Hi, My batch 3 original seems to be having a bit of issues with the fan making a sort of growling noise at low speeds occasionally. Will disassemble to make sure nothing is in there when I have time but checked to make sure I could buy a fan and see only the whole assembly is for sale.
I would like to suggest an option to purchase only the fan its self, not the whole assembly as the fan will of course fail before the copper and I imagine the cost of the fan is only a small part of the $40 assembly cost.
I have asked a bit about this modularity before and got this response that the heatsink+fan assembly are manufactured as a kit and there are no current plans to separate them.
Seems strangely out of line with “the mission” and the fan itself can already be removed.
This sounds like excessive end float on the shaft. This causes the fan to move up and down as the fan speed rises and falls as the fan speed is adjusted. Normally there are some teflon packing washers on both ends of the shaft that act as shims to reduce end float, as well as being very slippery to reduce rotation drag. If one of these washers is missing then there can be too much end float on the fan itself, and in worst case state the fan blades may collide with the fan body, but that usually causes a distinctive clatttering noise.