Preventative Maintenance

[Ed Maloney]

Anyone think that I should clean out the fans? ;)



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During quarterly maintenance I re-align the beam, so I thought I might as well yank the tube to remove the fans as well.

[Gary Hair]

Are they even spinning?

[Bert Kemp]

not just yet I think they can go another 5 years or so:eek: Now I'm sure every engraver here is checking their fans today.

They look like the air filter on my truck when they checked it last time I went in for oil, never cleaned or checked it in 10 years , my bad.

[Ed Maloney]

Yes. I never really paid attention to the fans since when they are active I couldn't clearly see they were so clogged up.

[Tim Bateson]

I lay a very thin/breathable filter over my fans. It's not so thick as to cause fan issues or to filter 100%. It's just enough to let the fans breath freely and catch the big dust particles. I wash it out a couple times a year.
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[Keith Winter]

Wow! Makes me want to take apart and clean my machines right now!

[Frank barry]

Tim is spot on a thin filter is the way to go and very easy to replace Frank

[Michael Kowalczyk]

yikes! Ed hope you are not breathing the rest of the dust that is not captured by your fans.

[Ed Maloney]

I lay a very thin/breathable filter over my fans. It's not so thick as to cause fan issues or to filter 100%. It's just enough to let the fans breath freely and catch the big dust particles. I wash it out a couple times a year.
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Tim - where do you purchase the filters?

[Ed Maloney]

yikes! Ed hope you are not breathing the rest of the dust that is not captured by your fans.

Hey Mike - Mostly I think it's because of dog hair more than anything else. Our Harrier Hound loves to hang out under my desk during laser time.

[Bert Kemp]

I have a couple of light blue furnace filters the type that hang on the inside of the furnace door , wonder it they would work ok?

[Kev Williams]

Whenever I post pics of something I'm working on or fixing, Dan always tells me I should "clean up that [whatever machine is in the picture]!!"

Yeah, well, my machines may have a good 'surface coat' of guck on 'em all the time, but what no one sees is that the insides of my computers and cooling fans- and there's a lot of them- is what I DO try to keep clean. Not pristine by any means, but I air hose or vacuum fans and their filters quite often. And every so often I'll haul a computer or two and an air hose outside and blow all the dirt out of the housings and power supplies, the heat sink fins, and really especially the processor heat sinks.

My machines could care less about a little grime, but the computers do NOT like running hot..!

This thread is timely, as I have about 3 EP modules and a couple of computers overdue for a CABJ... ;)

[Tim Bateson]

Tim - where do you purchase the filters?

Sorry, I have no clue. Been using this one for nearly 8 years. When it's dirty I throw it in the washing machine & it's as good as new. Feels like some type of synthetic fiber. Not soft at all.

[Wilbur Harris]

Tim - where do you purchase the filters?

Amazon or eBay - search for computer filter or such until you find some you can use. Furnace filter material may be too thick for these small fans.

[Ed Maloney]

Whenever I post pics of something I'm working on or fixing, Dan always tells me I should "clean up that [whatever machine is in the picture]!!";)

I thought Dan would be the first one to respond to my post. Guess he's on vacation! :-)

[Mayo Pardo]

Just three words of warning from my own personal experience: DUST IS FLAMMABLE!

When using the canned air designed to blow dust out of computers, make sure your computer is shut off.
This should probably apply to laser cooling fans as well.

I made the mistaken assumption that it would clean up my wife's computer better if the fan was running.
Little did I know that when years of dust became airborne inside the power supply, it would ignite and shoot a flame out the back of the computer that was 2 feet long! Thankfully it only fried the power supply and didn't catch anything else on fire in the house.

I normally would use shop air from the compressor, but this was before we were married and the computer was at her apartment so all she had was the canned air. I didn't read the can label but it's possible the propellant was flammable as well.

[Ed Maloney]

Good tip. I did use compressed air to blow out the fans, but they were out of the laser and on my deck table.

[Bob Richardson]

A couple of tips.

