MONOLITH - Framework laptop 12 Mainboard standing tower

Monolith

You upgraded your laptop and the old mainboard is sitting in a drawer ? The Monolith stands it up on your desk and makes a small machine out of it.

The power button actually works: two printed parts press the switch on the board. Nothing to wire, nothing to solder.

The board slides into the masts and bolts to its own four factory standoffs. All four expansion cards stay reachable. The tall version takes the 50 Wh battery and runs unplugged.

The fan blows into a duct that vents through the slots in the lid.

Two versions, tall and short. Twelve screws, no glue, about fifteen minutes. Prints without supports on a Prusa MK4S.

What you need

1.Screws

2. Printed parts

Print the 5 parts in common/. Then, depending on which variant you want, print the 3 parts in monolith-short/ or monolith-tall/.

I recommend PETG for every part except the shell, which can be printed in PLA.

Assembly

1. The spine into the feet

Slide the spine into the dovetail of each foot, flat face up.

2. The battery (battery version only)

Slide it into the rail in the feet and secure the battery with M2 screws.

3. Dry-fit the masts

Orientation: keep the screw holes of every part facing you.

Slide each mast onto the tongue of its foot, then pull it off again. The foot prints standing and the mast lying down: some friction may remain, and it is better to find that out now than with the board on top. If it binds, lightly file the tongue that sticks out of the foot.

4. The mainboard into the masts

Orientation: mainboard with the RAM / SSD side facing you, masts with their M2 holes facing you.

Masts still off the feet. Engage the board in the channel of each mast, then fix the masts to the board with M2 screws. Tighten gently.

5. The assembly onto the feet

The delicate step. The two masts are tied together by the board. Engage one before the other and you bend the board. Bring them down together, square, and stop at the first hard spot.

Slide the mainboard-and-masts assembly onto the feet, the M2 holes of the masts and of the feet facing you. Fit the M3 screws on either side to lock the masts to the feet. Tighten without forcing.

6. The actuator pin

Press it into the teardrop hole, from the outside, tip towards the board, until it clicks. It is now captive in the mast, and it is what presses the power switch on the mainboard.

7. The expansion cards

Fit your expansion cards into the four slots provided.

8. The shell

Orientation: the back of the shell, the one with the button hole (round, in an octagonal recess), must face you, and the assembly built so far must have its M2 screws facing you.

Stand the assembled machine on a flat surface and slide the shell down over it; its two inner rails will guide it. Once it sits flush, drive two M2 screws at the bottom, one on each side.

Press the button into its slot with a firm push. The shaft is round; adjust as needed so the button seats in its octagonal recess.

Assembly complete

That is the whole build. Feel free to leave feedback in the comments if you ran into any trouble.

Release history