About dust filters - AM. Computer filter Do-it-yourself padding polyester filter
I’ve been installing homemade ones for quite some time now. air filters V computer systems cooling. In this article I decided to summarize my experience and show some fashions.
Why do you need air filters in a PC?
First of all, to simplify further maintenance. Cleaning a couple of filters with a vacuum cleaner takes much less time than dismantling the cooling system, opening the power supply, cleaning radiators, fans and other pieces of hardware from dust.
Well, aesthetics are improving, to the delight of computer feng shui lovers.
Why not buy ready-made filters in the store?
Air filters are rarely found in computer stores, but more often in electronic component stores like chip-and-dip. However, there is little choice there either. Making a filter at home from scrap materials is cheaper and takes less time than running around the shops. Well, it brings more pleasure, yes.
Well, now the slides
Socket 370. A women's nylon stocking, a steel wire bow and 4 ties were used. The bracket is needed to increase the filter area and to prevent the filter from being sucked into the fan. Before cleaning, a two-year layer of dust is visible.
In the power supply in front of a 12cm fan. A medical mask was used (only the inner layer), reinforced tape. The dust has just been removed with a vacuum cleaner, but a strip of dust is visible below, where the vacuum cleaner could not get through.
In a vertical power supply on blowing. Medical gauze and stationery tape were used. All holes and cracks are sealed with transparent tape to prevent air from blowing past the filter. Before cleaning, a two-year layer of dust is visible.
- Do not use materials that are too thick, such as vacuum cleaner bags. Before using any material, try breathing through it yourself.
- The design of the filter must prevent matter from entering the fan blades and causing it to stop. Blocking the fan can lead to dire consequences.
- Reduce fan speed to a reasonable minimum. The less air is pumped, the less dust settles.
- The decrease in air flow may have to be compensated for somehow. For example, put better thermal paste.
- Fans of aggressive modding may be interested in zero filters in auto stores.
Dust is one of the main enemies of computers and laptops. It is this that clogs the fan, settles on important “internals”, including the processor, preventing them from cooling, which is a common cause of failure. You can combat this by periodically cleaning the system unit and removing dust from the laptop. However, this is a very tedious process: you need to disassemble the device, blow it out from the inside with a vacuum cleaner, and clean some parts manually. Therefore, many turn to another way out of the situation - a dust filter for the computer. We'll show you how purchased options, as well as those that you can do yourself.
Why is dust dangerous?
As we have already mentioned, the accumulation of dust inside the computer leads to overheating of system elements. And this is fraught with the following:
- The fan speed increases. And this is not only extra noise, but also the reason for its rapid breakdown - the mechanism begins to work at the limit.
- Capacitors on the motherboard, power supply, or video card fail.
- Trying to protect the processor from overheating, the system activates a mechanism that reduces its performance. This leads to annoying freezing. And in emergency cases, when the heating of the processor reaches a critical stage, the computer turns off altogether.
- Dust can cause short circuit, static breakdown to the microcircuit.
All of the above requires serious repairs, which will obviously be more expensive than a dust filter for a computer, even a purchased one. Why it is so useful, we will consider further.
What makes a computer dust filter stand out?
What you will find in stores is a canvas made of a special air-permeable material with some options for attaching to the body of a system unit or laptop. Manufacturers of dust filters for computers in Minsk, and many other cities, promise potential buyers the following:
- Long years of product service.
- Almost 90% air filtration quality.
- Little air resistance.
- Adjustable size and shape. In most cases, a large roll of canvas is sold, from which you can independently cut a dust filter for a computer 120 mm x 170 mm or other sizes you need.
- Easy installation - basically the back side of the material is adhesive, so it is quite easy to install it on the system unit.
- Additional sound absorption.
- Protection against insects getting inside the device.
What does the protective fabric provide?
In general, everything dust filters for PCs and laptops are required to provide the following:
- Reliable protection of the “filling” of the case from dust.
- Stable low processor temperature (and it does not heat up so much from high performance, how much from the dust that has settled on it).
- Long-term operation of components, ensured by almost ideal conditions inside the case.
What types of dust filters are there?
It turns out that protective sheets also differ in their main function. Let's look at their varieties using the example of dust filters for the Samokleikin computer, according to the manufacturer, developed on the basis of patented technology. There are three types here:
- Fine cleaning. Material: open cell polyurethane foam. Filtration efficiency is up to 90% - the canvas is capable of retaining dust up to 5 microns in size. This allows you to achieve perfect cleanliness inside the system unit.
