Peter Salzman wrote: > i built this system myself, so there is no warrantee, i'm afraid. > > as for voiding the non-existant warrantee, i've already voided it. the > power supply is laying open on my table. :) > > i'm going to fry's tomorrow to pick up a new fan *and* power supply. if > swapping fans works, i'll return the supply. > > this system is only about a year old. this sucks!
There's a big difference between ball-bearing fans and fans with sleeve-type (?) bearings. The sleeves are oiled 'for life', using a porous sintered bronze for the sleeve so it holds the oil like a sponge. Trouble is, the oil gums up after X revolutions of the axle (X = $BIGNUM), I think the phenom is due to sulphites? Anyway, it gets stubborn. Ball bearing fans are more expensive, less common, and more durable if made with high-quality balls. The failure mode for the bearings is having a ball crack or chip and I think it's not too common, IOW the fan might run essentially forever without the bearings going south on you. You can often rescue sleeve ('journal'?) bearings with a teeny bit of Tri-Flow aerosol lubricant which has Teflon maybe and/or silicon lubricants. You must remove the fan for this operation, or risk having to replace the nearby electronics. Fryes must have the highest quality fans in town, since you'll pay about 2x what they cost anyplace else. Do yourself a favor if you've got time and visit Halted (HSC) Electronics, http://www.halted.com/contact/index.htm it's a fantastic place to browse (the store, not the website). HTH, Chuck -- The Feynman problem solving algorithm: 1. Write down the problem 2. Think real hard 3. Write down the answer _______________________________________________ vox-tech mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech