Ive never opened a PC, Antec 902 Dust Filter Help

dandruff123

dandruff123

dandruff123

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Hey All.
Using a : Antec 902 Case

I have a gaming pc here. And i can feel the front dust filters are "clogged" with dust... How do i open the case to get the dust filters out? So far someone tried to explain to me and i still didn't understand. Even a YT video didn't make sense.

Help?

What i tried:
I opened the left side of the case, was too baffled.
Same with the right side.
 
to get the filters out you have to unscrew the silver screws on the side of the drive bays. then you slide out the drive cages.

fill the sink up with a bit of hot water and just rinse them around a bit, cleans them up nice.

In my 902, I leave the drive bay screws out, so I can just push the end of a plastic hook into the mesh and pull them out, filters can be cleaned in 2 mins max doing this.
 
Open the case so you are looking down onto the components, usualy the left hand side as your looking at the case front on.

As you look into the case on the right hand side near the front should be some small clips holding the front pannel in place. Push them inward (all 3 untill the front partly clicks off) then gently remove the front pannel. You will see the dust filters attached to the front of the case. :)
 
solado said:
Open the case so you are looking down onto the components, usualy the left hand side as your looking at the case front on.

As you look into the case on the right hand side near the front should be some small clips holding the front pannel in place. Push them inward (all 3 untill the front partly clicks off) then gently remove the front pannel. You will see the dust filters attached to the front of the case. :)
Click to expand...

I can't picture at all what your saying :(
 
Take off both sides of the case, at the front of the case are the drive bays, therell be lots of silver thumbscrews in them atm, take them ALL out, from both sides, then each drive cage (a cage is merely the grouping of 3 bays) should pull forward, they only need to go forward an inch, not all the way out, then from the front of the case you should see the filter, theres a tab at the top of the cage, pull it out, as said wash it in warm water (if bad you may want to hoover it first) dry then replace, push the cage back in so its flush and refasten with screws
Once youve done them all you may only want to fit half the screws back in so you dont have to remove so many next time, iirc theres 4 on each side of each cage, after doing it first time I just put half back in and binned the rest
 
When watching that video -

You see when he pulls the cages out? Those are screwed into position on both sides of the case. There are 4 on each side for each cage (8 in total per cage) and they are quite FAT screwheads.

So:

Take both sides of the case off and look at the machine from the front (like when he easily pulls them out) and imagine the screws on either side. Find them, undo them pulls cages out, clean, put cages back, put screws back.

DONE.

EDIT: Bah 95Thrifles beat me to it
 
dandruff123 said:
Yep i watched that already.

It seems his one was "Ready" to take out. If you know what i mean.

@Michael

I have no idea what your talking about :( drive bay? what's a drive bay? drive cages? :(
Click to expand...

if you dont know what a drive bay or drive cage is you have no buisness being inside a pc.....step away from the machine

i know that everybodys got to learn...but come on!
 
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cammy5477 said:
if you dont know what a drive bay or drive cage is you have no buisness being inside a pc.....step away from the machine

i know that everybodys got to learn...but come on!
Click to expand...

to be fair if that's your user level, you really shouldn't be messing around without someone standing next to you showing you what to do.

Alternatively, if your absolutely desperate to clean the dust filters, and don't know how to get them out, then just get a compressed air duster and give them a blast.

I prefer to rinse them out though myself.
 
sometimes when cleaning the carpet I might just use the vacuum cleaner to remove most of the dust. If you have a strong vacuum cleaner just hover it in front of the filters, will get most of the dust removed, though washing them is best.
 
M1k3H said:
sometimes when cleaning the carpet I might just use the vacuum cleaner to remove most of the dust. If you have a strong vacuum cleaner just hover it in front of the filters, will get most of the dust removed, though washing them is best.
Click to expand...

This is what I do.
I wash them about once a month - but everytime I vacuum I give the front of the case a once-over, does wonders! (and it sucks the dust out rather than blows it in...)
 
what a knightmare

I finally did it partly from following these instructions.

Here is how I did it

Remove the 16 thumbscrews 8 from each side as previously explained.

It was after this that the problems started. the 2 cages would not slide out, I even broke one of the little plasic things on the front from tugging too hard.

the solution was there were another 4 philips type screws that needed removing. 2 on each side.

After that the cages were still vertually glued in their and I had to push from the inside while risking damaging the fan.

After lots of tugging they eventually came out far enough to remove the filters.

Than the worse part came which was putting everything back together.

When I removed the right side panel a huge mass of spaghetti came tumbling out. It was a huge lots of wires that had been carefully crammed into the small area inside. It took 20 minutes to get it back in so I could get the panel fastened back in place.

Much to my surprise and a hell of a lot of luck, everthing was still working when a turned the PC on.

I cannot wait till next time
 
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Good golly, who built it? They must've secured the cages more than necessary. Probably afraid of 'rattling' noise but it's not a problem worth worrying about as they're well designed cases, it's why they're popular afterall.

If you fancy playing around you can find each end of some of those cables and re-thread them behind the back panel - there's plenty of holes to put them through. That way it's all hidden behind the side with no window. (just put the ends back where you found them and it'll all work fine :) )
 
Thanks Howitzer

The cables are in the small space behind the back panel.

It was more of a struggle because I was lazy and should have had the case on its side. Instead I was trying to to do it with the case upright, holding the cables in place with one hand while trying to fit the panel back in place with the other.

I bought some of these magnetic filters which stick to the front of the case.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CM-000-OE&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=795

but just wanted to ask. I have removed the old filters but is that correct or should I have left them in.

Also the magnetic filters dont quite cover all the grill. their is a 5mm gap to both sides but the height is fine. Will dust be getting in through the gaps.
 
You will get some dust through, yes. But nothing to worry about.

You'll stop most of it (probably 80% or so lol) but you may find that you need to whip open the window panel now and again and wizz some compressed air over the components, or whoosh a vaccum cleaner around.

Only every few months or so just to stop any overheating/dust clogging (though I find dust doesn't really matter until it's caked on lol)
 
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