DEC Alphaserver 4100 CPU fans

[jim stephens]

On 6/9/2020 9:53 PM, Richard Loken via cctalk wrote:
>
>
> Can the CPU fan be obtained?  Can they be rebuilt?
>
> The 4100 has a series of fans between the 3 power supply slots and the
> main backplane which I found could not be easily obtained so I tore them
> all apart and replaced the bearings with good results but I suspect that
> the lttle CPU fans will not respond so well to attempts at repair. 
The small bearings if they are bearing and not sleeve fans can possibly 
be had thru the guys who race things
like matchbox cars.  There are really tiny ball and needle bearings 
around.  Can I tell you where now that I know you
need them, of course not.  but I do have some really small bearings around.

Micro Center has a huge collection of fans of all sorts when I go back 
to that area of their systems supplies, but
I've had mixed success finding things with the search term engine they 
have.  They don't for instance have any
way I've found to put in part numbers, or SKUs, so you have to guess at 
descriptions.

But there are fans from 1" to about 3" which are pretty thin there.

Also there is a huge amount of water cooling setups now, maybe you could 
go from fan to that?  Just a
guess from left field.  And of course, not "DEC" which may count for 
your piece.

thanks
Jim