Mounting mSATA in Gizmo 2? (or mPCIe)

Hi All,

I have a Gizmo 2 board, and I have a full-length mSATA card. The Gizmo has the mPCIe slot for the mSATA card, and there are holes in the PCB lining up with the mSATA screwholes. But, there are no screws, and there are no threads to screw into. So I can push the mSATA card into the slot, but there's nothing to hold it in place. It wiggles and falls out. Same for the screwholes at the half-card locations. Big PCB holes, but no threaded implants.

Is there a kit for this? Should it have been included in my Gizmo 2 package?

If no kit particular to this, what do I need to create what I need? What size standoffs, what size screws, and how do I get screw threads to put the screws into?

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shabaz over 8 years ago in reply to gidaeon +1

Hi Joe, I tried the plastic "M2*5+6mm" hex spacers (one end male [threaded bolt] other end screw), and plastic M2 nut and bolt, from ebay seller 'luckcheng1990' and they worked fine. The spacer is 1mm…

0 monkeyman_stones over 8 years ago

Use common plastic Bolts, Nuts and Washers (don't skip the washers because they can take up space to make up for incorrectly sized bolts in case you make such a mistake and can also be added to the underside of your Gizmo to make up for the gap between the Gizmo underside and the SSD underside [which face each other, of course]). Here is just 1 of many thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of places which sell as much:
Nylon Screws, Nuts, Washers, & Rod Category | Nylon Nuts, Nylon Washers and Nylon Rod. | U.S. Plastic Corp.
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0 gidaeon over 8 years ago in reply to monkeyman_stones

Running into this same thing. From a screw perspective it seems m2.5 are the right size for most drives, but the board is obviously using the more popular (from a PC motherboard perspective) m3 size. It would be nice to find the stand offs orderable, or at least the appropriate mm height and diameter so it's not a hodgepodge of nylon washers, but I have yet to find standoffs premade to order. It's odd because they are a standardized item for all msata/mpcie slots, they are just always on the motherboard already.
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0 shabaz over 8 years ago in reply to gidaeon

Hi Joe,

Although the holes in Gizmo are large (maybe 3mm), the mSATA might only have M2 holes. I've just used some temporary M2 nuts/bolts and washers, but I suspect the following part will
be better (I've not tried it):
50pcs/lot High Quality PCB M2*5+5 M2 x 5 Nylon Plastic Male to Female Standoff Spacer-in Screws from Home Improvement …

The suitable part is M2*5+6 to my best guesstimate.
That same link has plastic M2 nuts too, it can be selected in the drop-down selectors on that page.
They seem cheap enough on that page to give it a go in case it works.
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0 shabaz over 8 years ago in reply to gidaeon

Hi Joe,

I tried the plastic "M2*5+6mm" hex spacers (one end male [threaded bolt] other end screw), and plastic M2 nut and bolt, from ebay seller 'luckcheng1990' and they
worked fine. The spacer is 1mm taller than it should be, so the mSATA is at a slight angle. It could be left like that, or the hex spacer could be sanded/filed by 1mm.
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