aluminum machining? A q that is technical but not bicyclic

wrote in message
...

stuff

My main feeling on the later parts of this thread is "So what?". Apple in
marketing shock. Hardly news.

M-gineering wrote:
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-Lo...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.......

56 screws to remove what is one of the most-replaced component on a lap-top.

The keyboard on my Compaq requires 0 screws to replace. It takes less
than one minute.

aka TP wrote:
[...]
My teen daughter went to the mall yesterday (even though she says she
hates the mall)[...]

Parent of the Year!

--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007
If you are not a part of the solution, you are a part of the precipitate.

"Still Just Me" wrote:
On Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:19:44 GMT, Ryan Cousineau
wrote:

I think RBT posters would be pretty happy if they had their spokes fail
as rarely as laptop keyboards.

Laptop keyboard failures are more common than you think.


My last laptop died due to hinge failure.

--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007
If you are not a part of the solution, you are a part of the precipitate.

Carl Fogel wrote:

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

If you break one or two screws off in servicing the thing, I bet you
can get away without figuring out how to drill out and Helicoil a size
000 thread. Fifty-four fasteners will probably do the job adequately
well.

Chalo

Carl Fogel wrote:

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

If you break one or two screws off in servicing the thing, I bet you
can get away without figuring out how to drill out and Helicoil a size
000 thread. Fifty-four fasteners will probably do the job adequately
well.

Chalo

On Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:45:47 -0700 (PDT), Chalo
wrote:

Carl Fogel wrote:

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

If you break one or two screws off in servicing the thing, I bet you
can get away without figuring out how to drill out and Helicoil a size
000 thread. Fifty-four fasteners will probably do the job adequately
well.

Chalo

Dear Chalo,

Our great grandfathers applied the same theory to Humber highwheelers
and their spokes, with a note of caution:

"Pern Coleman, whilst ferreting about amongst the trees, struck a path
with a good surface just wide enough to ride upon. It was good fun
dodging the roots underneath and branches overhead, but just as we
were getting out of the wood a shout from Pern showed it had not been
quite so funny for him, as a spoke had gone. One spoke more or less in
a 'Humber' is not worth consideration, but when one starts others are
so likely to follow that for the remainder of the journey steady
riding over rough ground was necessitated."

--London Bicycle Club Gazette, 1879, p.249

http://books.google.com/books?id=enF...er#PPA2 49,M1

Dodging branches was important on highwheelers, whose riders towered
well above even your height.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Carl Fogel wrote:

"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-Lo...nibody/Page-11

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

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

I used to think that about all computers. A keyboard's a keyboard,
what's the big deal? (It helped to not get too attached to such
things when they had to deal with the harsh realities of life in a
machine shop.) But my 17" Powerbook G4 has a nicer keyboard than
anything else I've tried that was made in the '00s. Anytime I have to
mess with somebody else's computer, if it's not a Mac laptop I am
struck by the overwhelmingly crappy feel of the thing.

I'm sure that there are nice-feeling keyboards out there-- I remember
them from when computers operated alongside typewriters and had to
withstand comparison-- but I have not run across one on anything but a
Mac for a long time now. There are a number of things I can fault my
computer for: flabby case, disturbingly hot spots on the case when
running video or solid modeling CAD, chintzy video display cable, dumb
fastener locations that require too much disassembly to do some kinds
of service, needlessly tiny screws, probably some more stuff that
doesn't spring to mind just now. But the keyboard is the bee's
knees. If the new version is even better, I reckon it's worth
whatever number of screws they care to throw at it.

Chalo

On Oct 27, 12:54*pm, Still Just Me wrote:
(I idly wandered):
I guess I'm not much of a Believer, either. I really need to go play
with a Vista machine and see if I'm still allergic.


(SJM nicely brought me back to reality):
Vista sucks. XP is a better OS for people who do real work.

Thanks, I needed that. --D-y

Ryan Cousineau wrote:
I have a bit of an odd question with regard to laptop manufacture and
aluminum machining. It's essentially one of curiosity, but I think a few
people here may have some insight.

If you don't know, Apple just introduced some revised laptop models.
Great new features, bold design, whatever. The feature that made me sit
bolt-upright and say "no way!" was the case structure.

The old MacBook design used plastic molded cases. I think there might be
a metal inner frame, too. The "Pro" model used aluminum cases, but I'm
virtually certain they were stamped, and I think they relied on an inner
metal frame as well (depending on the year, these frames were made out
of aluminum or magnesium, I think, and presumably cast, but possibly
stamped).

This year's models are all sporting machined aluminum cases, and
apparently have no inner frame to speak of (they call it "unibody" a la
modern car designs). It appears the major components bolt more or less
directly to the body.

Web page here, including video of what may be actual manufacturing
techniques and pictures of the bare case:

http://www.apple.com/macbook/design.html

It's a clever idea, and I can see benefits. But just watch that
production video! How in the heck can they be doing CNC machining in a
production-line fashion and be cost-competitive? I would have thought
the cost and time (and manufacturing capacity?) would have been
prohibitive.

Anyone here have an insight as to how they're doing this without
spending way more money than when they were molding cases out of
plastic? I think these laptops are probably being made in the PRC,
though there's a small chance this is a Taiwanese product.

I mean, Apple's not crazy, so I assume this will all work, at least in
theory, but when did machining costs and capacities get so cheap that
they could conceive of milling out several million complex case designs
every year?



My bud said that his new Macbook runs significantly cooler (as in less
hot) than past models.

Just sayin'!

--
Paul M. Hobson
..:change the f to ph to reply:.