Corsair ML Series Disassembly

[ignorantForager]

I've been searching around for anyone who seems to have taken apart the new(ish) Corsair ML Series Fans. I was unable to find any definitive answers on how to do it exactly, so I took the initiative and tried it myself. I was partially successful in the fact that I was able to disassemble it, however in putting it back together, it doesn't spin as well as it should and when I plugged it into one of my motherboards to test how it worked, it didn't spin at all. I've laid out the steps that I did to disassemble the fan's below in case anyone wants to re-attempt it and try to fix where I went wrong or just for anyone who is curious. I figured since I couldn't find anyone who had done it, I would put it out there so others could find it. I have attached pictures as my description might not be clear enough by itself.

 

The first thing that I did was remove the stickers from the front and the back. This didn't really give me any ideas on how to continue, so I probed around the holes on the back of the fan hoping to figure out how it was fastened in the frame. I noticed a white tab inside one of the openings, so I toyed around with it until it finally broke off. Next, I turned my attention to the area where the cable was plugged into and noticed a smaller white tab underneath the frame in this location as well. I couldn't quite reach it with any of the tools that I had around me. Not making any progress, I grudgingly broke out my Dremel to see if I could carefully remove some of the back frame to open up the back of the fan to try and get a better angle or open up something new for me to fiddle with. Unfortunately, I got a little carried away and ended up removing the fan from the case entirely. However, the PCB was still connected and so was a small part of the frame. So I continued to cut away the frame piece until I was able to remove the PCB. It turns out that there are four white tabs located around the center of the fan to hold in the PCB. I then started shaving down the center of the frame located on the back of the fan. I was able to remove the "back plate" of the fan frame and saw the usual pin on the back of the fan. Realizing that this was what I was looking for, I began to attempt to remove the fan from the coil. I eventually ended up using a small socket (it was included in my 64 Bit Driver iFixit kit) that was able to fit over the pin and into the hole. I used a hammer to tap the socket further onto the pin. I'm not sure what sort of fastener holds the fan onto the coil (or vice versa), but it took my quite a while to get to the point where I could pull the fan off just like any other SP or AP Corsair fan. Now at this point, the fan is basically useless except to see how it was put together. So I used all the knowledge that I gained with this fan and started on a second, hoping to disassemble it without completely destroying it.

 

Spoiler

 

 

The first thing that I did with this second fan was try and drill out the center of the back to gain access to the fan pin. Drilling it out was easy, but there was lots of debris that was still attached to the walls of the drill hole, so I had to scrape this off to get a clean look at the pin. Then I was able to hammer in the socket onto the pin and pull the fan off as stated above. This time, there was only a small hole in the back of the fan that is easily covered up if someone wanted to put a sticker over it. (ignore the other smaller holes in the picture. They were from an earlier experiment when I thought that the white tabs were the key to disassembly.) Now that I had gotten the fan off of the frame with little damage actually done, I was curious to see if I could re-assemble it to fully functional. I popped the fan back into the frame, and it stayed. However, the fan did not spin as loosely as it had before. I plugged it into one of my motherboards and tried to test it out, but it didn't spin at all. I'm thinking that maybe during my attempts to free the fan from the case, I messed up the PCB and killed the fan, but I'm not sure. 

 

Spoiler

 

So there it is. How to disassemble the Corsair ML Series Fans. Maybe somebody can use this and expand upon it and figure out where I went wrong to get the fan to work at the end of all of this. 

 

 

[kb5zue]

Hmmmm.............  Lemme see if I got this right?????  After completely reading your synopsis of the necessary actions taken to fully disassemble the fan and thoroughly examining the pictures taken I think I have the answer to where you went wrong in your futile effort to figure out how the fan works.

 

I believe it was the tools that you used and the order in which you used them.  Only one tool was required and would have only needed to be used once.

 

First, the tool:  A very large brick.

 

Use:  Strap fan to brick and drop the brick/fan from the tallest mountain within 5 days driving distance.

 

Sry, couldn't help myself.  It's 1:35am and it's been a LONG day.

 

So, what was the reason for taking the fan apart in the first place anyway?

 

[maybethisnamewillwork]

I think you went wrong at the point when you separated that grey plate from the metal tube, were those soldered together?
That grey plate underneath the PCB is MagLev plate, I think it needs to be one unit with the metal tube in order for the shaft to be separated from the bearing housing:
 

[ignorantForager]

I wanted to be able to paint the fan to match my color scheme a little more accurately. It seems to me like the easier option is just to tape off the frame and go from there. And I know I probably didn't use the most proper tools, but it was what I had around me at the time and they worked for the most part. With the exception of it actually working of course. 

