Vacuuming Tool?

Automotive hose is usually quite unwieldy. When I clean the soot out of our pellet stove vent I use normal clear plastic hose, also from Ace. Of course, I make sure that the stove has not run for several days.

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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

I use an air compressor. For getting into power supplies, I stick a soda straw (like the straws used on WD40) on the end of the nozzle. You need to prevent the fans from turning by jamming another straw in the blades.

My bosses XP based laptop used to crash a lot due insufficient memory. Microsoft Office programs have massive memory leaks since they don't use the M$ approved method of shutting down programs. Perhaps they have fixed that in newer releases. Acrobat has major problems when a machine runs out of real memory. Another memory hog are anti virus programs. They can grab 100MB of RAM if you add up all the little programs they run.

--
Mark

"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Well MS has a new OS out, so sure things tend to go south when MS has something ready. One indicator seems to be the auto hide function on the task bar. When it no longer works, MS has a new OS ready ;)

Cheers

out.

I only notice that if it's an especially dirty desktop computer. I then take it to the back door and use the air compressor to clean it out.

The dirt from a small laptop fan, no problem, the suspension ceiling drops more that amount of dirt in a day.

out.

Surgical tubing shouldn't either but I still believe blowing it out is better than sucking it off the fan.

Jim Thompson wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

you might find that brass cheaper at the local arts and crafts store.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

The only true crashes I've seen under Win2K pro are when the graphics card runs of memory, and then it is not very graceful at all.

.. back in the cold. 8-(

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it\'s the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

One more reason to *not* use XP; Win2K would have been "graceful" and implimented virtual RAM, which would slow some operations down by a large amount.

A damp Q-tip and a toothpick or other small impliment to prevent the blades fromturning' advance hold position as need; exchange tips/ends as need. Works like a charm.

I think that the strategy to prevent "memory leaks" is to allocate the memory in consecutive blocks as needed, and de-allocate in reverse order. Make sure all of it is "above" program area. So useage of those blocks must be pre-planned to allow that method. Have done that up to (almost) 2Gbytes of total RAM used for 6-12 blocks of RAM.

In message , Jim Thompson writes

I bet, but how much is your time worth per hour?

Nope, replace it, the fan's probably worn out or close to. Not worth the bother cleaning them unless your house is excessively dusty, it clogs up

*quickly* and your time is not worth much, although it's kind of satisfying cleaning and reusing.

If I really feel the need to reuse HSAs then I usually separate the fan, wash the heatsink and dry it, replace the thermal compound and use a paint brush on the fan. If the fan loses its 'bounce' then it gets replaced. Difficult to explain but people will know what I mean if they've seen it, if the bearing is in good condition on a fan, the blades sort of bounce when they come to rest as the stator and magnet align themselves.

Almost definitely not worth my time to do this unless the assembly is very special so it's really not worth your time Jim unless you're looking for some mind numbing grunt work to relax with.

>

--
Clint Sharp

In a Flight Test center I worked in we had a custom-made tool that fitted onto a ordinary vac cleaner, It was a piece of rolled sheet aluminum about 7-8 inches long, the diameter at end fitted onto the normal nozzle,(secured with duct tape) and the other end tapered to about 3/8" It worked great for cleaning muck out of control panels, despite being not that well made, and having had many hours of use, and abuse.

Barry

Rolled sheet metal might work for me as well. My hand-vac has an odd-ball flat-plus-oval shape that accessories plus into :-(

...Jim Thompson

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Yes, thanks very much for the recommendation, Jim. Also we got a chance to look at the Desert Botanical Garden. The tour guide was an engineer too (retired), so he picked on the four of us. Learned a lot about unique desert adaptations of plant species- aside from that, I'm embarassed to admit to having mispronounced "Saguaro" for *years*. 8-(

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it\'s the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

I spent a few years maintaining computers, and dust was a constant issue (of workplace comfort, as well as machine function). We never liked necking down the vacuum, rather we did most cleaning with the full orifice of the 1.5" hose.

Two additional tools satisfied all our needs: a round paintbrush, with

1" natural bristles (to loosen dust), and a 60 psi air compressor with a couple of blowguns (notably, one with a bent 1/8" tube nozzle).

Start with vacuum. Continue with brush, holding vacuum nozzle to get any loosened bits. Finish with compressor and vacuum, being careful of microswitches, sensors, and loose parts.

Remember the vacuum can get a HIGH electrostatic charge, touch a grounded place when you put it away.

For smokers, a little sudsy water with a pinch of lye will even get the translucent plastics of an iMac clean of that yellow film. Just don't let that cleaning solution touch skin, or any of the electric parts.

What? "Suh wah roe"

There's still a little "G" sound in there, but you have to be from Guadalajara to pronounce it correctly... it's almost Yiddish... spit, spit, gargle ;-)

...Jim Thompson

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Geez - ask your wife if she has an upholstery brush or drapery brush, and ask the grandkids if they have any water color brushes you could borrow.

Vac it and loosen the crud simultaneously.

I don't know why I keep giving you such great answers - you're always so mean to me! )-;

Thanks, Rich

Hmm, this win 2k laptop I'm using right now still only has 128MB of ram - I have another 256MB stick kicking around somewhere, but it has not been much of a problem so I still have not bothered looking for it! I often have 15 to

30 applications running at once also.