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No dumb questions? Maybe this one…
- Thread starter mst3k
- Start date
mdeverhart
Well-known member
I think the intent of the screw was as a low-security method of keeping people from taking the cover off - basically no protection, but at least an inconvenience. (I’ve always imagined it was to keep kids in schools from poking around inside).
croissantking
Well-known member
So it wasn’t always fitted with a screw from factory?
Phipli
Well-known member
I think they were fitted from factory. Just over the years, everyone left them out.
It was more common to find screws still in machines in the 90s, and stuff that my family has owned for decades tends to have screws from before we owned them.
This made me curious so I searched through some service guides on Archive.org. In the 1994 July Service Guide Volume 3 which covers the LC III and 475, the screw is known as "Screw, Cover" with a part number of 430-1031. The screw is not mentioned at all in volume 2 which covers the LC and LC II.
But then if you go to this Apple Service Technical Procedures Volume 2 document on Bitsavers which also covers the LC and LC II, it lists 430-1031 on PDF page 92 and calls it "Screw, Cover (Macintosh LC)". In the diagram on page 91 it also shows the screw and says "(LC Only)" next to it. So if that document is to be believed, they only included the screw with the original LC? Who knows. Funny that they would explicitly call that out.
But then if you go to this Apple Service Technical Procedures Volume 2 document on Bitsavers which also covers the LC and LC II, it lists 430-1031 on PDF page 92 and calls it "Screw, Cover (Macintosh LC)". In the diagram on page 91 it also shows the screw and says "(LC Only)" next to it. So if that document is to be believed, they only included the screw with the original LC? Who knows. Funny that they would explicitly call that out.
Phipli
Well-known member
Weird. I don't see why you wouldn't include it. Bit extreme for cost saving.
There were also screws in the IIcx and IIci (Q700? I don't own one). The screw in the C650 was a captive screw.
Really really weird that on the one hand they were making it so you couldn't fully remove the screw, and on the other, not bothering to fit it at all?
Although without the screw there is a greater risk of dropping a C650/IIvx/PM7100 and similar, because it holds the sides and front on too.
mikes-macs
Well-known member
Wasn't a dumb question at all btw. I was wondering the same because the IIsi has one.
Scott Baret
Well-known member
I own nine pizza box LCs and not one of them came with a screw, including the one I bought new. If it had one in the box, it got tossed in 1992, but I don’t remember one ever being in there.
My understanding of that just means, the screw might not be there, not that they weren’t factory fitted.
I wonder if @CTB knows anything about this?
They’re specifically calling out the LC as having it and the LC II as not. There are other pieces that say “LC II Only” in these diagrams instead. I’m not sure how else to interpret what they are saying…but who knows, Apple’s documentation hasn’t always been accurate either.
I tend to think it’s not so black and white personally. Like Phipli said, maybe it could be a factory difference or something.
It's all good! I agree about the inconsistency. I don't know if I'm willing to treat that one document as the LC screw bible, to be honest -- although coming from Apple gives it a bit more merit in my mind. On the other hand, this book claims the LC II has a screw but never shows it (PDF page 40)...
eBay is far from a primary source on this matter, and I'm sure some people did remove the screws, but I will say that I looked at a ton of Mac LC/II/III/475s on eBay and almost all of them didn't have the screw. The only ones that did? A few original LCs, including one with its original box.
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/204606214976
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/255426452940
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/265856280833
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/394003361585
This site shows a Performa 460 and LC 475, both of them have the screw installed. But some of the other similar models they have don't.
They all shipped with the screw. It was considered an extra deterant to the theft of internal parts in education environments. The theft of RAM was a big issue. So was mouse balls but that was much harder to stop.
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