- Long service. Material - non-woven fiber polyester. It provides both excellent filtration and good dust holding capacity. This canvas helps the computer for a long time without maintenance.
- Low resistance. Material - woven mesh made of polyester. It allows air to pass through itself better than others, which helps it have a minimal effect on the temperature of the processor case. A few more features of the filter: protection against insects, the ability to install on a laptop, netbook, between the fan and the case.
Installation options
It is possible to install two filters at once: long service and fine cleaning. The first one will capture large dust, the second - fine dust. Thanks to the large capacity of the long-life cloth, the fine cleaning barrier will concentrate on collecting fine particles, while causing minimal contamination.
Cleaning the filter
It goes without saying that the cleaning cloth will become clogged with dust and become dirty over time. Of course, you can remove the old filter and replace it with a new one. But it’s not difficult to clean it:
- The easiest and most gentle way is to vacuum it without removing it from the computer. This way you won't damage the adhesive layer.
- More serious cleaning involves removing and rinsing in warm water. Next is natural drying. In some places the adhesive layer will withstand such a test, in others you will have to install a new one. Not all filters can be washed in a machine, with powder or soap. Dust can be easily washed out by simply rinsing in water.
And now we’ll move on to how to make dust filters for your computer with your own hands.
Homemade protective barrier
It is unreasonable to overpay for something that you can easily and quickly find and make yourself from scrap materials. In addition, dust filters for computers are not available in every office equipment store - you will have to spend time on orders and go around a lot of places to find them.
We will present you the most reliable and uncomplicated options:
- Nylon stocking. It is attached to the fan itself, which cools the processor, inside the case. More precisely, first a wire arch is installed on the mechanism - so that a piece of a woman’s stocking does not get sucked into the blades. The canvas itself is secured with plastic ties.
- Inner layer of a medical mask (for the power supply housing). It is attached with wide tape (it is best to use reinforced tape) on top of the fan grille - you just need to cut out a sheet of suitable size.
- Medical gauze. Best used for vertical blower power supply. You can secure the material with regular stationery tape. It is also important to cover all cracks and holes with adhesive tape so that dust does not pass through them and bypass the filter.
Such improvised means protect both the fans and the “filling” of the system unit from dust getting inside, no worse than purchased ones. You can also use padding polyester for additional protection, but no more than three layers - a denser concentration will impede air exchange.
Before you make a dust filter for your computer and install it, check out these useful tips:
- Do not use materials that are too dense in the hope that they will definitely not allow dust into the computer. This will make the situation worse: air exchange will decrease, which will contribute to overheating. Before using this or that fabric, conduct a small effective test - try to breathe through it yourself. If it's easy, then the material is good.
- Consider installing the filter so that it cannot get into the fan blades and block its operation. This may result in device failure and need to be replaced.
- If possible, reduce the cooler speed. But to a reasonable point. Everything is simple here: the less air it moves, the less dust settles.
- The reduction in air flow can be compensated for. For example, by installing improved thermal paste.
- Zero filters from auto stores will work as a material for a protective barrier.
Protecting the "filling" of the computer from dust - guarantee long work devices. Special dust filters will help with this, which you can either buy in stores or make yourself from scrap materials.
I have already proposed my mounting option and now I would like to try to find out which material is preferable to use in filters. While preparing to write this article, I came across various options filter materials. But some of the most popular are tights and faux chiffon. Another frequently used material is padding polyester, but its testing will remain outside the scope of this review, because it considers materials that can primarily be used with magnetic vinyl, and with padding polyester this mounting option is very difficult to implement.
First, I decided to clarify the question: how much filters can reduce air flow and how this affects the temperature of the cooled components. To find out this, it was decided to use a specially purchased “mid-tower” form factor case. This miracle of Chinese engineering is nothing remarkable except seat under a 120 mm fan on the side wall.
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A Scythe GentleTyphoon fan (D1225C12B5AP-15) was placed on it. His maximum speed spinning at 1850 rpm, while it is capable of pumping 57.68 CFM (cubic feet per minute). The inside of the body was glued masking tape to close all ventilation openings and eliminate possible impact supplemented air flows for the result.
Inside, directly opposite the fan, I placed a hard drive, and on its board I glued a thermocouple from a Lamptron FC5V2 fan controller onto its board using electrical tape. The Winchester worked without load, and the testing methodology itself boiled down to the following: the computer was turned on with a filter on the fan, then the maximum temperature was recorded, after which system unit turned off for 30-40 minutes, allowing the hard drive to cool, then tried a new filter. Each time, heating to maximum temperature was achieved in about 20 minutes. Now let's look at the scan objects themselves.
