[SolidxSnake]

Guide to Removing Power Supply Pins

Perfect guide to removing pins so you can sleeve your PSU ^^

Materials:

[MOLEX 4-PIN FEMALE/MALE]
Pen
Molex 4-pin Y-Splitter
Razor Blade or Scissors
Sink
Some sort of long thing to clean with (I used tissues twisted up)
Tweezers (Optional)
Paperclip
Power Supply to test remover on

[ATX/P4/AUX/FLOPPY/S-ATA]
Floppy Disc
Scissors
HotGlue/STRONG Tape
Paper Clip (Thin Diameter required for every connector other than ATX/P4)
Small hands, or a clamp
Spare Power Supply to test on


Molex 4-Pin Female/Male Connectors

(COMMON FOR BOTH CONNECTORS)
Take the pen. Disassemble it down to the ink. Now, cut off the tip (the nib, the part you write with). And, if necassary, the back end (there might be a thing blocking the tube at the back of the tube). When the ink starts to flow out, hold the ink tube under HOT water (get tweezers if needed) and watch the ink drop out of the tube...

Once it starts to clear up, and no more ink falls out of the tube, you will need to do the tricky part... What I did was take a tissue, and then from the corner, twist it up so the tissue gets REALLY small. I then stuck it in the tube, twisting as it goes in the tube.. then pull it out, and repeat until around 3/4" of the tube has absolutely NO ink in it. You will be able to see through the tube, only 3/4" is needed to be clear. The remaining "ink" is just caked onto the sides of the tube and won't flow out. Here is a pic of how to twist a tissue to slip in the tube:

http://www.bostonrinkrats.com/solidx...tubefemale.jpg

Then, fully cleared tubes look like this:

http://www.bostonrinkrats.com/solidx...leanedtube.jpg

Now that the tube is cleared of ink, the easy part comes:

(MALE CONNECTOR)

You are already done =P. Stick an open end of the tube into a male plug in the y-splitter. Twist it around a bit, and then pull on the wire. It should come out with a little force. Sometimes the tube won't fit all the way into the molex, so you might need to get another, smaller, ink tube (I use a small tube for the male, and a large tube for the female). Now, take the paper clip, straighten it enough to fit in the tube, and push the paper clip into the pin until the pin slides out.

(FEMALE CONNECTOR)

Here is a weird part. Get the razor blade. Now, like most tutorials/guides you may have read about the "pen trick" molex remover, it says to cut the tube... WRONG!

What you want to do is make the inside of the tube bigger in diameter. Which in turn makes the tubing "thinner". Take the OTHER side of the male pin remover, and insert a sharp corner of the razor blade inside the tube...

Now, twist the razor around in circles, so it shaves a bit off of the tubing. It probably won't be that visible, but it will shave off the tubing a bit...

Occasionally, after a few twists of the razor blade, pull out the razor, and try to see if the tube will fit around the female pin. If it is really hard to get around the pin, but if it does slip over the pin, push the tube all the way in, and then pull out the corresponding wire (this will require a firm tug of the wire, it doesn't just fall out). Now, while the wire is out, stick the tube over the bare pin, and keep shaving a bit of the tube. After every few twists, stick the tube over the bare pin again. There are two "tabs" that stick up a bit. As so:
--------\--------
--------/--------
...

A bad ASCII drawing, but its kind of like that. When you are putting the tube over the pin, your goal is to push the tabs down. As long as the tube makes a snug fit over the pin, and it pushes the tab down, your remover is working (the reason I am against making a "slit" in the end of the ink-tube is because the tube eventually seperates and doesn't push the tabs down, thus making the pins impossible to remove). Now, to remove the pin, get a paperclip, straighten it, and push the pin out... the paper clip might have to be pretty long, it goes ALL the way into the pin (almost to the back of the molex). Also, to shave off inner diameter of tubing, you can get a small drill bit, and twist it by HAND.

Some pens have a thick outer diameter, so you may need to shave that down. My latest female remover had a thick tube, so I got some 150grit sandpaper and sanded the end of the tube down:

http://www.bostonrinkrats.com/solidx...eddowntube.jpg

Well, theres a free Molex Pin-Remover, Female and Male, ALL in a 4" pen ink-tube... Double-sided molex removal goodness =P

Have fun sleeving and the likes =P

By the way, different pens use different diameter ink-tubes (the differences are less than millimeters!)... Sometimes a small one won't fit the female pins, and vice versa for bigger ones. I made a back to back remover, male on one end (small tube) and female on the other (large tube). And when the ink starts dropping, you might wanna cover your nose, it smells =P

Finished Product:
Molex 4-Pin Removers
Remover in Plug
Pin Removed



ATX, P4, AUX, Floppy, Fan and S-ATA Connectors

Okay this gets annoying, but its well worth it (for me)...

