my computer lost a ball :(

[ZippyDan]

moving powersupplies around, and i hear something loose inside my antec powersupply

so i shake the psupply around until the loose object falls out of one of the holes

i pick it up and its a little tiny metal ball. i assume one of the fans ball bearings? 😛

how does something like that manage to come loose. and should i be concerned? 🙂

~Zippy!

 

[Nohr]

lol, that's a new one. 😛 You might want to keep an eye on that fan, if not replace it altogether.

 

[Geomagick]

it could well be a fan bearing, but they are usually very difficult to get free for obvious reasons.

A fan missing any of its bearing assembly won't work properly.
It will be noisy and will vibrate like crazy eventually falling to pieces.

My advice, locate exactly where the bearing came from and replace said fan.
edit: If not replace all fans.

Do make sure that it is a bearing though and not a very round piece of solder.
If it happens to be solder if you don't know much about PSU's then I would be inclined to bin it rather than risk a nasty short which could fry your whole system.

 

[heresiarh]

haha. sorry about the loss.

 

[johnnnny5]

shorts are fun! especially when you're physically a part of it! 🙂

 

[johnnnny5]

by the way.... losing a ball isn't always a show-stopper..

my dog lost both his balls... he still works fine.

 

[Zepper]

Are you sure it's not just a solder ball? A ball bearing isn't usually as shiny as a solder ball and a ball bearing is perfectly round, while a solder ball usually isn't. Look at it under a magnifying glass. Also some switches have a ball as part of the mechanism, but it shouldn't be able to escape from the switch housing unless the housing broke - same for a fan bearing.
.bh.

 

[ZippyDan]

ya it could be a solder ball. looking at it more closely it is perfectly round except on one side where its flat and pitted. this thing is REALLY (1mm diameter?) small so i had to look close to see that

the psupply is an antec 350. could the loss of this tiny ball damage the rest of my comp? 🙂 (i have yet to turn it on)

 

[johnnnny5]

if it's flat on one side.. with a bit of a texture (I assume that's what you mean by pitted)... it's probably a solder ball. Here's an easy way to tell... take a hammer and try to see how LITTLE force you need to hit it with before it will flatten (even a little).... it should be pretty easy... if it's a ball bearing.. chances are that it's steel and it won't flatten easily... if it's lead solder it will be fairly easy.

 

[Zepper]

It shouldn't effect the operation of your PSU at all - just a sign of sloppy final assembly.
.bh.