Quieting the Falcon

[gozar]

I've finally gotten around to replacing the drive in my Falcon and started playing around with it. Unfortunately, even with a CF drive, the fan makes it sound like the Millennium Falcon still.

 

Is it possible to replace the fan or use some heat sinks or something?

 

Edit: ugh, double post from my phone. Is there a way to delete posts?

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited January 6, 2016 by gozar

[Justin Payne]

My Falcon's fan isn't noisy at all so I'm wondering if you might consider replacing the fan. I'm sure there is a high quality replacement.

As far as using heatsinks, you'll still need to draw the heat from the case. It's possible that you've reduced the case temp just with using the CF but that would require some testing

[Fletch]

My Falcon is also quite quiet. I think your fan needs replacing.

[Justin Payne]

In your duplicate post I see mention of using WD40. I'd be concerned with getting that stuff in my case. To even spray it in there he's gunna have to get to the fan so at that point I'd just replace it with a high quality fan. Probably set you back $10 - $15 USD max. Wikipedia covers the bearing types, their advantages, and disadvantages. I think the fan is a 40mm but double check that. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_fan

[Zogging Hell]

Don't use WD40, it isn't really a very good lubricant, so while it might sound better for a bit, it will quickly go back to normal. If you want to try 'lubing up' your fan (ooo er) then you might want to try some silicone spray or something, but I'd concur that it would be better to replace the fan. I suppose the main problem is that it is a small fan and has no temperature control on speed so it will always make some noise, no matter how good a fan you buy. I suppose you could remove some of the internal shielding, taking off the top layer should reduce the heat levels quite a bit, possibly more so than that fan will achieve, but you would need to take some 'live' before and after temperatures to make sure. I quite like the whirlwind noise that comes out of my Atari's (my Atari megafiles are particularly vocal), reminds me I have left them on!

[Christos]

You use the WD 40 inside the fan, not outside. It's a fairly simple process and yes it will wear off over time but it would be good for a year or so. All my pc's have had that without any problem.

[Justin Payne]

You use the WD 40 inside the fan, not outside. It's a fairly simple process and yes it will wear off over time but it would be good for a year or so. All my pc's have had that without any problem.

Are you're saying it's an easy process for the Falcon's fan or the PC's cuz PC's are easily accessible while Falcon...not so much. So, if you're going to have to get in there and lube it every 6 months, it's probably just time to replace the fan. I've purchased good quality fans for my cases and never had one make a peep and I keep my hardware for a looooooog time. I found a discussion about replacement fans over at Atari-forum.com (http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=25528). The thing that sucks a little is that it appears they soldered the fan's wires to the mb. Even 286's had pins for the fans. This (http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/779-computer-case-fan-bearing-differences) article goes into great detail about fan bearings but it looks like there are many more options these days, just by looking on NewEgg.

This line says a lot about your fan choice...

 

These bearings are pretty basic in design and are used quite commonly in small toys or gadgets. Sleeve bearings use grease or oil-based substances as lubrication to reduce friction at high speeds and are almost never worth maintaining (just responsibly dispose of them if they go bad, it's cheaper that way).

They also don't like to be mounted horizontally, which is the way the fan is mounted in the Falcon. So, one would wonder if the fan in the Falcon uses ball bearings. If so, oil might be a good option but if it's a sleeve, toss it and upgrade. The only problem is that the article states that ball bearings are 1 - 3 dba louder so just keep an eye on that value. Seems that you wouldn't want to go over 25 dba but that seems very do-able. You could even slap a resistor on there to make it spin a bit slower but I'd test that first before installing it just to make sure it's not too loud.

 

I'd also have to agree with Zogging Hell. I don't really think the right application for WD40 but then again, I'm no master of oil viscosity and how it should be used. I just a quick search online and found this article (http://www.overclockers.com/em-spinning-lubricate-pc-fans/). It seems a low viscosity would be good with bearing but a sleeved fan would require a higher viscosity oil...but we don't maintain those, do we.

 

Hope that helps.

Edited January 6, 2016 by Justin Payne

[Xebec]

Here's another thread -

http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=28044

 

A lot of people recommending disconnecting the fan, but that kind of thing makes me nervous. It does appear to be a 12V fan though so you might try running it at 5V to get some air movement at a lot less noise.. If you do go the non fan route, this site talks about which chips run hot so you can heatsink those.

 

Finally, go measure the fan - it looks to be 40mm squared, not sure about the 'depth'. You might be able to buy some really good replacements out there. For my Mega STE I replaced with a Noctua and now it's virtually silent but still has decent airflow..

[Justin Payne]

Also, rubber mounts also help to reduces noise. Heat is the electonics enemy so the less of it, the better.

[leech]

I was just thinking of this last night, since the fan does make an awful noise. I have previously done the same thing with my Amiga A4000D. While I think the sound of the floppy drives quite quaint and part of the nostalgia, I don't much like the sound of air being blown (I've actually spent quite a bit of money on my intel tower just to make it quiet, granted I still don't quite trust liquid cooling).

 

So where does the fan really need to be in the Falcon? Seems to me the PSU is what mostly heats up. With the PicoPSU projects, would you even need a fan? Maybe if you get a CT60e with a fan/heatsink combo on the 060 you would as well.

