PC Cleaning

I never clean any dvd drive or similar with any kind of air. never ends well. and if you try to blow air on the actual lens then forget about it. that goes for any other similar device.
 
Yes, I used to use a small air compressor at low psi too until after a cleaning one of my DVD drives started causing bad disks. I replaced the drive as that was a fairly cheap and quick solution but decided to take it apart and have a look. The inside was pretty obvious around the back connections opening the dust had built up. Looked like I had blown the dust into the drive. Further inspection with magnifier head gear, I could see micro dust particles on the laser lens.

As for compressed air blowing a surface mounted part off- It seems that is impossible unless that part was not properly soldered and would soon fail anyway. And, while I'm no professional at this, just have a good education in electronics, I know that static electricity can happen so the best advice is to make sure your case and your tools are bonded and grounded and then the likelihood of a spark is quite remote.
excellent suggestions there don.
 
I have and have used these in 4 other builds for friends and it is a STEAL! Great case, sturdy, reliable, and very cool. One is V3 and the other is v4. I make sure to have at least two high-flow fans that are setup as push/pull from bottom to top.. I use light air to "gently" blow out the PC when needed; which isn't often.


Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more!



Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more!
 
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In my newest computer case, the side fan was real noisy so I found a new fan that comes with it's own thermistor on a 12" wire. The fan runs at variable speed and only at full speed when the thermistor senses really hot surface. Nice! :) It's a 120mm fan that varies the air flow from 24 to 72 CFM and the noise is speced at 6-14 dbA. What a difference this made in my room.

Charper1- Decided to check out your link. Funny, after weeks of shopping for a case for my new computer build, I ended up with the brand in your link. :) The Thermaltake power supply is nice too because you only plug in the cables you need. I used a Asus Sabertooth X58 MB with an i7-950x CPU. It's the first computer I built in 15 years but did buy the base system as a package since it was on sale. My actual case design is slightly different with the PS at the top but the full air intake is filtered pressure fans blowing over the hard drives. Three exhaust side and back fans.
 
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For my business, I take all 3 PC's outside (nice day) once a year, open the cases and blow them out with an air compressor at a distance of about 2 feet. It gets all the dust out of every nook/cranny and they look brand new by the time I'm done. Then I let them sit for about 10 minutes before taking them back in and closing/hooking everything back up. Never had a problem with a PC doing this...

I do this for my home PCs also, I just do it twice a year. If you have pets or have heavy construction in your area, you might want to do it more often. Just remember to avoid blowing the air directly into the optical and floppy drives if you have them. A 30PSI restrictor nozzle is strongly recommended.
 
Regarding using a home air compressor, hopefully you aren't blowing a fine oil film over the insides of your computer. Using dry, filtered air is essential.

We have a toner vac at work that uses conductive plastic tubing and brushes that eliminates the static build-up problem. It also has a nice assortment of smaller tubes to allow access into the nooks and crannies of a PC case.
 
Ive put air filters that go in the house vents in pc's of people that smoke of have pets and have them change them out works great and doesnt hurt the pc
 
Even with putting fan filters, dust still manages to get in. They only make cleaning a longer duration. I just leave off my filters, maintain a clean house and blow out the dust each 3 months. That seems to keep my super computer in tip top shape. It is over 5 years old and still running strong. Home built by the way. Good luck.
 
I found ,at Walmart, a Shop-Vac Micro 80189 cleaning kit for computers, keyboards, etc. This hooks up to regular canister vac. Works great..
Dan
 

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