Accessing Enermax TB Silent 120mm case fan's bearings

[tuffluck]

My Enermax is making a lot of noise after being on about 15 minutes every boot up. I figure the bearings are bad, but i've never done a fan greasing before. I watched a video on youtube and it looks quite simple. So i pulled the stickers from the fan and then noticed a housing around the access to the bearings. I could not pry it up...i tried the smallest possible tools around and it just won't budge. Has anyone tried this before and had any success? Any tips would be appreciated?

edit: realize i can go buy a new one for $12, but if I don't have to leave my house (I have oil on hand), this should be pretty simple to fix on my own.

 

[XavierMace]

realize i can go buy a new one for $12, but if I don't have to leave my house

That's what Amazon is for.

 

[tuffluck]

That's what Amazon is for.

true, and i have prime... but c'mon! most of us on this site pride ourselves in building our own pc's, so fixing a little squeakedy squeak on a case fan should be a piece of red velvet cake.

 

[XavierMace]

I pride myself on building my PC's. But I also pride myself on not spending more time doing something than it's worth. If it takes an hour or more to fix something I can replace for under $15, I'm probably just going to replace it.

 

[tuffluck]

I pride myself on building my PC's. But I also pride myself on not spending more time doing something than it's worth. If it takes an hour or more to fix something I can replace for under $15, I'm probably just going to replace it.

I don't know if you've watched the videos on oiling a fan, but it's about a 4-5 minute process max. And I had to remove the fan even if I was just replacing it, so since it's out, may as well pop open the cap and spray some oil in there. But, I don't know how to open the cap, hence the post. This is totally worth saving $12 if you can literally fix it in 5 minutes.

That being said, if anyone has opened up the Enermax TB before please let me know. It doesn't appear the bearings are accessible without breaking the damn thing.

 

[Blastman]

Here's a video of someone removing the Fan blade from a Enermax TB fan …

video

… don't know if that is the same fan you're referring too.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Generally I agree with the logic about the trouble versus the $15 replacement.

But some fans are hard to find anymore -- for instance my GT AP-30.

I'm only guessing you might reduce motor noise with a better lubricant or slightly more of it -- can't say. You don't really want flecks of Teflon grease all over your case interior parts, though.

Haven't looked at the video yet, but I think there's a little clip-ring retainer that must be compressed to remove it from a groove? Or do I have that wrong?