 

Fun story about my Amiga. I replaced the fan in the PSU with a high quality one that I thought was extremely quiet, but it was still really loud. After buying yet another fan and trying it out, I discovered that it wasn't the fan afterall, but the stinking CD-ROM. Even when idle for some reason it would just keep spinning and it was really loud! So I replaced it with a Plextor SATA dvd drive I had laying around (with a IDE-> SATA adapter) Now it's nice and quiet.

 

The fan in the A4000D does have little rubber mounts that it came with, makes it nice and quiet. I'll be ordering this one to replace the falcon one. 11dba http://www.amazon.com/Noiseblocker-NB-BlackSilentFan-XM1-40mmx10mm-Ultra/dp/B002DG1QUM/ref=sr_1_10?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1452125608&sr=1-10&keywords=fan+40mm

[Justin Payne]

Just remember, generally, more airflow = more noise. You also have the bearing and they'll add to the noise as well.

So, figure out what is the most important to you. The amount of air you want to move or how much noise you want to hear. Of course, I'd rather have some airflow in the Falcon then no airflow at all. Engineers put these things in there. Unless you've got the same schooling, I'm going to just go with their decision. I would never use less airflow than the guys who designed the Falcon but see that part about the same schooling.

[GadgetUK]

WD40 is a solvent more than a lubricant. It will make the sound go away to start with, and then it comes back pretty quickly and often louder. You are better using a spray oil to quieten the fan. I only discovered this a few years back after having used WD40 all my life. I was told by my dad that WD40 is oil, when actually it isn't it's more solvent than oil. I only started to question WD40s use as a lubricant when I found a fan was very noisy and using WD40 solved it for a very short period of time before it then got worse. After using proper oil to lubricate the fan it worked perfectly ever since. It's an easy trap to fall into - search online!

[Zogging Hell]

WD40 is a solvent more than a lubricant. It will make the sound go away to start with, and then it comes back pretty quickly and often louder. You are better using a spray oil to quieten the fan. I only discovered this a few years back after having used WD40 all my life. I was told by my dad that WD40 is oil, when actually it isn't it's more solvent than oil. I only started to question WD40s use as a lubricant when I found a fan was very noisy and using WD40 solved it for a very short period of time before it then got worse. After using proper oil to lubricate the fan it worked perfectly ever since. It's an easy trap to fall into - search online!

 

Yeah I used to use WD40 for everything as well thinking it was a good lubricant, until I started doing a bit of research on quietening an old Deskjet printer that was making an awful racket sliding its head across the rail it's on. I'd been using WD40 to little effect, switched to a proper lubricant and it was like a whole new printer. WD40 now only gets used on rusty nuts and bolts on the car, and in anything that seizes or rusts like outdoor padlocks, hinges etc. For that it is brilliant stuff.

[Justin Payne]

WD40 was a miracle lubricant of the 70's. To loosen bolts today, PB Blaser is the best...BUT that smell takes forever to go away.

[leech]

It's always Airflow vs Noise when dealing with fans. My preference usually is to go with something with a heat sensor. Attach it to the most heat sensitive bits (or really close) and then if the component does get too hot, the fan will speed up and provide more air flow. It's easy to get more airflow with less noise when you have space for a larger fan (I generally use 120+ fans in my tower computers, in fact my current set up has a 240mm fan on the CPU/heat sink. That thing never gets hot). It's hard to get a silent fan that is 40mm, unless you sacrifice a lot of airflow, so I'll have to see how much this new fan puts out (both sound and airflow). The Falcon itself doesn't seem to get that hot. The A4000D has one of the worse airflow setups I've seen (only internal fan being in the PSU, and my Mediator+Indivision AGA are fairly close together and produce a bit more heat than I'd like them to have.)

 

I never realized how old these systems were until I got back into them. Ha, funny story. I have a brother-in-law that always would ask me to fix his computers. His was having some issues with overheating, so to punish him, I ended up ordering the loudest heatsink/fan I could find. It was so loud, you could hear it three rooms away. He finally commented on it at one point, and I just said "well, there were heat issues before, so I figured I'd not take the chance and it keeps cool this way. I believe that one was called the 'Volcano'.

[+DarkLord]

WD40 was a miracle lubricant of the 70's. To loosen bolts today, PB Blaser is the best...BUT that smell takes forever to go away.

 

PB Blaster is the bomb. Used it several times on rusted bolts 'n such on my 97 GMC Sonoma and its been a real

lifesaver. Gotta love a product that in liquid form, magnetically clings to its target area.

[Justin Payne]

Speaking of heat, we used to have IBM RT systems at work. I remember noticing that ours didn't have a heatsink on the cpu. I don't think anyone removed it but I do remember hot hot that thing ran. I could have cooked breakfast on it.

[KLund1]

I took the fan out of my Falcon. I'm using CF & SD. I also am not using the top shielding, so there is plenty of air available. I'm had it this way for years and have not had any problems. fyi

[galax]

I'm not convinced that the Falcon's tiny fan in that terrible position actually does anything useful. To be sure try measuring the temperature of the Falcon's PSU or ICs with and without the fan- I very much doubt there would be any measurable difference.

[Zogging Hell]

I'm not convinced that the Falcon's tiny fan in that terrible position actually does anything useful. To be sure try measuring the temperature of the Falcon's PSU or ICs with and without the fan- I very much doubt there would be any measurable difference.

 

You're probably right, I was just having a quick look at the motherboard layout, and it seems the chips I would expect to produce the most heat - the 68030, videl etc, are the furthest away from this fan. The only chips close to the fan are the memory (so possibly this is the reason for its position - but how hot does the memory get in an Falcon?), and the ROM.