Three types of filters were used for it: artificial chiffon, black nylon tights with a density of 40 denier, and a factory-made Lamptron UV Sensitive Fan filter.
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The filter produced by Lamptron is a metal mesh on a plastic frame, with a cell size of about 1 mm. IN included set of bolts for fastening.
It can be bought in Moscow, so, in my opinion, it will be good example for comparison with homemade options. Almost from the very beginning I was sure that each of the filters would have a small negative impact on the air flow, since they are made of sufficiently durable materials, which, according to their main purpose, should not interfere with the passage of air, which was confirmed by testing. For ease of perception, the results obtained are presented in the form of a diagram:
For comparison, I checked the temperature of the hard drive in the mode of complete no airflow, in a completely closed system unit.
As you can see, among the filters tested, the Lamptron product obstructs the air flow the least, but this is not surprising, because the size of the cells in the mesh is much larger than that of chiffon or tights. The filters made from tights had the worst effect on the temperature, but the difference was only 0.4 degrees Celsius when compared with the mode without filters, which, in my opinion, is not at all critical.
But, on the one hand, testing on a simulator is good, but on the other hand, it is to some extent far from reality. Therefore, the main system unit in the house took on the role of a guinea pig.
Test bench
- Motherboard: ASUS Rampage IV Formula;
- Processor: i7-3930K;
- Cooling system: SVO;
- RAM: 8 GB DDR-III 1333 MHz Samsung, @2133 9-10-10-24-1T;
- Drive: OCZ Vertex 2 60 GB;
- Power supply: SeaSonic X-850, 850 W;
- Case: Cooler Master HAF 932.
Testing methodology
Air circulation in the case is provided by four Noiseblocker Multiframe S-Series MF12-S2 fans - three on the CBO radiator and one front. I turned off the fans on the radiator, put a filter on the front fan and recorded the maximum temperature of the processor and video card. In theory, this was supposed to show how installing dust filters would affect a real system unit.
Test results
But the result was again disappointing. When installing any of the dust filters, the temperature changed as desired. It even happened that after they were removed it increased, which is completely illogical. Several reasons have been found for this:
- Various load on computer components (although I did not touch the PC at this time, but, for example, the antivirus could be updated, after which the processor temperature immediately increased by a degree).
- The influence of external air flows that penetrate the housing through many ventilation holes, it is impossible to predict their impact.
After struggling with the tests for two evenings, I decided that the lack of results was also a result. The processor temperatures in full passive mode were around 60-61 degrees, and the video card heated up to 48-49 degrees with any of the filters. This allows us to conclude that the effect of filters with thin filter fabric has such a negligible effect on the air flow that it can be safely ignored.
Another important parameter of dust filters is the actual dust protection. Therefore, I tried to find out which of the presented materials is best suited for this.
But then an ambush awaited me. The fact is that there is no testing of dust filters for computers online! Only industrial options or automotive, but in any case, the tools and methods were unattainable for me. You cannot simply hang a filter on a working system unit, since it is impossible to maintain the same conditions throughout the entire testing period.
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The solution came unexpectedly: use flour as a dust simulator! I immediately stocked up on a bag of first grade flour and a sifter. Since it was necessary to test the filter in conditions as close as possible to combat conditions, it was decided to use the housing already described above.
But that was not the case! If the body is in its normal position, then the fan power is not enough to capture the flour. I decided to put it on its side and sprinkle flour in even small portions, but after a short period of time it simply clogged all the holes in the filter and no longer got inside the housing. You had to either shake the filter or rub the flour with your fingers. But in this case, it was possible to find out only one thing: which material is best suited as a sieve, but not a dust filter. Inside, there was no even spot of flour; it settled in an even layer throughout the entire body and removing it from all the corners and crevices was a big problem. This is a failure.
I again wondered how to overcome all this. As a result, thinking that the air flow was hampered by the perforations on the side wall, it was decided to use another test bench, without a case, but with a fan. The marker now was the black velvet fabric that came with the Seasonic power supply.
The testing methodology has undergone some changes. Now I poured a tablespoon of flour onto the filter as evenly as possible, and then turned on the fan for exactly 10 minutes. And I photographed the resulting spot.
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This is the only way I got adequate results that could be used.
The first test was carried out on a filter with artificial chiffon.
