Macbook to mini-desktop conversion

I updated the motherboard sled and printed a carriage for the ssd.  They nest together nicely but I need to work on cable routine.  Also I'm using nylon screws which is a bad idea.  I had to cut the wifi antenna a little bit to be able to access the screw holes from the top.

Version 1 of the motherboard sled only considered mounting the main board, so the wifi and ssd are loose for now.  I soldered some wires to two pads on the motherboard that when shorted turn on the machine.  I'm using a toggle switch for now, but will replace it with some other more integrated switch when I design the enclosure.

I was not aware that the wifi card on this mac was not built into the motherboard.  I had to go find it in the lcd panel hinge.  Luckily, it and the antena are very compact and transplantable.  I did have to cut a cable that snakes behind the screen.  Not sure what that was fore - maybe the webcam?

I have not tried to test if the wifi works yet, working on the test bench sled files in Fusion 360 currently.  I will probably switch to Linux Mint instead of pure Debian for ease of use.

I'm working on printing a test bench sled for mounting the motherboard.  The idea is to test everything and fine tune the screw holes before designing an enclosure.  The magsafe connector mounts very, although I am considering embedding the power brick into the enclosure as well.

Wifi was not working, but connected to the network with ethernet cable just fine and was able to ssh into the machine.

I took the entire laptop apart, saving screws for potential reuse.  Forgot to take disassembly pictures, but ifixit had all the information I needed.

I should have installed the OS before taking everything apart, but I was still able to attach the keyboard and trackpad to install Debian from a usb stick.