Case Fan Painting

H

Humour

n00b
Joined
Jul 1, 2005
Messages
21
Hey guys, recently I have decided to do a number of small mods to my thermaltake case. I had a few questions but they got answered with some brisk searching.. However, since it is a Thermaltake case, i inherited some of those ugly orange fans. :p

Anyway, I wanted to know if it was possible to paint them a different colour?

I dont particularly want to fork out 30 notes for 4-5 more fans so any alternate methods would be much appreciated xD
 
Yes you can. It really isn't that difficult of you take your time, and have good eyes.

There's 2 ways to do it.

#1 is to take the fan apart. You do this by CAREFULLY peeling back the sticker (you'll need to put it back on later), and removing a very small o-ring, usually made of plastic, that holds the fan blades to the motor. There might be some bearings in there, so be careful of that. The bearings almost always stay inside the fan motor because the magents hold them in place, but I've had a few bearings drop out before. Tape off the metal spindle and magnet inside the fan blades. Paint your desired color, let dry overnight, reassemble fan in reverse order. This would also be a good time to add a single drop of sewing machine oil (I've used vegetable oil in the past) to give the fan a lube job. Don't forget to reapply the sticker to keep dust out of the bearings.

Note: Some higher-end fans have a small rubber plug located under the sticker to keep the dust out, in which case it is not necessary to replace the sticker.

#2 is to keep the fan fully assembled and very painstakingly apply masking tape to all areas you don't wish to paint.

I prefer method #1 since it allows you to paint the fan more thoroughly, and lube the fan as well.
 
Just don't lose the little 0-ring.

If you DO lose it, the fan will hold itself together magetically, but it could possibly come flying off at 5000RPM if you bump it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top