How to take apart fans to oil them?

[redwire]

I've wrecked a couple Japanese fans, they have no C-clip or washer. How do you take these apart to oil them?
If you reef and yank on the hub, they don't come apart and the fans wobble now. So brute force doesn't work.

This one, the hub seems to be crimped to the shaft. The motor has no clips, fasteners, anything to take apart
Matsushita Panaflo Model FBA08A12U 12V 0.36A 1B15BD-1C 80x25mm with hydro-wave bearing.

[stj]

good luck,
the shaft is held with barbed clips.

i have managed to pull one apart - literally and reasemble it,
but usually you just break the spider-frame or a blade while trying.

you could try a 1mm pin-drill through the plastic frame and drip some oil in - i cant remember if i tried that.

[Harvey]

Often that bung behind the label is the way to the back of the bearing. Its a matter of digging it out with small screwdrivers or a drill and brute force.

Generally though, its not worth the effort as 6 months later the bearing is back to noisy no matter what you try and do.

[Curious.George]

Originally Posted by Harvey

Often that bung behind the label is the way to the back of the bearing. Its a matter of digging it out with small screwdrivers or a drill and brute force.

Generally though, its not worth the effort as 6 months later the bearing is back to noisy no matter what you try and do.

Oil "attracts" dust and other crud that will lead to the same problem.

[momaka]

Originally Posted by redwire

This one, the hub seems to be crimped to the shaft. The motor has no clips, fasteners, anything to take apart

Probably a sealed fan.

You CAN open those, but it's a bit complicated. I've shot a few videos of how to do it to show friends, but never uploaded the videos on any website.

Before even attempting to open that fan, I have to ask: is it even bad - as in, hard to spin or extremely noisy due to bearings? (And not due to design, like some Delta fans always are.)

If yes, and you really need to open it, you will need the following tools:
small screwdrivers, drill, drill bits, and soldering iron.

For most "contemporary" sealed fans, there is a plastic locking C-washer on the front side of the shaft, between the sleeve bearing and a plastic "limiter" on the stator housing. What I do is I drill out the fan from the back to get to the shaft (make a hole around 5-8 mm in diameter, depending on fan size), heat the shaft with a soldering iron (not hot enough where it melts solder, but hot enough to melt plastic) for 10-20 seconds, then pull the blade assembly out. Heating the shaft will basically allow you to "cut through" the plastic C-washer on the front when you pull the stator out. Once taken apart, you do a "standard" cleaning procedure on the sleeve bearing (if it's a BB fan, replace the ball bearings - BBs are not serviceable) with IPA and mild abrasive tool cleaning on the sleeve surface (but not the shaft!) Then oil and reassemble. Prior to reassembly, it may be worth to drill out / widen that plastic locking C-washer a bit if you intend to keep the fan easily serviceable (and when you do this, all you will have to do next time to service the fan is pull out the rotor assembly and put oil on the bearing - no heating or drilling necessary anymore.)

With that said, it is worth noting here that once you drill the fan out the back, you will need to put back a smooth cap/piece of plastic in there again, and glue it. Otherwise, many sealed fans will tend to have their fan rotor assemblies sit too low and grind against the case.

So in short, this repair is semi-destructive to the fan, more or less (or at least to its original condition.) But I've repaired a few of these sealed things with good results. Oldest one is only about 1 year, as it's only recently I came up with this method of opening these fans. It's been working well, though. And like most regular sleeve bearing fans that I've taken apart, cleaned, and oiled properly - it likely will last longer than it did from the factory.

Originally Posted by stj

you could try a 1mm pin-drill through the plastic frame and drip some oil in - i cant remember if i tried that.

Been there, done that before.
It works, but doesn't last too long.
Good enough to get equipment quickly back into operation again (but not for a very long time, unfortunately.)

Originally Posted by Curious.George

Oil "attracts" dust and other crud that will lead to the same problem.

Negative.
I have oiled fans run for many years now. Oldest I think is close to 8 years. Not 24/7 operation, but has a good amount of hours on there (maybe about 2-years worth.)

Though you are correct in that if the method that stj suggested is used, the oil will inadvertently get into the blade rotor assembly (and on the magnet), which will then gum up with dust eventually. But at least the stator iron former won't rust!

[redwire]

I've used syn motor oil 10W20 for years to oil fans, electric motors etc. with zero problems or re-do's.
On a few I tried fancy (=expensive) aerospace lube. Krytox is not petroleum-based good to 400F and doesn't evaporate over the years. I had some at work. I don't see a difference yet.

This fan is just stiff, the oil has surely dried out. Second Japanese sealed fan I've encountered like this, Nidec is the other.
I think a long syringe needle could get in there, or drill out the back side if it starts growling, then I have nothing to lose really. It's really tough reinforced plastic.

For now, I'm going to leave it alone. I think a C-clip is hidden in there and the factory pops the shaft in, to assemble it... forever. Some kind of Ninja puzzle.

[televizora]

Drill hole 1.5-2 mm exactly below the axis.
Push the rotor down and oil with hydraulic oil or other thin oil
Repeat
Put piece of tape to cover the hole.
Magnetic cussion fans used in some of the fancier laptops also could make grinding noises and cabn be successfully cured for years by oiling them. These you can oil by removing the rotor and putting oil where the axis fits in the stator.