Painting my Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm fans

[dullers]

Hey All,

I've gotten a wealth of info here for my upcoming WC build. Much thanks to everyone who's helped
I started the first step today by painting my Scythe Gentle Typhoon fans. Here's what I used:

Krylon Fusion Green [no prep, meant for plastic. bonded really well, sets up very quickly for many coats in a short period]
White masking tape
Hair Dryer
Snap ring pliers
Precision needlenose pliers (no teeth)
Retractable magnet
Sharp Knife




I started by warming up the labels on the back for easy removal. I wanted to keep them clean for re-installation. Be careful not to burn the label. Once warm, peel back with sharp knife, pull slowly. This will reveal the snap-ring that needs to be removed:




Snap ring pliers make removing the snap ring a... snap. Fair Warning - if you don't keep a good hold on the snap ring it WILL go flying. This is why I kept the magnet directly above the fan-axle so if it did pop (which two did) it was trapped on the magnet. If you lose these you'll be hard pressed to find another.

The snap ring clips into this small ridge on the end of the axle. You need to spread it out and remove it. Installation is reverse of removal; the snap ring will "click" into the groove, holding the axle in.



Slide the fan out, being careful not to lose & get dirty the two bearings. These both pop right out for safe keeping.




On the fan axle is a spring. Remove this for safe keeping as well. Note the direction the spring is installed for re-installation later.





End result:



Make certain you tape over the back side well. You don't want any paint on the magnet or the axle.

I would highly recommend making MANY LIGHT passes at the fans with the Krylon. I made about 7-10 coats on each side. I went through about 3/4 of the can on just 4 fans. You want the paint as even as possible to avoid throwing the fan out of balance. The paint sets up to "tacky" in about 15 minutes. It can be handled with care at this point. I did a new coat every 15 minutes.
Have patience with this one!
Have fun.

Cheers!

[Kibbler]

Thanks for this very useful guide

[FloofyFox]

Awesome, I have 2x Gentle Typhoons, this looks like a fun mod! Great work!

[Waterlogged]

Um, yeah.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=224297

[Kaldor]

Um, yeah.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=224297

Yeah, but honestly, this set of pics and instructions are much cleared than Snipes.

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

I agree great work My Dissection was really just to practice my photography and show the fan off because at the time I was one of the only members to be using them.

I love the magnet idea, I have bout 3 dead AP-15's and a dead AP-14 at my house in a drawer

[Waterlogged]

I love the magnet idea, I have bout 3 dead AP-15's and a dead AP-14 at my house in a drawer

1 word SNiiPE. . . . . . Mcmaster.

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

true, true - too bad flow just bout ran me broke haha (in a budgeting sense of the term)

[dullers]

Um, yeah.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=224297

no need to be snide


yeah my cam sucks in comparison, sniipe. i def need a new one soon. sry didn't mean to try and steal ur shine

[Waterlogged]

no need to be snide


yeah my cam sucks in comparison, sniipe. i def need a new one soon. sry didn't mean to try and steal ur shine

Sheesh.

No need to take my post out of context, I was merely pointing out that a similar tutorial was already posted.

[dullers]

^_^

[shazza]

Anybody ever figure out where to get replacement snap rings for the Gentle Typhoons (not that I, ummm, would ever, you know, lose any of them )

I've searched McMaster Carr but can't seem to find anything that would work.

[motas]

Also interested in replacements but in australia. Also does anyone have a closeup of the special pliers? Thanks.

[NaeKuh]

ok im gonna tell ya guys exactly what i told shazza.

The GT is perfectly balanced.
When you paint over that, you lose the balance.

Now why is balance so important? Its like your car wheels, when the blades arent balanced they will cause more vibration and unwanted noise.

This is why i usually discourage people from painting the blades on the GT.

If your gonna paint the blades, do a light coat, and from a distance.
If you kill the balance on the GT, you were better off going with a Yate and painting that.

[kinghong1970]

ok im gonna tell ya guys exactly what i told shazza.

The GT is perfectly balanced.
When you paint over that, you lose the balance.

Now why is balance so important? Its like your car wheels, when the blades arent balanced they will cause more vibration and unwanted noise.

This is why i usually discourage people from painting the blades on the GT.

If your gonna paint the blades, do a light coat, and from a distance.
If you kill the balance on the GT, you were better off going with a Yate and painting that.

would spraying it while it's rotating help?

[Elpy]

And if you do paint them, make sure you do it in a good painting environment and with care. I painted 7 GT's and ed up the paintjob on like half of them because I tried doing it in my bathroom . So lol yeah not gonna do that again. Plus one of the started making noise. I didnt find anything that would hit the "wall" so I suppose the balance just got ed up and it is causing the noise like NaeKuh said.

The other 6 fans work just fine though also I screwed the paintjob so that the surface isnt really good. But in the end I just ordered new GT's and not gonna paint them. This time I'll let the looks go (the grey color) and just be happy with the performance.

You can paint them without messing up, but you really have to be careful. And the snap rings are a . I lost one and felt like jumping of a bridge after that .

Spraying while rotating wont probably really help with anything. You just gotta make sure that you spray from far enough and not too thick layers. A few thin layers should be fine. And then they need to dry without any spray dust or so on falling on them. That's where my fans went bad. Since I did it in a small space which wasnt well air-conditioned, the dust fell on the wet paint and caused the result to be bad.

If I ever paint fans again, I dont think I'll spray them. I'll rather ask some professional painter to do it or atleast buy a spraygun and ensure the good environment.

[zeroibis]

Did this a while back on a 1U cooler from a socket 603 hooked up to the old p4 on the original 423 socket. Painted the casing dark blue with some silver sparkles and the fan silver, looked great over the solid copper ht. Fan painting is always fun and really can be a great accent in some builds.

[NaeKuh]

Did this a while back on a 1U cooler from a socket 603 hooked up to the old p4 on the original 423 socket. Painted the casing dark blue with some silver sparkles and the fan silver, looked great over the solid copper ht. Fan painting is always fun and really can be a great accent in some builds.

yeah but the thing is no other fan blades have weighted balance on them.

Look at the blades on the GT, you will see tiny weights which balance it.

That is why i dont mind paying the 10+ dollars for GT's over yates.
You do get the quality in what your paying for.

[zeroibis]

What if he just does not paint the weights? Or he could just paint it perfectly evenly so the weight ratio is the exact same!











Just kidding....

[NaeKuh]

What if he just does not paint the weights? Or he could just paint it perfectly evenly so the weight ratio is the exact same!











Just kidding....

LuLz.. while ur at it.. why not take it down to an tire shop and have them throw it on the balance machine.

[millertime359]

LuLz.. while ur at it.. why not take it down to an tire shop and have them throw it on the balance machine.

I just did, they even threw in the rotation for me.

[Sadasius]

I just did, the even threw in the rotation for me.

Free rotation!!! I got ripped off!

[NaeKuh]

Free rotation!!! I got ripped off!

u didnt get your windows cleaned either?

[millertime359]

u didnt get your windows cleaned either?

Did you get the steam cleaning too? They bling now.

[Sadasius]

u didnt get your windows cleaned either?

Wah!!! GOD DAMNIT!!! Last time I am taking my fans to Canadian Tire!