Don't bother looking for "computer" filters you will end up paying more for whatever you buy. I purchase Duck Brand Replacement Air Conditioning filter. You can find a 24" x15" filter for about it for about $5 or $6. You can cut it to whatever shape/size you need and it's washable.

Be careful when using compressed air on any fan. These fans have a designed speed range that you can easily exceed when you blast them with the stream from a can of air or an air line. if you over rev the fan you can damage or greatly reduce the life of the bearings in the fan. I stick a broken zip tie into the fan while I'm spraying to keep the blades from spinning. Just remember to remove anything before you turn the equipment back on.

I stopped buying compressed air after I found the Metro Vacuum ED500 DataVac Electric Duster. Don't be confused by the name. This is not a vacuum. It blows air like a can of compressed air. Check it out. It's a little expensive up front but you never have to buy a can of air again. Unlike cans of compressed air this thing will put out a constant stream of air as long as you need it. No more switching between cans when the first one gets cold and doesn't work as well anymore.

[Dan Hintz]

Anyone think that I should clean out the fans? ;)

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:eek:


I thought Dan would be the first one to respond to my post. Guess he's on vacation! :-)

Not vacation... just 60-70 hour weeks :mad:


And clean up that [insert machine name here]!

[Ernie Balch]

My rabbit laser that worked perfectly when installed developed an exhaust problem. I found that it had screens with quarter inch mesh holes in the exhaust connection and the blower box. After a few months both were completely closed off with condensed acrylic smoke residue. It was amazing to see the plastic coating that completely closed up the quarter inch holes. The lack of flow caused smoke to escape into the shop. I removed both of the screens and also had to scrape the squirrel cage fan blade by blade. Looking further for exhaust leaks I found an electronics cooling fan that was mounted such that it blew outwards instead of in toward the electronics. This pulled smoke over the electronics and blew it out into the room. It was not a noticeable problem until the exhaust was restricted.

[Bert Kemp]

My rabbit laser that worked perfectly when installed developed an exhaust problem. I found that it had screens with quarter inch mesh holes in the exhaust connection and the blower box. After a few months both were completely closed off with condensed acrylic smoke residue. It was amazing to see the plastic coating that completely closed up the quarter inch holes. The lack of flow caused smoke to escape into the shop. I removed both of the screens and also had to scrape the squirrel cage fan blade by blade. Looking further for exhaust leaks I found an electronics cooling fan that was mounted such that it blew outwards instead of in toward the electronics. This pulled smoke over the electronics and blew it out into the room. It was not a noticeable problem until the exhaust was restricted.

Ernie My fan is mounted the same way , I think its suppose to be that way to draw air over the electronics and smoke out of that area. I could be wrong but I'm going to check with Ray when I get time.

[John Bion]

Regarding filter material: I get it from online aquarium supliers.


My rabbit laser that worked perfectly when installed developed an exhaust problem. I found that it had screens with quarter inch mesh holes in the exhaust connection and the blower box. After a few months both were completely closed off with condensed acrylic smoke residue. It was amazing to see the plastic coating that completely closed up the quarter inch holes. The lack of flow caused smoke to escape into the shop. I removed both of the screens and also had to scrape the squirrel cage fan blade by blade. Looking further for exhaust leaks I found an electronics cooling fan that was mounted such that it blew outwards instead of in toward the electronics. This pulled smoke over the electronics and blew it out into the room. It was not a noticeable problem until the exhaust was restricted.

I had the same problem with my Chinese fans, this time caused by MDF, nothing a pair of tin snips did not solve :) I do have to monthly strip the fans and brush the insides down though, they clog up pretty quickly.

[Tim Bateson]

Seems Epilog is listening. Here is the filter on my Fusion M2.
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[Keith Winter]

That's wild Mayo. I worked in a computer store for years and we shot every single computer that came in with canned air never a fire even if it did happen to be on. That's crazy you had a fire. Less likely the dust, more likely you had the can upside down or at an angle, and the propellant shot out into the power supply shorting it out then the spark traveled up the propellant. Cheaper canned air does when it's not straight up and down all the time, only use the ones marked for electronics, they still do it, but much less.