Re: aluminum machining? A q that is technical but not bicyclic

On Sun, 26 Oct 2008 21:02:48 +0100, Lou Holtman
<lholditniet@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

carlfogel@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:32:22 +0100, Lou Holtman
<lholditniet@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

M-gineering wrote:
carlfogel@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

Sorry, but this sounds like cognitive dissonance:

Step 32. We got it [the keyboard] off! Phew. It took about 15 minutes
to remove all the [56] screws. . . .

Step 33. Wow! What an incredible machine. We are very impressed by the
ease with which the new MacBook Pro came apart.
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/First-Look/Mac/MacBook-Pro-Unibody/Page-1

Maybe 112 screws and 30 minutes would have been even more incredible,
impressive, and easy?

Cheers,

Carl Fogel
undoing 56 screws is a little work with an electric screwdriver but it
is not difficult. On the other hand, undoing a couple of impossible to
reach snapfittings in exploding plastic.......

Exactly! I prefer unscrewing 56 screws knowing beforehand that they will
not break. I wish that the door panels of my car had screws.

Lou

Dear Lou, Marten, and Ryan,

Can anyone think of an even faintly similar piece of equipment that
requires 56 screws to restrain it?

I always thought that a panel of an aircraft has a lot of rivets.


This is the kind of bold engineering breakthrough that we expect from
people working with hammers and shingles on roofs, not from companies
boasting about CNC machining reducing parts count.

You have to buy a highwheeler before you need more than 48 "screws" to
hold your bicycle rim together.

It still sounds like cognitive dissonance.

Imagine the RBT reaction to a modern bicycle that used 56 screws to
hold something as small and lightly stressed as a laptop keyboard in
place.

I'd love to see an Apple video with a couple of vice-presidents of
design explaining what a fantastic breakthrough it was when they saw
some guys shingling a roof and realized that laptop keyboards had been
attached incorrectly all these years.

Is Apple bragging about this 56 screws? From a engineering point of view
it is nothing to be proud of I agree with you, but laptop keyboards are
designed for quick assembly and reducing cost often resulting in a
flimsy piece of crap. If 56 srews are necessary to turn this in nice to
use keyboards I have no problem with that. Replacing snapfittings by
screws makes it more serviceable in my opinion and maybe more durable. I
have to see it in flesh before making a final judgement on this though.
Is it worth the extra 500 dollar that is another question.

Lou

Dear Lou,

Mossberg failed to notice anything interesting about the keyboard.

No one is likely to notice the effect of the 56 screws unless Apple
adds a claim to their web site that there is a wonderful effect.

To repeat the obvious, the ifixit folks, who specialize in repairing
Mac laptops, woke up briefly from their infatuation:

"Step 32. We got it [the keyboard] off! Phew. It took about 15 minutes
to remove all the [56] screws. . . ."

But the cognitive dissonance kicked in again, with no hint of irony:

"Step 33. Wow! What an incredible machine. We are very impressed by
the ease with which the new MacBook Pro came apart."

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/First-Look/Mac/MacBook-Pro-Unibody/Page-11

It takes 56 buttons to keep the emperor inside his trousers?

There are lots of laptops with perfectly usable, durable keyboards.

Darned few of them resort to 56 keyboard attachment screws while
claiming that a CNC machined aluminum "unibody" frame is a fantastic
breakthrough that simplifies and cleans up everything (without any
credit given to the switch to SATA drive cabling).

But you could argue that the policy of replacing the whole expensive
keyboard unit in case of problems (predicted by the ifixit site) gets
around such pesky details:

"While the manufacturing of the case is sexy, our sources say that
Apple is treating this as a single replaceable part. This means that
if you break a key on the keyboard, you'll have to replace the entire
upper case. That could get very expensive."

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/First-Look/Mac/MacBook-Pro-Unibody/Page-10

The ifixit folks think that they can get around this by removing and
reinstalling the 56 screws to replace a broken key, but they're
assuming that Apple will provide individual parts instead of whole
units. Let's hope that their optimism is justified.

A nice view of some of the 56 black #000 philips keyboard screws:
http://static4.ifixit.com/igi/RRTW3elFmoggPlVq.large

The thumb and the key patterns should remind people just how small
those 56 #000 screws are--that's why it took the ifixit folks 15
minutes to remove them all. Screwing them back in probably takes
longer.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel
.