Thinkpads Forum

I'm replacing the fan, but not the heatsink (new fans are much cheaper than the entire fan+heatsink assembly).

One of the forum members has a guide on how to relube the fan, but this guide is also useful for those wishing to replace the fan. http://www.msb0b.com/home/thinkpadt60fanrepair

My question pertains to the insulation strips on the edges of the fan that face the exhaust ports (see pic in step #2 of the guide above). New fans don't come with that. Should I just cut thin strips of a similar type of material and glue it on? I assume the primary function of this material is to prevent dust from entering the laptop?

I have replaced the fan on my T60 yesterday. I didn't care too much about that insulation strip but I slowly unsticked it and put it back on the new fan. Hope it's ok, laptop it's running well now. My only problem was not putting enough thermal compound on the CPU first time - and after a stress test my T60 shutted down on its own. Opened up again, more thermal compound on CPU, stress test, all fine.

Be careful, to much thermal past will have the reverse effect, and will insolate instead of transferring the heat. You want to cover the whole surface as thin as possible, then when you tighten the heatsink, it will spread out. Some excess is impossible to avoid, but you don't want so much excess that is spreads off the chip... that could be very bad, nor do you want t working as a barrier.

As for the fan, I prefer to reuse the heatsink. If you have a good one, then it's silly to replace it, and the ones selling on ebay are usually used and have used fans. Reusing the foil tape can be tricky, but you should be able to get enough of it to get a good seal with good airflow. The foam insulation isn't as important.

I'd also not waste my time taking it apart to lube the fan, they are very cheap, so unless you know the fan is good, I'd install a new one.

TuuS wrote:Reusing the foil tape can be tricky, but you should be able to get enough of it to get a good seal with good airflow.

Is the foil tape critical? I cut mine to remove the old fan.

I cut mine too. This worried me more than the insulation strip but I didn't see any other way, it was strongly glued to the fan..

Anyway, now it's idling @ 47CPU, 65GPU. Under CPU stress test (dynamips with 13 running routers) CPU reached 87C.

I have used self adhesive ALUMINIUM TAPE in the past - which I cut to shape - works great! -

The point of this insulation tape is to force the hot air through the grilles rather than to let it escape elsewhere inside the laptop. But you can basically use whatever tape you can get. I had a spare roll of kapton tape from the 80ies that i used, even though it is completely overkill.

Troels wrote:The point of this insulation tape is to force the hot air through the grilles rather than to let it escape elsewhere inside the laptop. But you can basically use whatever tape you can get.

Thanks for the explanation. I'll use some electrical tape.

Electrical tape will tend to make a gooey mess when it gets hot. I try to salvage enough of the foil tape to get a good seal, but you can even use some RTV silicone gasket sealer (automotive grade). This will handle any temperatures the heatsink can generate and will make a good seal, just make sure you let it fully set before you install it back in your computer.

What I usually do is peel the tape back on one of the two sides before removing the fan, then fold the tape like a hinge to remove the fan, and you can peel the fan off the existing tape, and reuse it to attach the new fan. You can also cut a strip of the existing tape off to cover any parts that don't get covered with the usable portion of the tape you peeled in the first step. I never had a problem, but if I was going to replace the fan a second time, then I'd definitely get some foil tape and replace it.

TuuS wrote:Electrical tape will tend to make a gooey mess when it gets hot. I try to salvage enough of the foil tape to get a good seal, but you can even use some RTV silicone gasket sealer (automotive grade). This will handle any temperatures the heatsink can generate and will make a good seal, just make sure you let it fully set before you install it back in your computer.

What I usually do is peel the tape back on one of the two sides before removing the fan, then fold the tape like a hinge to remove the fan, and you can peel the fan off the existing tape, and reuse it to attach the new fan. You can also cut a strip of the existing tape off to cover any parts that don't get covered with the usable portion of the tape you peeled in the first step. I never had a problem, but if I was going to replace the fan a second time, then I'd definitely get some foil tape and replace it.

Thanks for the advice. I was able to salvage the aluminum tape from the old fan.