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Thread: cleaning your pc tower

  1. #1
    Conch Master W2NAP's Avatar
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    cleaning your pc tower

    oh god this is so fun. one thing i just cant figure out. how the hell dose all that dust get in there.

    spent 2 hours cleaning the cpu fan and heatsink. holy f'n hell. i have never seen so much dust in my life.

    so for anyone who has spent a good couple hours cleaning dust from your pc. the next drink is on me.
    I AM THE VOICE OF THE VOICELESS!

  2. #2
    "Island Bartender" KG4CGC's Avatar
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    Usually only takes a couple of minutes when done all regular like. Neeneur.
    Been to the sticky dust bit. Not fun. Teflon coated fins helps a lot towards that end.


  3. #3
    SK Member Feb 2017 W4GPL's Avatar
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    Funny story.. funny because no one died.

    I had an older box I was using as a file server and the temps were really high, so I figured it was time to take it out on the porch and give it a good blowing out with a can of air. I set the box on the edge of my porch (2 1/2 stories up) and went to grab the can of air. Unfortunately I must have misjudged just how wide the guard rail was and the damn thing went crashing down right into the back ally. It was easily in 20 different pieces.. Has to rank up there in the Top 10 Bone Headed Things Jeff Has Done listings.

    Interestingly enough, I was able to yank the 120GB Maxtor drive out of there and get almost all of the data off of it -- those suckers are tougher than you'd think.

  4. #4
    Pope Carlo l NQ6U's Avatar
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    Compressed air is the best way to clear the dust out of computers, but you need a real compressor--that canned air stuff just doesn't have the cajones to get the job done--and a good water trap installed or you're asking for trouble.
    All the world’s a stage, but obviously the play is unrehearsed and everybody is ad-libbing his lines. Maybe that’s why it’s hard to tell if we’re living in a tragedy or a farce.

  5. #5
    Orca Whisperer
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    Computers are really efficient electrostatic air filters... That's how :)
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  6. #6
    Conch Master W2NAP's Avatar
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    jeff. i done something similar. was at a friends 3rd story we was on the deck set the laptop on the rail (it was wide enough) gust of wind took the lappy right off to a painful death.

    anyway cleaned the fan/heatsink since i didnt like the temps my sensor was showing. (85 idle 95 under load) after cleaning i got it down to 68. 75 under load. still would like to get it dropped down more
    I AM THE VOICE OF THE VOICELESS!

  7. #7
    Administrator ad4mg's Avatar
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    Make sure to insert a pencil into any fan that's still plugged in to keep it from spinning when using compressed air to clean the machine. Some of those things, especially the 12v box fans in power supplies, will generate a current when spun at a high speed, resulting in popped diodes, or worse. Plus, it's hell on the bearings to spin the fan at 35,000 RPM ...

    I have a set of plastic TV tuning screwdrivers that I use instead of pencils.

  8. #8
    Orca Whisperer kf0rt's Avatar
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    Another hint... Don't keep your PC on the floor. It collects way more dust 'n' crap down there.

  9. #9
    SK Member (12/16/2011) W3MIV's Avatar
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    Another hint: If you open it up and blow it out often, you will find that the job is not so big to do. Make it a regular maintenance item.
    73 de Albi

    Veritas vos liberabit!



    "We only become what we are by the radical and deep-seated refusal of that which others have made of us." --- Jean-Paul Sartre.

    "Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past." --- George Orwell.



  10. #10
    Orca Whisperer PA5COR's Avatar
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    Don't keep it to computers/laptops..

    All electronc devices, ham radio transceivers, PSU's P.A.'s satellite recievers etc.

    Takes me 2x a year 1/2 a day to clean the stuff out, and cause massive duststorms in the back garden...

    Anything with a fan, clean 2 x a year minimum.
    Anything without a fan, clean out 1 x a year.
    "If the Republicans will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop
    telling the truth about them." - Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965)
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    At some point in the last 20 years, the left moved to the center, and the right moved into a mental institution

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