Second on the list was a filter made of nylon tights with a density of 40 denier.
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The result compared to chiffon, although slightly different, is still noticeable. Let's see how the Lamptron metal mesh filter performs.
You can immediately see the difference between its result and the results of previous filters - strong traces of flour as the fan blades rotate. It must be said that making an even layer with this filter was problematic - the flour just immediately began to fall down.
From all the results, we can conclude that the best protection against dust is provided by a tights filter, but at the same time, this material reduces the air flow the most, which will directly affect the temperature of the components inside the system unit.
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The second most reliable filter is made from artificial chiffon - this is such an average product, golden mean: better air permeability, but dust also penetrates with it.And the Lamptron filter showed the worst results, which is no wonder - metal mesh Suitable for stopping only larger dust particles such as fabric lint or pet hair.
Conclusion
And now it's time to take stock. This material reviewed universal method Dust filter mounts that can be used with most cases. In addition, based on the results of the testing, I tried to find out which material is best suited for use as dust protection.
In my opinion, many readers will be interested in the question of the cost of production homemade filters. Since different stationery can be found in everyone, the most expensive investment will be the purchase of magnetic vinyl. Square meter vinyl, 1.5 mm thick, costs about 500 rubles in Moscow. This sheet is enough to make several filter options for all the ventilation holes in the computer case, so the price can be called reasonable. The final price tag may also be affected by the need to purchase filter material, but here everything depends on everyone’s personal preferences. By the way, the Lamptron filter costs no more than 100 rubles in Moscow retail.
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There are several obvious advantages to homemade filters:- Versatility of fastening for different models buildings;
- Security better protection from dust;
- Ease of manufacture.
A significant disadvantage is possible problems with the purchase of a small sheet of magnetic vinyl.
Ultimately, it is up to the reader to choose. There are only two options here: either, with some effort, make effective ones yourself homemade filters, or just buy ready-made ones.
Maxine Roman aka Zebralet
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I express special gratitude to:- serj for his invaluable contribution to the creation of the article.
I don’t know about you, but I’m already tired of cleaning my computer. The fact is that my PC is in the bedroom, and the dust from the sheets and pillows is simply unbearable. I'm tired of disassembling my computer every month and sucking out mountains of dust. I decided to upgrade my PC and insert into it - computer filter! It has proven its unsurpassed effectiveness. After 6 months of daily use, there was practically no dust in my system unit!
Remember: dust is the enemy of a computer; when deposited on the surface of parts, it impairs heat transfer, and overheating is never beneficial. Without good cooling, good overclocking and stable operation are impossible. And if your computer is malfunctioning, maybe you just forgot to clean it? :)
The filter will be located in the space for CD drives, occupying two of the three slots, so you will have to forget about both the second drive and various 5.25" plugs. Next, we measure the dimensions of the hole:
After that from PVC plastic we glue the box according to the obtained dimensions, the box has a shelf for installing fans:
The box must be tightly inserted into the hole without gaps, because dust will then penetrate into all the gaps!
Inside view:
Two 80 mm fans are installed on the shelf, I connected them in parallel and soldered them common plug nutrition. Subsequently the adapter will be soldered:
They are secured in a very simple way, just wrap them around self-adhesive film the resulting structure:
And we heat the film with a hairdryer, for tight adhesion, at the same time eliminating all the cracks (a regular hair dryer will do, but only in the maximum heating mode):
The resulting system is tightly inserted into place.
Separately, I would like to note that it is extremely important to hermetically seal ALL existing holes and cracks in the housing so that air gets inside ONLY through the filter, otherwise the efforts spent on its manufacture will be in vain:
Then we cut out the elements from the same plastic internal structure filter:
And glue it together with dichloroethane in this way. (it will be convenient to use the little red handles to remove the frames if necessary)
Then we take a regular padding polyester, it allows air to pass through well and at the same time retains dust:
We glue the padding polyester onto the frames. (Practice has shown that three layers of padding polyester are the most optimal thickness for filter, more weakens the air flow too much, less allows dust to pass through).
After the glue has dried, the excess must be trimmed off, but leave a margin for a tight fit.
Since simple synthetic padding doesn’t look very nice, to give the filter a more aesthetic appearance, I decided to make a protective mesh (black in the photo):
WITH reverse side the mesh is simply fused into the plastic with a soldering iron:
In full assembled system there will be nine fans in total. This is a lot and they will make a lot of noise, so I decided to make rotation regulators for several of the loudest ones in order to regulate the air flow and noise at will.
