T420s 'Invisible' Ultrabay Wobble FIX

It's pretty safe to say that alot (if not every) T420s sufferes the loose ultrabay issue. This fix adress that.

There is no way of telling that this fix has been applied from the outside of the machine. The fix removes any wobble associated with the Ultrabay slot. The Battery sits in place firmly without any room to move up/down. The optical drive is a bit thinner than the battery so if you force the drive up/down it will move slightly. However, when you're not applying any pressure with your fingers the optical sits just as firmly in place as the battery.

I guess there are easier fixes for this problem if you always have the same hardware in the ultrabay slot. But, if you are switching it up with an optical drive and batteries this fix is good because - A: You don't have to add cardboard pieces to each drive/battery and B: No one is able to see that you have tinkered with your Thinkpad since there's no visible pieces of cardboard, tape or anything else for that matter.

Materials Needed
-Kapton Tape, 10mm
-Kapton Tape, 20mm (optional)

Note: I got my two tape rolls off of Ebay. You could probably use another type of tape but I chose Kapton because it should be heat resistant up to 200°C. Another, perhaps more important, reason to use Kapton is that it leaves minimal (read: none) adhesive when you remove it from a surface (useful if you have to return the laptop for repair). Kapton tape is also very easy to reposition (useful in step 8.).

Tools Needed
- T420s Maintenance Manual
-Phillips Screewdriver
-Tweezer
-Plastic Ruler
-Scissor

Reference Images


I will only explain how to make "Spacer 1", the second one is made almost exactly the same as the first one.

Phase I: making the Ultrabay Spacer
1.
Put your ruler flat on a table.

2.
Choose A or B...
Option A: Put a piece of 20mm wide Kapton tape on top of the ruler. Put another 5-10 layers on top of the first layer.
Option B: Put a stripe of 10mm wide Kapton tape on top of the ruler. Put another 5-10 layers on top of the first layer. Make sure you align the layers properly! JUMP TO STEP 4. after reading below.

BOTH: The lenght of the stripe is ~8cm (you can make it longer and shorten it if it ends up being to long).
Note: The reason I don't have an exact layer count is because I forgot how many I put. Remember: you can always add another layer later on, but you cannot remove one.

3.
Cut the 20mm tape (which is now 6-11 layers thick) so that it is approximately 10mm wide.

4.
Fold the tape so that it's width is now halved and the thicknes is doubled.

5.
Put a piece of tape around each end of the "rod" to prevent it from opening up. You've now got your Ultrabay Spacer!

Phase II: Testing the thickness
6.
Shut down your T420s and use the attached Manual to remove the Main Battery, Keyboard and what's in the Ultrabay slot.
Note: Not sure if this would void your warranty. I didn't see any warranty stickers while doing this procedure. Proceed at your own risk. I never disconnected my keyboard, instead I put a (clean, dry) kitchen towel on the palm rest and let the keyboard rest on it.

7.
Test if the thickness of the Kapton tape "rod" is thick enough to prevent wobble by doing the following:
-First: Insert the Ultrabay as you normally would.
-Second: Insert the tape "rod" through the holes of the magnesium roll cage. (see images for positioning reference).
-Third: Try to move the Ultrabay drive up and down.
-Fourth: If satisfied remove the ultrabay and the rod by pulling the ultrabay out as you normally would.

Phase III: attaching the Ultrabay Spacer
8. This is the tricky part. You will now attach the Spacer to the roll-cage with the use of tape and your Tweezer (see the image for positioning reference).
The 10mm Kapton tape goes through the holes without problem however since it's tape it WILL work against you, sticking to anything it comes in contact with.

First: I started by attaching a long piece of tape to the ~middle of the Spacer, then pushing it in through the Ultrabay slot with the tweezers. The long piece of tape should be about 1cm long on one side of the spacer, and quite long on the other (so that you can spin it around the roll-cage 2-3 times).

Second: When the spacer was laying at the bottom I used the tweezer to fish up the short end and stick it to the top of the roll-cage. Next, you fish up the longer end using the tweezer then spin it around the cage (I spun it 2 times).

Once you've done this attaching the other side of the Spacer is pretty easy.

9.
First: Drop a long piece of tape through a hole in the roll cage.
Second: Fish it up with the tweezer on the other side of the spacer.
Third: Attach one end to the top of the roll cage and then spin the other end around it as you did in step 8. .

You are now done! The ultrabay should not be loose anymore, and there's no way for any outsiders to tell that the Thinkpad has been tinkered with.

Btw. In my images you can see another piece of tape at the bottom of the image. This is because I decided to add another little tape Spacer to be sure. This is not a must, but it could be considered if you're not satisfied after this fix has been applied.

 

Tape just makes the whole notebook "cheap". I'm sorry, but I can't stand to see that on mine or anyone else's notebook.
The problem is the ultrabay was designed for the thin T410 ultrabay dimensions, so there is going to be a gap on the T420/520. It's a shame that Lenovo still has not correctly addressed this issue, IMHO they should just release a proper "ultrabay 4 adapter" with the proper dimensions and call it a day.

 

Well, I would like to agree with you but I seriously doubt Lenovo will adress this issue (I would even go as far as say they won't) in this generation of the T series. It would probably be too costly.

This fix, altough it's cheap, is effective and once you put your keyboard back in place you won't see, hear or feel the tape whatsoever. I did this fix about 2 weeks ago but did not upload it until now. The tape has not been worn out nor has the adhesive let go, and I have changed ultrabay devices quite frequently (once or twice a day, average).

After all Kapton tape is used to tape up electrical components and it's relatively expensive (unless you get it on ebay), it's not your regular scotch tape.

Don't be sorry, I'm not trying to sell anything here. I'm just sharing a solution for something that has bothered T420s users (perhaps even more Tx20 users aswell) for some time. This fix has worked out great for me and I don't even think about the tape, why would I?

 

The optical drive on my T420s seems to fit perfectly. The border around it and the ultrabay slot is only about a hair's width (barely visible gap). You can only notice movement if you push up on the drive and it budges ever so slightly.

Isn't this normal for an optical drive? I thought they make them fit slightly loose to reduce vibrations.

 

same for me!
seems to fit great

 

That's great to hear!

Unfortunately I have this problem and judging by the video (I didn't make it btw) it's a problem for a couple of people.