MacBook Air 13" Mid 2012: loose or rattling trackpad repair

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MacBook Air 13" mid 2011 Vervanging van de onderste behuizing

MacBook Air 13" Mid 2011 Vervanging van de batterij

MacBook Air 13" Late 2010 Trackpad Replacement

MacBook Air 13" Mid 2012 Trackpad Replacement

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In some MacBook Air and presumably many other MacBooks the trackpad tend to become loose or rattle after a couple of years. It is a often read mistake, that this can be adjusted or "repaired" by the central adjustment screw of the trackpad (marked in step 10). This will only make it worse as the reason for the loose trackpad however can be found in the failure of two tiny buffers, that work as upper stop of the trackpad. Tiny as they are, few seem to know them and unsurprisingly they fail after countless workcycles. I did not find them as spare part but please leave a comment, in case they are avialable. I will then update this guide.

In rest position, they press the trackpad against the contact point of the mentioned adjustment screw and the click button. When you click, they decompress and when you release, they are recompressed by the bounce of the click button, which explains why their elastic force must be rather small.

Steps 1-11 base on older guides, which contain some wrong information: '''Do not follow step 10!''' The mentioned screw is only for adjustment of the clickpoint and '''must not be unscrewed'''. The trackpad already comes out after Step 8

In this working position, we act directly above the display. So better place a thick cloth or any other protective material between screen an lower case before you begin.

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