Thermalright TY-140 Modding (paint)

[LennyRhys]

I posted this at the bit-tech forums but thought you guys might appreciated it too.

Decided to paint my TY-140s because I can no longer fit them inside my case.

Before:

DISASSEMBLY

Behind the label there is a glue seal on the plastic cap which comes off pretty easily, revealing the nylon washer which helps keep the cap pushed against the axle of the fan (more on that later):

The next part is where you have to damage the cap; there simply isn't any other way to get it off because it's plastic and it's proerly fused to the frame of the fan. I used my lock knife and got the cap off in about a minute or so:

Next step is removing the nylon c-clip. Be VERY careful that it doesn't spring off into oblivion because if you lose it, the fan will not work properly again!

And there you have it: a TY-140 in two (or more) parts.

ASSEMBLY

The only thing I can say here is LOTS OF OIL. The fan has a fluid bearing so make sure you don't skimp on the oil. I used cycle oil as it is high quality and low viscosity; any other low viscosity oil will do as long as you make sure it's not the type of oil that eats plastic for breakfast.

After oiling the hole, I oiled the shaft of the fan. Notice it has a small reservoir where the shaft meets the hub of the impeller - make sure this fills with oil but don't let it overflow:

After putting the fan together and refitting the nylon c-clip, add a couple more drops of oil before replacing the cap.

I sealed the back with silicon before putting a disc of black card to cover it up. It's EXTREMELY important that the cap goes on properly and that it makes a good seal; the last thing you want is the oil getting out, because the fan needs it to operate silently.

The finished fans:

Unfortunately, after installing the fans, I notice that one of them has a bad scratchy bearing noise which I can't fix. :waah: I have taken it apart several times and tried cleaning the shaft before oiling it etc but the noise always comes back. I will perhaps try again with a different c-clip or something but it's not looking good. :sigh:

The bottom line: do this at your own risk! It could be that the bearing was on its last legs because I have been running the fans flat/horizontal which is supposedly bad for these bearings, but who knows. I've been in touch with Thermalright to see what they can do.

EDIT

Seems I was wrong - I fixed the "faulty" (but not really faulty) fan, and in fixing it I discovered what the purpose of that white washer is.

The white washer adds height to the bearing cap, and the cap in turn pushes against the end of the axle. If the axle isn't pushed far enough in, the fan makes a horrible scraping noise; if however it's pushed in properly, the nylon c-clip is engaged and the noise disappears. Presto!

So there you have it: when reassembling the fan, make sure the cap is on securely and that it is pushed all the way in!! :thumb:

 

[ehume]

I have a TY-140 in my Beta Evo. How come you can't fit them in yours?

I had the same fan in it when I had my NH-D14 there. I use only one TY-140 because I use it as an intake fan to contribute to the wind tunnel effect that assists cooling.

 

[LennyRhys]

It's not the case, it's the new motherboard - the CPU socket on the R3E is higher than it was previously, so there's less room between the TRUE and the roof of the case.

Looks like you've done a fair bit of modding to your Beta Evo and I really like it - much better airflow than stock cooling. What all did you do, and do you have a log?

This is how I used to have my TY-140s, as exhausts:

 

[ehume]

Ah. Such a pretty picture. You do good work.

I love the BE because it was so cheap that I wasn't afraid to work on it. I tried to cut a bottom hole with my hole cutter, but the steel was too tough. So I drilled a zillion holes and filed. I wish I had had a nibbler then. And then I removed the top and rear grills with side cutters -- and filed. Again, a nibbler would have produced far superior results. I know that because when I removed my slot pillars -- that sheet metal between the PCIE slots -- I used the nibbler and never had to remove the components from my case. Just positioned it so the chips fell out.

Since the rig sits under a shelf, the IO bits in the top had to go. I bought an IO panel. Here is an early version:

Since I took that pic I have swapped the positions of the IO and the DVD. I now have a 140mm AeroCool Shark on 7v behind the IO panel. If you look inside your case you will see the 5.25 bay is open at the top. That leaves room for a 140mm fan in the top three bays, since it can extend another 10cm above the top. Links here, and here. In the second link you can really see what I did to the case. But here you can see the results partway through:

There is now a 140mm filter over the forward top fan space. Since the fan is a Kaze Maru in that shot, it like the TY-140 has 120mm screw holes, so the anchors for the filter and the pegs for the fan inhabit separate holes.

I also have an LED pack above of the front fan:

Removed the front grill and have filters over the front fan and the space over it. Oh yes, drilled out the front screwholes to allow the use of pegs instead of screws.

I think that's about it. Done so many separate projects on the dear old box I really haven't put together a coherent build log.

 

[LennyRhys]

Thanks for the compliment and thanks for sharing!

I agree about the Beta Evo - it's a magnificent case with a lot of potential, and so cheap. I had to cut off some parts beside the motherboard tray because the Rampage III Extreme is "extended" ATX and was too big for the tray, and the back of it was shorting on the case. All good now though, but the holes for cable management are all covered by the motherboard (it's THAT big)

The last thing for me to do is to drill some holes in the perspex so that the hot air from the graphics and chipset can exhaust... either that, or out the back. One thing for sure is that these two TY-140s move A LOT of air - since installing them my chipset temperature has dropped by 20C, from 70C all the way down to 50C.

 

[ehume]

One thing for sure is that these two TY-140s move A LOT of air - since installing them my chipset temperature has dropped by 20C, from 70C all the way down to 50C.

Glad to hear that.

 

[homesizzle]

These TY-140 fans are such high quality. It's a waste to dismantle them to color them.

Just put tape over the parts you don't want to paint and just paint it with it assembled.

BTW, the uglier the fan the better the fan.