 

6 minutes ago, maybethisnamewillwork said:

I think you went wrong at the point when you separated that grey plate from the metal tube, were those soldered together?
That grey plate underneath the PCB is MagLev plate, I think it needs to be one unit with the metal tube in order for the shaft to be separated from the bearing housing:

 

No it wasn't soldered together. At least I'm pretty sure they weren't. It came off super easily and there doesn't seem to be any residue left if they were soldered together. But I see what you're saying. Maybe they're supposed to go together in a specific way that messed up when I pulled it apart.

[maybethisnamewillwork]

Also, how does the power get delivered to the fan motor, through those three pins? Are those connected anymore?

[ignorantForager]

14 minutes ago, maybethisnamewillwork said:

Also, how does the power get delivered to the fan motor, through those three pins? Are those connected anymore?

It gets powered by the four pins. Yes those are still connected. Those actually are soldered onto the PCB. I was careful not to mess with those very much. I know how to solder in case they came off, but I wanted to avoid doing that. Luckily I didn't have to.

 

Edit:

OH! Are you talking about the three pins between the PCB and the coils? I assume that's where the power goes. And yes those are still connected as well. They just pull out easily and go in easily.

[maybethisnamewillwork]

5 minutes ago, ignorantForager said:

Edit:

OH! Are you talking about the three pins between the PCB and the coils? I assume that's where the power goes. And yes those are still connected as well. They just pull out easily and go in easily.

Yeah I was wondering if the power comes to the coils anymore.

[Kcimor78]

On 24/05/2017 at 10:58 AM, ignorantForager said:

It gets powered by the four pins. Yes those are still connected. Those actually are soldered onto the PCB. I was careful not to mess with those very much. I know how to solder in case they came off, but I wanted to avoid doing that. Luckily I didn't have to.

 

Edit:

OH! Are you talking about the three pins between the PCB and the coils? I assume that's where the power goes. And yes those are still connected as well. They just pull out easily and go in easily.

bro, have you tried again?

[Kcimor78]

Im thinking about simply masking the fans and painting the frame, could that work?? 

[ignorantForager]

18 hours ago, Kcimor78 said:

bro, have you tried again?

 

1 hour ago, Kcimor78 said:

Im thinking about simply masking the fans and painting the frame, could that work?? 

I haven't tried to do this since. What I ended up doing was just masking off the frame so I could paint the fans. You should be able to do the reverse. Masking off the fans and painting the frame. It shouldn't be an issue.

[Kcimor78]

17 hours ago, ignorantForager said:

 

I haven't tried to do this since. What I ended up doing was just masking off the frame so I could paint the fans. You should be able to do the reverse. Masking off the fans and painting the frame. It shouldn't be an issue.

Well, humm... maybe when i get paied next month i will buy then and paint the frame, if i do it ill post it so other people that are looking for the same awnser. I think its not worth the risk to try to remove the fan from the frame since it didnt work for you

[Kcimor78]

Quote

Hi guys, unfortunately i wont be buying the fans just now. Found like 6 links on google of people asking how to disassemble them, thought about taking one for the team but i gave up. I really wish someone would try it!!

 

[Achilliess]

Aye do not do so!!! I made the same mistake and now I just have 3 expensive static RGB thingys... no matter how careful you are it seems as if there is no way to simply put them back together and be in working order :(

[Bashrag]

On 3/14/2018 at 8:10 PM, Kcimor78 said:

Im thinking about simply masking the fans and painting the frame, could that work?? 

 

On 3/14/2018 at 9:43 PM, ignorantForager said:

 

I haven't tried to do this since. What I ended up doing was just masking off the frame so I could paint the fans. You should be able to do the reverse. Masking off the fans and painting the frame. It shouldn't be an issue.

Sorry to necro an ancient thread, but I tried this.

I used Plastidip (an Austrian local equivalent, actually) so I didn't have to mask the blades and could simply peel the film off once it dried. Here's the finished product.

I am very dissatisfied with the paint job. I wouldn't pay for something of this quality. However, the caveat here is that this is the absolute first time I've tried this. I've never worked with Plastidip before and I've never tried painting PC parts.

 

The problem with painting the frame is that you need to mask off the space between the rotor and the frame. Otherwise you risk getting paint in there and screwing all the electronics up.

However, once you mask that gap, the fan blades won't move anymore when you paint. The result is a very uneven, patchy coat inside the frame.

 

I suppose you could get around this in one of two ways. You either unmask, move the blades and spray every other coat or so, or you use acrylic paint and a paintbrush. I'm going to try painting with a paintbrush and report back.