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Replacement P/S fan in a 3D printer. A single 10-hour print completed successfully and the printer was powered off. At power on the next day, fan started to vibrate. Gentle rap to the case and the result was two broken blades, one of which had jammed between the remaining blades and the fan housing. Stopping it instantly.
Now, first and foremost, I understand every electronics manual (or each and every manual ever produced for that matter) usually lists “an application of gentle force” for the very first recommendation when troublehooting - NOT. And that onus is on me. But, I am having a hard time believing that what little force was used actually caused the fan to come apart. Exacerbate a pre-existing issue or condition? More likely. Case, P/S and fan screws were tight with plenty of clearance between wires, etc… and the fan. Nothing I could think of that would interfere with the fans operation. The intake grate is on the under side of the case/supply and the environment clean, super clean.
Did I win the lottery this month and just wind up with a defective part?
Are the MagLev fans more prone to “wobble” with any shock?
Do I order another as a replacement and consider this a fluke?
In any event, the part is far past the date of return due to defects, had the leads shortened and to be honest, I cannot rule out my hamfisted attempts at troubleshooting as the sole reason for its demise. Just concerned about replacing with the same and wondering about a bad lot or manufacturing defect. Scouring the interwebs for similar experiences yielded no results so…
The only time I have ever seen a fan come apart like this is when someone decided to stick something into the rotating blades. Which usually strips the majority of them off the hub. That was not the case here.
Welcome to the Technical Forum. The benfit of the vapo bearing is it eliminates wobbling.
Here is a brief overview from Sunon:
I have not heard of this happening with the Sunon fans. Though every electronic component can fail early. Sunon is a cost effective fan. Do I see this happening again? Most likely not likley to happen again. They do have a good product. Though if you would like to change to a Mechatronics fan, we have a similar product part number 1570-1242-ND. Here is the link: G6015E24B-RHR-EM Mechatronics Fan Group | Fans, Blowers, Thermal Management | DigiKey
This one does have ball bearings instead of the vapo bearing. Here is a great overview on the types of bearings : Fan Bearings & Longevity
You can see on the chart that the most common bearing used for fans is a ball bearing type. Hopefully this helps.
This might help you make a decision on if you do want to change.
Thank you for the quick reply and information you relayed. I am going to chalk this up to a one-off issue and likely order the same fan. Forum post after post and comments left on retail sites have had nothing but rave reviews for this exact model Sunon fan, in the exact use case as I listed.
Your information on the bearing is a huge plus.
Thanks again for both your quick reply and information. Very much appreciated.
One particular thing to note, as highlighted in the links @Verna_1353 provided above, is that if you are mounting your fan in any other orientation than vertically, with the air blowing horizontally, you should only choose a ball bearing type fan. The others risk fluid leakage and increased friction when not mounted vertically.
