Change fan spin direction, or swap fan motor

[TPFanatic]

My Z60m is from the era of noisy fans so I decided to put the compact, quiet, and believably superior T500 blades in my Z60m. But Lenovo decided that Z60m's motor should spin counterclockwise, and T500 motor should spin clockwise, so my T500 blades on my Z60m fan spin the wrong direction. When spinning the wrong direction, the gigantic exhaust vents become gigantic intake vents.

The solution is:
1. Change the spinning direction. (but Switching wires is a no no? so)
2. Put the T500 motor in the Z60m heatsink.

Here are pictures:
T500 fan motor
http://i.imgur.com/7Dm2W9e.jpg

Z60m heatsink w/ Z60m fan motor w/ T500 blades that spin in the wrong direction
http://i.imgur.com/bJRh2ZE.jpg

The Z60m's plastic housing is the only thing that fits in the Z60m heatsink. The Z60m's fan motor is held into the plastic housing with unbendable clips. So I can't put the T500's aluminum housing in the Z60m heatsink. We see in Pic 1 how the fan motor is held in with some unbendable clips, so how do I get the thing out? Or I just don't and I'm stuck with the noisy blades? I can live with that since I haven't broken anything yet. I just had this horrible thought, maybe I can cut the T500's aluminum housing just around the motor and glue that into the Z's plastic....

Then there is the first idea, to switch the wires. This is said to not work because the manufacturers design fans to never spin in the stock wrong direction, but did Thinkpad do this? If I were to try this, which wires do I switch? Z60m has yellow (frontside) black (middle) and red (backside) wires.

Nothing's been broken so I can put everything back as it's supposed to be and call it a learning experience. This is just more proof that Lenovo builds backwards Thinkpads, and I don't know if it's the Z or the T that's backwards...

[RealBlackStuff]

That's not gonna work for either 1) or 2).
Your best bet is either trying to lubricate the old fan, or get another Z60 fan (motor) like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/201454159588.

[TPFanatic]

I'll do that, thanks.

[axur-delmeria]

Post a picture of the other side of the Z60m's heatsink. I want to see how the Z60m's fan motor is mounted.

I've managed to shoehorn the fan blades and motor from an R52 into an X60 heatsink, so I have a bit of experience.

[TPFanatic]

I've put the thing back together and I can't get another picture until I take it apart for more service. The Z motor had the same shape, circular and rectangular protrusions as the T500 motor, but instead of metal clips and things it was just flush in a flat plastic housing.

It looked like this one from a feebay image:
http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/x1EAAOSw~ ... -l1600.jpg Although it had some text on the metal, electrical info and things, same as the T500's.

[axur-delmeria]

The Z motor had the same shape, circular and rectangular protrusions as the T500 motor,

I noticed that too. It looks like the two are physically interchangeable, the problem is how to remove the Z61m's motor without destroying the plastic housing.

Maybe it's possible to remove the motor with only a little damage to the housing-- the important thing is that the T500 motor can be dropped in and aligned. Once it's aligned you can use superglue to hold them in place... or maybe something along the lines of what I did...

My transplant job was tougher, since the motor bases of the R52 and the X61 were of different shapes-- the R52 had protrusions, while the X61 was completely round. Fortunately the R52 motor base was plastic, so I was able to cut it down, but it ended up shaped more like a rounded triangle than a circle. I managed a snug fit, but I knew simply gluing the two won't work. I ended up super-gluing a coin (a flat washer works just as well) directly under the round hole of the X61's fan housing. Then I glued the fan motor to that (after aligning the fan of course). Gluing the motor to the coin is good because the entire base of the motor is glued (resulting in a much stronger bond), as opposed to just the edges. Also, the coin adds a lot of rigidity, preventing vibrations from knocking the motor out of alignment.

Here's a pic of the modded fan, upside down, showing the coin. And here's another pic, showing the fan blades.
Sorry about the poor picture quality.

[thinkpadcollection]

All fan IC in the fan itself is all in one IC with hall-effect sensor built in and magnetized rotors ring are same. What determines the actual direction of spin is design of shape stamped into sheet metal armature stack where magnet ring fits around armture. No else.

Cheers, thinkpadcollection

[MikalE]

Can't you just turn the fan over?

[axur-delmeria]

Can't you just turn the fan over?

It's not an axial flow fan so turning it over (even if it were even possible) won't change the direction of airflow.