8 ms·

OMG! You were not joking about the "felt" like appearance of the dust! My MBP seems to always have the fans on. I do occasionally run compressed air across the

by j79 8y ago

OMG! You were not joking about the "felt" like appearance of the dust! My MBP seems to always have the fans on. I do occasionally run compressed air across the vents (from the outside) but decided to open it up thanks to this thread. As I was cleaning, I noticed that when blowing compressed air into the vents, one of the fans was not turning (indicating no air reaching?) I grabbed some precision tweezers and pulled this out: https://i.imgur.com/aIPSRdi.jpg https://i.imgur.com/aIPSRdi.jpg

viraptor 8y ago
I love that it looks literally like a dust bunny.
thatssosid 8y ago
wow! That's a lot of 'felt'.
phosphophyllite 8y ago
Compressed air effective against little dust particles. But in case of fabric pieces or hair-like things it only making things worse.
fafl 8y ago
Nice find, but please don't blow compressed air into a fan without blocking its rotation. It will induce currents and can cause damage to your mainboard.
- jmiserez 8y ago
  Seems like a problem a simple diode would fix. Is this really an issue?
  - LeonM 8y ago
    Most motherboards (but not all) have basic protection for this, so it's quite unlikely that you break your motherboard electronically that way. That said, blowing compressed air at a fan will spin the fan much faster than what it was designed for. So you still risk breaking the fan mechanically. Always hold the fan when blowing compressed air at it.
  - leonardmh 8y ago
    Almost certainly not an issue on Apple hardware. Maybe on discount motherboards.
- yulaow 8y ago
  Even more important: do not blow air in the opposite direction of the one the fan is made to rotate. If you are unlucky you'll damage it, if you are very unlucky it will stop working enterely. Source: I broke a lot of them
  - sundvor 8y ago
    I'm pretty sure I managed to blow dust into the screen of an XPS 12.. So yeah, it pays to exercise caution.
- appleflaxen 8y ago
  that's a really good point. thank you for pointing it out. I've cleaned many a fan, and have never thought about this.
LeonM 8y ago
Glad I could help! Enjoy your now silent and non-thermal-throttling laptop =)

by j79 8y ago

viraptor 8y ago

I love that it looks literally like a dust bunny.

thatssosid 8y ago

wow! That's a lot of 'felt'.

phosphophyllite 8y ago

Compressed air effective against little dust particles. But in case of fabric pieces or hair-like things it only making things worse.

fafl 8y ago

Nice find, but please don't blow compressed air into a fan without blocking its rotation. It will induce currents and can cause damage to your mainboard.

jmiserez 8y ago
Seems like a problem a simple diode would fix. Is this really an issue?
- LeonM 8y ago
  Most motherboards (but not all) have basic protection for this, so it's quite unlikely that you break your motherboard electronically that way. That said, blowing compressed air at a fan will spin the fan much faster than what it was designed for. So you still risk breaking the fan mechanically. Always hold the fan when blowing compressed air at it.
- leonardmh 8y ago
  Almost certainly not an issue on Apple hardware. Maybe on discount motherboards.
yulaow 8y ago
Even more important: do not blow air in the opposite direction of the one the fan is made to rotate. If you are unlucky you'll damage it, if you are very unlucky it will stop working enterely. Source: I broke a lot of them
- sundvor 8y ago
  I'm pretty sure I managed to blow dust into the screen of an XPS 12.. So yeah, it pays to exercise caution.
appleflaxen 8y ago
that's a really good point. thank you for pointing it out. I've cleaned many a fan, and have never thought about this.

LeonM 8y ago

Glad I could help! Enjoy your now silent and non-thermal-throttling laptop =)