Well, first, get the spare floppy disc. You see the sliding metal part? Rip it off... You can slide it, and slip your finger under it, or something like that, just rip it off some way or another without warping it too much...

Now, here comes the hardest part... Cut off two thin pieces of the metal that you just ripped off with some scissors... Careful, this metal is sharp... Now, get the ATX connector, and then see if the metal fits... the little pieces have to be THIN to fit within the ATX connector... anyway, get the two pieces, and try to stick them to the SIDE of the ATX pin (the pins are square, and the left and right side each have a tab to push down, like the Molex 4-Pin pins)... Like, take one metal piece, and try to slide it in the right side of the pin, then take the other piece, and slide it in the opposite side... the metal piece has to be big enough to fit ALL the way down into the pin housing... Be VERY gentle with the metal pieces, they bend VERY easily, and when they get bent, they are hard to insert in the pins... If the metal strips are difficult to get inside the connector, see if they are bent or are too thick to get it (they have to be EXTREMELY thin at the end)... The housing of these connectors seem to get smaller the farther in you look at 'em...

Once you get both pieces of metal inside the pin housing, see if you can pull the wire out of the housing... It should take a strong pull, but not too strong... If it doesn't come out, try taking out both pieces of metal, and SLIGHTLY (can't stress that enough) bending them inwards, so it will depress the pin's tab better... Keep doing that until you can remove the pin...

Now that the pin is removed, bend the tabs up more again (they will be close to the pin)... You can use a fingernail, or a razor, something that can fit in between the tab and pin...

Place the pin back in the connector, and remove the metal pieces... Now, take the two metal pieces and hotglue them together... I would NOT reccommend tape, but if need be, use it... When gluing the connectors, DON'T glue them close together... Glue them a little narrowly spaced than the normal ATX pin... This way, when you insert the remover, it will have a little 'spring-action' and depress the tabs on the pin easier... Also, if you want this to be a universal remover, get the thin paper-clip, and cut off a small section of it... Glue it to the two metal pieces...

Finished product:

Pin Remover
Remover in ATX Pin
ATX Pin removed
Remover in AUX Pin
AUX Pin Removed

Update as of 7.24.05

I have made a new kind of remover yesterday. It is a male 4-pin molex remover. On a standard 'neon' style pen, with the bright ink, there is the ink tube inside of the plastic pen. Then, at the end of the tube, is a plastic holder with the metal pen tip. And then that goes inside the plastic pen. Then there is a metal cover that screws onto the outer plastic of the pen holding the ink in place. Anyway, I was makin a new female pin remover, and when I saw the metal cap, an idea flashed. I fit it over a male pin, and it fit snugly. Was good enough to be a permanent male pin remover. But then I had an even BETTER idea! I took the plastic tip holder off the tube of ink in the pen. Put it in the metal cap backwards, and pushed it in. The pin came straight out of its housing, just had to pull it all the way out. I then wished I had a way for the 'plunger' to stay in the metal cap. I saw a spring layin on my floor, so another idea flashed. Got the spring, placed it on the 'plunger', fit PERFECTLY. Hot-glued it down. Then, I put some glue over the other side of the spring, and placed it in the metal cap. Now, I slip the metal cap over a pin, push on the 'plunger', and the pin is loose. Just pull out

Pics:

http://www.bostonrinkrats.com/solidx...sassembled.jpg
In this pic, the plunger is on the LEFT, the metal cap is on the right, and the spring is in the middle, heh

http://www.bostonrinkrats.com/solidx...fassembled.jpg
In this one you see where I hotglued the 'plunger' to the spring.

and Fully assembled:
http://www.bostonrinkrats.com/solidx...embledmale.jpg


Also, on today's update, I added pics of how to clean the 4-pin female remover

edit on 4/30: Fixed all the pic links in this post.

[nicspits]

ooo, now i have two bookmarks to look at this weekend, thanks!

[Valk]

sweet =D. i always just used a paperclip to remove my connectors, but this looks like it would be much better =)

[schismspeak]

Looks good, i'll remember this.

[MVC]

Nice trick. Out of curiosity, do you have a similar solution for ATX pins? The only tool I've seen work well on them is the actual Molex produced tool for the mini fit jr. The "after market" ones are garbage and break in half a heartbeat.

[squasher]

i say sticky!
this is good, im too cheap to buy a remover tool

[SolidxSnake]

i have seen a way to get the ATX pins out, I'll look for it

[SolidxSnake]

got pics of the finshed project, and i got a video of it in action (removing a female pin)... but the video is .91MB too big after its zipped, so i gotta find a way for a host.. if any1 wants to host it, ill send through email

pics:

http://community.webshots.com/album/177176862WNNQMF/2

the last few pics are the molex remover... you can check some more stuff of my comp (my cleanup pics... took like 2 hours this morning, but i definately got a cleaner wire-up if it drops temps by around 12°C =P)

[SolidxSnake]

added some stuff to the guide post, i am not going to post any

edit: ________________

things in the first post, it doesn't look as good... gotta stop double (well triple) posting like this =P

[JTanczos]

Well since they aren't gonna get viewed where I posted them in the first place I guess here is a good place.

This is a short guide on how to fit a tornado(or other fan that uses a 3pin RPM connector and a SEPARATE 4pin connector for power) to a 3pin RPM monitoring fan controller.

You should probably get the 3-pin/floppy removal tool or similar. A paper clip might work well.

Pic 1 shows the 2 parts required. A 3 wire extension cable and a 3 pin to 4 pin adapter.
http://img109.exs.cx/img109/6269/3pin11pc.jpg

Pic 2 Shows me using the tool to take out the sensor wire on the extension cable. Push down gently with the tool and pull the wire. When you feel it give a little, release pressure and pull the wire out. DON'T press too hard or you might destroy the pin.
http://img109.exs.cx/img109/9114/3pin21sz.jpg

Pic 3 shows the finished cable. Push the wire from the sensor cable into the 3pin to 4pin converter. Sensor wire is extended :-) The other 2 wires can be cut if wanted. Just plug the main end in to the fan controller, the 3 pin extension into the sensor wire and the 4 pin connector into the 4 pin power of the fan.
http://img109.exs.cx/img109/4501/3pin36oa.jpg

JT

[JTanczos]

Some pics of a 7volt mod.

Pic 1 is the 4-pin-> 3-pin converter and the tools that you can buy.
http://img109.exs.cx/img109/7451/7volt13ar.jpg

2 is me taking the pins out one handed. *not easy btw* Just insert the tool all the way and push the button. Should pop right out.
http://img109.exs.cx/img109/1154/7volt28zs.jpg

Swap the red wire with the black wire(next to the yellow) and push them back in till it pops into place. Pull on the wire gently to make sure its secure.
http://img109.exs.cx/img109/6412/7volt34xs.jpg

JT

[MVC]

Well... I've seen very few with more than a 2 dB margin of error, and once price starts going up that drops to 1.5 dB. But it's the range that I'm not understanding--I haven't seen any that go below 30 dB. Most have a range between 40 to 130 dB. It seems like they're all designed for measuring very loud noises like industrial equipment or medium loud noise like music, but not for noises in a relatively quiet setting.

If the noise level for something like a fan is given at 26 dB, than that should be within the "common" range of measuring devices since people can hear it, but I'm not finding the measuring instruments. There must be more to this than I presently understand.

[JTanczos]

[shellshock]

Very, nice guide, ive been looking for a easy way to remove those damn things!

[sunrunner20]

A side note: Isopropyl makes a very nice ink disolver.

[FalconBlade]

Originally Posted by sunrunner20

A side note: Isopropyl makes a very nice ink disolver.

alcohol is also good for sterilizing your sliced finger when you slip up with the razor blade.

SolidxSnake : when you listed the materials need, the first thing that came to mind when I saw razor blade and sink was slicing open a thumb.

-FB

[Ven0m]

May I link this thread in controllers guide, as it's a bit related?

[SolidxSnake]

yes, actually, I am going to add a guide to the ATX 20-pin/24-pin and P4 4-pin Pin remover... made one last night, and it doubles as a floppy/fan/AUX/SATA Pin remover...

I am so awesome... ROFL

[MVC]

Originally Posted by SolidxSnake

yes, actually, I am going to add a guide to the ATX 20-pin/24-pin and P4 4-pin Pin remover... made one last night, and it doubles as a floppy/fan/AUX/SATA Pin remover...

I am so awesome... ROFL

S-ATA pin remover? I didn't know this was possible, and why would one want to? Enlightenment please oh Awesome One

[moho]

howzabouta up close molex pin pic?