Small vacuum to fit into all those tight places in our machines?

Lava King · 12 Dec 2010

I use something a little bit different, essentially it's a 10lb CO2 fire extinguisher with a regulator on it. I had it built to take along on my offroad excursions as a portable "air" source. Works great for tires and even pneumatic impact wrenches.

A local fire extinguisher company assembled it for me after I showed them an ad in an offroad magazine. It cost me $125 US (versus $300+ for the commercial model) complete, filled and ready to go. A refill costs about $12 US and lasts a surprisingly long time.

Just pop an airgun on the hose and it will clean the vast majority of gunk out of a pc. The airgun is easily controllable, anything from a gentle puff to a strong blast. Being CO2 means that its clean, but blast too long in one area and it may get really cold, leading to condensation.

Also, when I clean a fan I'll usually employ a small screwdriver to keep the fan from spinning and potentially acting as a generator.

Oh yeah, I always do this outside. Some of the computers that I've worked on for friends and co-workers have created quite the dust storm :)

Kent

SledgeDG · 14 Dec 2010

That sounds like a great idea. the only thing what would worry me, is the temperature drop when CO2 evaporates. just make sue not to use it on a "hot' system. I would hate for my CPU to be split in half

-DG

pparks1 · 14 Dec 2010

Hmmmm...... My last few cases (all Antecs), have nice dust filters and such which keep out the majority of crap from inside of the PC. In the event that dust does indeed get inside of the case, I've never experienced a problem that a couple of blasts of compressed air doesn't resolve. I'm unsure if there is really a benefit to going to the extent of using vacuums and taking apart the PC to ensure that it stays dust free. Seems that's just being obsessive for the sake of it.

LiquidSnak · 14 Dec 2010

Blowing or brushing the dust into a vacuum is handy. Then I know the dust isn't going to settle back inside the case.

Lunarpancake · 14 Dec 2010

We use a small vacuum called the "shark". But we also keep an air compressor on site for blowing out components which is usually safer and more effective.

Ivan the SoSo · 14 Dec 2010

I built a case...its...different......but the nice feature is all air intakes through a 20X20 AC filter....400+cfm worth of fans keep a nice positive pressure....

Zen00 · 14 Dec 2010

Lots of compressed air has always worked better for me than vacuuming anyways.

linnemeyerhere · 14 Dec 2010

Compressed air and soft brush outside the house, vacuum and soft brush inside the house. I keep the intake away from surfaces and just let the vacuum pull the dust in from the brushing. Moist lint free towel the outside of the case after brushing the nooks and crannies. Toothbrush and air/vacuum the fans with a moist and then dry Q-tip to fully clean. Of course rinse out any filters and let dry completely. I would love to see a small canister hepa vac with attachements made.

LiquidSnak · 14 Dec 2010

How small?
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/prod...paign=shopping

This is a great cheap vacuum, I had it for a few years before I got a Dyson.

linnemeyerhere · 14 Dec 2010

That's close to perfect maybe 2/3 rd's the size. But that's close and affordable if not a hepa vac.