The last fin on the rear of my Area 51 did that. I took the doors off. Took off the plastic side panels on each side. I set the fin to fully open in the command center. I then took my hand and moved the fin from fully close to fully open and noticed it had a little but of a stick to it about half of the way open. The arm on the right side was rubbing the metal grid some.
So to fix it I bent the metal arm of the fin on the right side just a tad with my finger. I mean just a very very slight bend. Then I put WD-40 on a cotton swab and put it on both of the tabs that it rotates on. If you look really close you will also see a tab that is in a notch on each side that holds it in track. It is behind the arm of the vent. I also used the swab on that. Then I checked it again and it was moving freely. Just be very careful not to break it if you do bend it a little and dont bend it enough where you can tell you bent it. Also make sure you dont get WD-40 all over the place.
Thats what I did. If you break it dont blame me. Another trick would be using a stronger spring or making the one on it tighter by bending it a little. Try the WD-40 first on the areas I mentioned and see what that does. That may be all you need. Don't just spray it on the thing. Use a swab.
Good tips. But why not call support and have them send a replacement set of vents? From what I've read in the manual, you can detach those from the case and replace them.
Well the moter doesn't raise the fins. The fins have a spring that is always putting pressure on the fin to push it up. The motor moves a pin out of the way so to speak that lets the spring pop the fin up. The moter does move the fins down.
It wont hurt the motor at all. I am sure its made that way so if you place something on it like a cat and turn it on it won't burn the motor. Just don't block the vents when they close.
It doesn't bother me that much either, I just don't want the motor to break because of continuously pushing to lift those 2 fins up, although I doubt it would. For me it's the fins 2 & 3 counting from the back, it just kinda sucks to have a new machine that's not perfect. Thanks alot for the fix morblore, but I don't think I'll try it, if the problem gets worse and it starts happening to more fins i'll ask for a technition to come fix it.
morblore
2 Intern
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2.4K Posts
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February 4th, 2010 20:00
The last fin on the rear of my Area 51 did that. I took the doors off. Took off the plastic side panels on each side. I set the fin to fully open in the command center. I then took my hand and moved the fin from fully close to fully open and noticed it had a little but of a stick to it about half of the way open. The arm on the right side was rubbing the metal grid some.
So to fix it I bent the metal arm of the fin on the right side just a tad with my finger. I mean just a very very slight bend. Then I put WD-40 on a cotton swab and put it on both of the tabs that it rotates on. If you look really close you will also see a tab that is in a notch on each side that holds it in track. It is behind the arm of the vent. I also used the swab on that. Then I checked it again and it was moving freely. Just be very careful not to break it if you do bend it a little and dont bend it enough where you can tell you bent it. Also make sure you dont get WD-40 all over the place.
Thats what I did. If you break it dont blame me. Another trick would be using a stronger spring or making the one on it tighter by bending it a little. Try the WD-40 first on the areas I mentioned and see what that does. That may be all you need. Don't just spray it on the thing. Use a swab.
evilping
217 Posts
0
February 4th, 2010 21:00
Good tips. But why not call support and have them send a replacement set of vents? From what I've read in the manual, you can detach those from the case and replace them.
Evil.
morblore
2 Intern
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2.4K Posts
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February 4th, 2010 23:00
It was an easy fix. I didn't see a need to to call and spend 1hour+ on the phone when it took 20min to just fix it myself.
morblore
2 Intern
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2.4K Posts
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February 5th, 2010 00:00
Well the moter doesn't raise the fins. The fins have a spring that is always putting pressure on the fin to push it up. The motor moves a pin out of the way so to speak that lets the spring pop the fin up. The moter does move the fins down.
It wont hurt the motor at all. I am sure its made that way so if you place something on it like a cat and turn it on it won't burn the motor. Just don't block the vents when they close.
Praxxis
4 Posts
0
February 5th, 2010 00:00
I have this exact same problem with the #2 & 3 Fin (Counting from the front). It has not bothered me enough to do anything about it yet.
micric100
8 Posts
0
February 5th, 2010 00:00
It doesn't bother me that much either, I just don't want the motor to break because of continuously pushing to lift those 2 fins up, although I doubt it would. For me it's the fins 2 & 3 counting from the back, it just kinda sucks to have a new machine that's not perfect. Thanks alot for the fix morblore, but I don't think I'll try it, if the problem gets worse and it starts happening to more fins i'll ask for a technition to come fix it.
micric100
8 Posts
0
February 5th, 2010 11:00
Oh! so it really is just the spring then that needs some wd-40 like you said. It nice to know the motor won't get hurt. Thanks for the info morblore