Cleaning the Skull Canyon

ESumm · ‎03-23-2018

I live in a small family home, 2 kids and 2 cats. Suffice to say my place can get dusty very quickly. I have noticed my NUC is being a tad louder than when I first bought it a month or so ago, I'd like to give it a clean, get that dust out etc.

With my old desktop pc i used to unplug everything and blast it with my a/c air compressor (not a particularly powerful one, just the kind used to inflate stuff etc).

It would be very easy to take the NUC outside and give it a blast, but I fear its overkill or the fans are delicate etc.

What is the general advice for maintenance of the Skull Canyon?

TIA!

ES

ESumm · ‎03-25-2018

No one? No one can share how they maintain a physically clean and dust free NUC Canyon with me?

AlHill · ‎03-25-2018

A rule that I share with everyone who has compressed air, it is great for cleaning keyboards and the insides of PCs, laptops, nucs, etc.

The only thing I tell those to be careful of is fans/blowers. Compressed air can get the fan/blower going much, much faster than it was ever intended to spin.

So, as a precaution, use a pencil, or stick of some sort that can fit between/through the protective grill. Remember, POWER is OFF when you are doing any cleaning.

With the stick holding the fan/blower blade so it cannot spin, spray away with your compressed air. That way, the fan/blower does not spin. The same for the fan inside a power supply, the intake/exhaust fans on a case, the cpu fan, the fan on a video card, or any other fan you can find. Compressed air is good for cleaning the dust. I just do not like it spinning the fans at some outrageous speed.

My 2¢

Doc

ESumm · ‎03-25-2018

Thanks that's really good advice, I've never heard that before, will defo keep that in mind. Therefore it sounds like we're encouraging a certain amount of 'unscrewing' to get to fans and the like in order to hold them in place whilst blowing the compressed air? I take it just unscrewing the 'easy' screws and getting access to the compartments that are typically exposed to doing hardware installs is far enough?

AlHill · ‎03-25-2018

Yes, when cleaning desktops, I take mine down to the garage where I have an industrial strength compressor. I take off the side of the case, hold the fans, and watch the dust fly.

On my smaller devices, I have a reusable can that I charge up with my compressor, put the straw on the nozzle, and hit the keyboards, laptops, and any other place where there is the possibility of dust build up.

I have two cats also. Well, more correctly, my wife has two cats which are my responsibility. I have a nice filter on the bottom front of my desktop which catches most of the larger particles and hair. That I clean manually. But, when the really fine stuff builds up, down to the garage I go.

I have been doing this procedure for years, with no trouble. Also, I keep my desktop intake fan about 5"/12cm off the floor. High enough so most stuff at floor level does not get pulled in so easily.

I am sure that someone else on the forum will have their procedure to share as well.

Doc

ESumm · ‎03-25-2018

Nah that's really helpful and good advice. I have my NUC actually wall mounted, its location and positioning I think is in a place that is less prone to collecting dust. My old desktop sadly had nowhere to sit other than the floor and was constantly filthy.