Painting Noctua Fans - A Guide

[L00bs4n00bs]

I've made a step by step on painting your Noctua fans for newbies or anyone this technique is good and cheap and wont effect airflow or noise

 

Things you need

 

Fans

Cardboard box

Knife

Chop sticks something to that effect

Can of spray paint

To read this guide fully before you start

 

First get everything together set up your box and start breaking down the fans here I've used  2 NF S12's, a NF P12, and a NF S12B

 

 

Apply medium pressure to the back of the blades and that fan will come right off

 

 

Next un pick the cables from there restraints

 

 

And pull the motor from its mount

 

 

Turn over the fan and peel the sticker off (you may need the knife)

 

 

Watch out for this small round metal piece under the sticker its a magnet

 

 

Now place one chopstick through your screw hole

 

 

And start spraying LESS IS MORE use very short sparys, do not put the can too close 8 inches (20 cm) is as close as you ever want to be and keep your hand moving, start the spray away from the fan and finish away from the fan try and only spray each part once you only need one coat this is also important when you have to touch up as to not change the profile of the blades or any sizes so it will fit back together

 

 

If you make a small hole in the top of the box you can place it here to dry

 

 

Now for the fans if you rest them against the back at a slight angle only the small tip of 3 blade touch the box so it will be fine to spray REMEMBER LESS IS MORE if you don't get complete coverage don't worry you can sort it later

 

 

Once the fan is dry the technique I used was to hold the inside dowel and spray one fin at a time at a right angle to the fan, this prevented any paint from getting on the inside and saved me taping it up, it also made it very fast this whole process took me only 15 mins including taking photos

 

 

Once everything is dry check over all parts for any touch ups needed there should be loads if you were careful about using as little paint as possible, fix these with a very low pressure spray aimed at the area and I will repeat but do not put the can too close 8 inches (20 cm) is as close as you ever want to be

 

Now everything is dry and painted we will put it back together its very straight forward just what you did before but in reverse 

 

On some models the NF S12 in this case,there is a rasied chip on the pcb that must relocate through the rectangle hole, the others have the hole but i assume this is because all the shrouds are the same

 

 

Then just re seat your cables push them in with your finger nail (dont use a blade as you will remove the paint)

 

 

And there you go

 

 

[Octavialicious]

Good selection & guide! I love my S12B ULN's

[olback]

Great!

[GodSpoon]

Very nice! Way to be specific! I might do this if I get Noctua fans 

[Nexxus]

" place one chopstick through your screw hole"

Noooooooo thanks, been down that path once, that was an awkward hospital visit.

[Nacho Marco Segui]

Mate, buy some gloves

[L00bs4n00bs]

Mate, buy some gloves

i was a mechanic for years and now I build motorbikes in my spare time, gloves get in the way,

thats me tho! i just never liked them you cant feel what your working with the same way

 

on the downside i now have a completely black hand and cant find the paint thinner, so swings and round abouts

[GER_T4IGA]

Looks pretty evenly sprayed. Good job sir.

[GER_T4IGA]

i was a mechanic for years and now I build motorbikes in my spare time, gloves get in the way,

thats me tho! i just never liked them you cant feel what your working with the same way

 

on the downside i now have a completely black hand and cant find the paint thinner, so swings and round abouts

Some vodka? Migh contain enough ethanol

[Nacho Marco Segui]

i was a mechanic for years and now I build motorbikes in my spare time, gloves get in the way,

thats me tho! i just never liked them you cant feel what your working with the same way

 

on the downside i now have a completely black hand and cant find the paint thinner, so swings and round abouts

Yeah, gloves can be a pain in the ass while working. Great tutorial!! 

[GER_T4IGA]

One question, did you spray indoors?

[L00bs4n00bs]

Some vodka? Migh contain enough ethanol

id rather drink the vodka and have a black hand tbh lol

[L00bs4n00bs]

One question, did you spray indoors?

I did for 3 reasons

1 Its raining

2 I'm really lazy and impatient

3 I've done it before and I trust my ability not to get it on my carpet, my house is quite open and huffing a bit of aerosol is not even close to the worst thing I put in my body lol

 

DISCLAMER: For safety do not do this indoors

[GER_T4IGA]

I did for 3 reasons

1 Its raining

2 I'm really lazy and impatient

3 I've done it before and I trust my ability not to get it on my carpet, my house is quite open and huffing a bit of aerosol is not even close to the worst thing I put in my body lol

 

DISCLAMER: For safety do not do this indoors

Ok, that is fair enough but still I would never paint indoors. I just wouldn't do it for the opposite of reason 3 you named.

[oriol]

This won't work with the newer models as they have a lockring at the rear side of the bearing. You can hardly take the impeller out without breaking it.

[Benji_w]

You're using the wrong gloves, those black gloves that tattoo artists use are excellent and are thin yet stay tight.

[ThomasD]

I did for 3 reasons

1 Its raining

2 I'm really lazy and impatient

3 I've done it before and I trust my ability not to get it on my carpet, my house is quite open and huffing a bit of aerosol is not even close to the worst thing I put in my body lol

 

DISCLAMER: For safety do not do this indoors

Wasn't so much worried about you (already knew that ship had sailed) but was worried about the occupant of that child seat (and assuming he/she is the one who needs the nappies.)

[L00bs4n00bs]

Wasn't so much worried about you (already knew that ship had sailed) but was worried about the occupant of that child seat (and assuming he/she is the one who needs the nappies.)

Kids were out for the day I was ment to go but then I decided to make this tutorial instead, prioritys

[Tomic]

I can't see the pics on my iPad or desktop can someone help

[W-L]

3 minutes ago, Tomic said:

I can't see the pics on my iPad or desktop can someone help

The forums are currently still processing data from the update so it will be some time before everything is back to normal. 

[Iruszz]

Jeezzz I broke my fan using this guide thanks. Mine don't come apart or at least not whilst using medium force I have 4 different kinds. The only one coming apart was the NF-A9X14 one. The NF-A9 broke as well as the NF-F12

[RevGAM]

3 hours ago, Iruszz said:

Jeezzz I broke my fan using this guide thanks. Mine don't come apart or at least not whilst using medium force I have 4 different kinds. The only one coming apart was the NF-A9X14 one. The NF-A9 broke as well as the NF-F12

As noted by @oriol, unfortunately there is a lockring on the axle of some fans that makes it impossible to do that... so sorry that happened,  the warranty won't cover that.  Always be careful when you follow OLD guides as some or all of the advice may no longer work. If it's somewhere like Youtube, Reddit, Medium and many other places, some people deliberately put up false info to me with people. Recipes included! Years ago when I was teaching myself how to make butter, I found someone who patently lied about it being possible to make butter with low fat UHT milk. The result was about enough to cover my pinkie nail (very small). Last night, I tried a chocolate chip yeast cookie recipe, and it was crumbly and not tasty. 

 

Also, some private sites will delete any negative comments to make sure people continue to be fooled.