

I bought a few magnetic sheets off EBay a couple of years ago and they work great. You just put the screws in the relative position they are in the laptop.

 

[Magic Miguel]

Thanks for the helpful answers, I think I'll give the ifixit thing a try and then also try the other suggestions as well.

 

[Ken's PC Repair]

I mark a piece of card stock 'front' and 'back' along each long edge. As I remove each screw I start a small whole with my screwdriver in the appropriate area and push the screw in. If I have to wait for a part to come in I put a piece of tape over each screw head, then the paper goes into the box with the laptop. When It comes time to reassemble I pull the screws through the other side.

Pretty low tech, but it works great for me!

 

[Computech1]

I normally use a small, multi compartment parts box. They're available cheap on ebay or in the UK places like buyology, a small piece of paper in each compartment tells me where they came from. If your waiting for parts just close the lid & drop it in the box with the Laptop.

 

[HCHTech]

^^THIS^^ - I use this method, too. Put the screws in compartments generally the same orientation as they came from on the laptop, snap the lid closed and you're good to go. Doesn't work so well if you have multiple screw sizes and some came from the top and some from the bottom - I'm talking to YOU, Gateway.

 

[Larry Sabo]

That's why I make a quick sketch of the top and bottom view, and attach the screws to it with poster putty. When waiting for parts, I just put the sketch sheets into the storage bin with the rest of the parts. I've been meaning to modify this by marking the sketch with a length code beside the locations from whence the screws came, and just labelling the storage compartments with the corresponding codes. That should eliminate the time-consuming step of attaching the screws to the sketch, yet make it impossible to mix up where the screws go. I keep the sketches for re-use.

 

[PR Tech]

I really like the magnetic mat from iFixit.com as well. But we also use the plastic box that has multiple compartments (usually found in craft stores) at times. Those get marked with the location the screw was removed from.

 

[tarik]

are there any problems with the magnetic mat affecting the hard drives or flash memory?

 

[PR Tech]

None so far. But, this would be a great question to also post to the gang at iFixit.com. They would have a lot more feedback with the use of these mats. Also, I don't think they would sell anything that would potentially cause harm to components.

 

[James_S]

I doubt it would cause problems, the magnet inside the hard drive itself is much more powerful than the mat.

 

[mikeroq]

I use ice cube trays.

 

[NOOB_TECH]

Here’s what I do

I use pill box that has lock down caps for each day of the week. I start Sunday and go all the way to Saturday, making sure I lock down each compartment. Basically each day of the week gets a set of screws. So far this method works great for me, and I don’t lose the screws because the lids lock down. When I reassmble, I just work from Saturday and go up to Sunday.

I pasted an image below:

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=day+...w=190&start=0&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0,i:89

 

[Martyn]

I use magnetic sheets and they are brilliant. You can even pick them up and the screws are held in place. Basically you put the screws in their relative positions so it is easy to put them back. I bought them on EBay.

 

[alluseridsrejected]

I really like how I do it. I bought a roll of double sided carpet tape and covered the inside back of a cd case with the tape. I made up several of these at one time so I have plenty on hand. Depending on the laptop, I normally use one cd case for screws from the back of the laptop and another one for screws that are taken out of the top side. I just drop the screws onto the tape in relation to where they came out of the laptop.

Be sure to keep the cd case in tack so you can close it up while not in use or dust will collect on the tape and it will not stick anymore. As long as the tape stays sticky you can keep reusing them over and over.

 

[bertie40]

I use a simple piece of A4 paper placed on top of a piece of foam packing material.

I draw a quick outline of the laptop, poke small "starter" holes in the approx locations, and poke the actual screws through the paper as i go along.

Any comments i think worth remembering i simply write next to the item. Over time, i save those pieces of paper for other similar laptops

Sometimes, as I take out the screws or unplug connectors, I take a quick iPhone photo for reference.

Sometimes I go crazy taking snapshots, but it's better safe than sorry.

 

[kisk]

Bought a few of these awhile back, use them all the time to sort screws: Bottom, kb, lcd assembly, palmrest, mobo -- with plenty of slots left for whatever else. Cheap and portable.

As for different size screws on the same section.. I use my powerful biological memory.. it works.