How do you maintain your computers?
I just finished cleaning some of the fans in my computer (3 tornados, a smart fan2 and a modified smart fan1 for max rpm), my home is a bit dusty and my wife and I smoke, so just imagine what the fans could look like after a short period of time.
I used Q-tips with some undiluted cleaner that I brought from work (pharmaceutical company) to clean off the heavy accumulation of dust and nicotene, and then used good old Charmin buttwipe with 99% alcohol to wipe off the soapy residue. It's a very time consuming and tedious task but well worth it. I cleaned my volvano11 by just showering the heatsink with hot water for about a minute or so, and used some dishwashing liquid to clean the tt ducting mod. I actually got a 4 degrees celsius drop in temps.
I'm wondering if anybody has tried using electrical contact cleaner on their computer components, I've thought about trying it out on the fans, but I'm not too sure what the contact cleaner would do to the bearings in the fans.
Anyone have any ideas, or would like to share their experiences maintaining their own computers.
I used Q-tips with some undiluted cleaner that I brought from work (pharmaceutical company) to clean off the heavy accumulation of dust and nicotene, and then used good old Charmin buttwipe with 99% alcohol to wipe off the soapy residue. It's a very time consuming and tedious task but well worth it. I cleaned my volvano11 by just showering the heatsink with hot water for about a minute or so, and used some dishwashing liquid to clean the tt ducting mod. I actually got a 4 degrees celsius drop in temps.
I'm wondering if anybody has tried using electrical contact cleaner on their computer components, I've thought about trying it out on the fans, but I'm not too sure what the contact cleaner would do to the bearings in the fans.
Anyone have any ideas, or would like to share their experiences maintaining their own computers.
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The result is a substance that I can only describe as gunk; It's a lot like the grease and oil that builds up on say, your car's engine, actually. It's damn near impossible to get out of heatsinks, because it really has to be scrubbed off with soap and water, and there isn't really any way to get deep enough into the fins to get it all out.
Regardless, it's hell for the fans, as well, especially sleeve bearing ones. This crap gets into the bearings, the bearings seize up, the fan stops working. And, it's impossible to get it off of the fans, too. Alcohol doesn't do much, neither does Endust for electronics. Goo Gone is a bit more effective, but there's so much of this crap built up that the only way to get it off is really to soak the fan.
So, that's what I started doing. I just took the fans, and washed them. I drenched the fans in dish soap (which removes this stuff pretty well), and proceeded to scrub them under warm, running water.
Then, I dried them out completely using an airline; I made sure to blow out the motor housing under the blades and stuff. Then I carefully removed the sticker covering the fan motor, put a drop or two of WD-40 on the back of the motor/bearing assembly, and a few more drops in the motor itself; I hooked the fans up, made sure they still worked, and let them fling off any excess WD-40. After that, it was just a matter of putting them back into the case. Believe it or not, ALL of the fans worked just fine after I did this.
BTW, here's a few pics; the first one is of some part being machined by a CNC (I just found it on google); you can see the coolant I'm talking about. The second is just a diagram showing where I put the WD-40, should anyone want to try this themselves.
Sorry to go off topic.
What type of machines do you have Geeky1? I used to be a cnc machinist, but a bad shoulder made me get out of the business. I still do a bit of 3-d programming for some friends every once in a while, and will help out on conventional machinery when they need a hand.
-Sinker EDMs
-Wire EDMs
-CNCs, including some 5-axis machines
-A few of those older Bridgeports (the ones that look like overgrown drill presses)
-Lathes
etc.
Heatsinks? Throw 'em in the dishwasher.
I take the fan sticker off to get to the screw that holds the blades onto the spindle. Sometimes it's easier to just buy new fans.
You can also wash motherboards and other circuit boards with water (at your own risk, of course) - just make SURE that they are dry before you fire them back up. I've washed a filthy video card in hot soapy water. Don't try this at home, kids. I'm not guaranteeing that it will work for you.
The only way you can get away from rust is to use 100% pure scientific heavy water.. expensive.
The stuff I used to use on my RC10's was Dan's Bannana Lube which is bright yellow and smells like bannanas but is extremely slippery and has a nifty needle oiler on the tube.
You can also pick up motor wash which is sort of like brake clean but it's plastic safe and dissapates in a hurry.
If you use it make sure to let it dry and reoil the bearings/bushings as it will strip all the oils out of them and it will conduct electricity...as I said though it's gone in less than 5 minutes unless you allow it to pool.