About dust filters
Over time, any computer becomes filled with dust inside - this is a well-known fact. After all, whether we like it or not, there is always dust in the house. And in one way or another, dust penetrates into the inside of the system unit. This does not depend on anything: whether the computer case was on the table, no matter how often it was wiped from dust, no matter how clean the house was. It's just a matter of time.
To prevent dust from penetrating into the case (or at least reduce the rate of dust accumulation - by an order of magnitude), there is one simple method that I want to tell you about. This is the use dust filters .
I know of only two types of dust filters in our city - and both are sold in the CSN store. Using this, I want to reproach the managers of our computer stores - You're carrying all sorts of crap, but you're missing out on the really necessary things.! Moreover, this thing is by definition simple and, in essence, inexpensive by all estimates.
IMHO, a dust filter should not cost more than 100 rubles. Some stores (we won’t point fingers) used to carry filters, but at a very high price - over 200 rubles, which, in my personal opinion, is out of the question. Okay, I’ll tell you more about all this inside.
This is what plastic and aluminum dust filters look like:
I will say/warn you in advance (so as not to argue in vain later) that all this material I wrote is from my personal experience, as well as a systematic study of prices for computer components for at least three years. Previously (since 2006), I periodically walked around all the computer stores in the city. By 2014, some stores closed, others changed their profile, and others broke into the computer sales market in our city.
I can’t help but note that the Internet has developed by leaps and bounds- this is me “as if” carefully leading you to the origin and development of computer store sites. Well, over the years I have aged a little and become lazy and fat, somewhat busy, and therefore I rarely go, only to the main stores, so I compensate for the lack of information on the prices of components by constantly monitoring price lists - fortunately good stores update their prices on their websites daily.
Little advice.
Dust tends to accumulate at the bottom, or more specifically, on the floor. This is why I would not recommend placing the computer system unit on the floor (or any stands close to the floor). It is better to place the system unit on the table - this way it will collect at least twice as much dust. Previously, I placed the case on the floor, but now I only put it on a table, so I had something to compare with.
Okay, enough idle chatter - let's get down to business.
In this particular case, I bought filters of the same size - 120 mm, which are designed for installation on 120 mm fans. Dust filters also exist in nature for fans of other sizes - 140 mm, 92 mm, 80 mm, but it is unlikely to be found on sale in our city computer stores. Typically, stores carry only the most popular types - 120 mm and 92 mm.
In principle, it’s not difficult for creative and savvy people to “bundle” such filters themselves - fortunately, the Internet is full of instructions, but I’ll write about this sometime later, if possible.
Here they are below dust filters, purchased from DNS:
They cost at the time of purchase (July 17, 2013) 85 rubles for the aluminum version and 55 rubles for a plastic one. And on January 18, 2014, prices for some reason increased - 129 rubles for “lumin” and 65 rubles for “plastic”:
So, we have two types of filters - “thin” (~1 mm) aluminum and “thick” (~10 mm):
How to install a plastic filter, I think, is intuitive even for a child. You can see everything from the photos:
Installing the plastic one is a little more difficult, since this filter is disassembled into parts:
First, we fasten with self-tapping screws the plastic that has 4 holes on the fan:
Then we simply fix/close it with a filter and a “lid”:
And then we close the case:
Important:
As you probably understand, a plastic filter can be attached to a fan only if this fan will not “hang” on the wall of the case.
And the aluminum filter can be “attached” anywhere and in any way, since its thickness allows this to be done. So before purchasing, you should think carefully about where and how you will install dust filters in the case.
I also want to dispel a couple of myths related to dust filters:
Myth one- installing dust filters on the fan increases noise.
This is nothing more than speculation.
You can check this yourself by installing a filter and measuring the noise level with your ear. Or by reading reviews of people who installed filters. Moreover - I will say that the filter reduces fan noise - there is numerous evidence of this.
Myth two- installing dust filters will reduce the air flow of the fan.
It does not reduce - there is proof of this. I’ll provide the link later - I can’t find the author on people.overclockers.ru yet
Think for yourself - if it were reduced, a vacuum would form in front of the fan. But this doesn't happen - atmospheric pressure penetrates freely through the filter holes.
I will say an even bolder statement - even if instead of a filter you attach ordinary paper (from a notebook, for example) - then even in this case the air flow will not decrease.
Tests were carried out - as described above. As soon as I find it, I’ll write right away.
If you have any questions, comments, errors in the text, or additions, please comment below.
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