Introduction
You are now going to:
- Open Your Time Capsule
- Remove the fan
- Install a new fan. Or re-install the old fan if you are like me, and do this for fun..
Tools
Parts
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Open the Time Capsule by exposing the screws that hold the device together. The screws are concealed by the rubber base, which is the bottom surface of the device.
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Use a heat gun or hair dryer to heat the rubber base, which softens the adhesive holding it on.
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Starting in a corner, carefully lift the rubber base to prevent tearing. You can use a guitar pick or a small, plastic ruler to help separate the rubber from the metal.
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Once the rubber base is separated from the device, remove the 8 Phillips PH00 screws that attach the metal bottom of the case to the plastic top of the case.
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Lift up the left side of the metal plate and slowly flip it over the right edge of the device.
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Since many people have had serious problems with the fan power connnector breaking, it is advisable to NOT try to disconnect the fan power connector. Be VERY careful with this connector. It is extremely fragile. If you absolutely have to disconnect the fan from the logic board, VERY carefully use a spudger or tweezers to do so.
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These three plastic plugs hold the fan in place.
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Use a plastic spudger or similar and press the plugs through the case to release the fan.
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To re-seat your fan use a spudger or similar to force the plastic plugs back in the way they came out. This can be fiddly, but after a few tries you master it.
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To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
4 comments
would it be possible to remove the fan, or at least replace it with something quieter?
quieter maybe and adaptation now aa days can be possible, in the ballbearing ceramic espect is one , probably there are other ways to deal whit it…..because I think I know WHEN exectly you get irritated by that sound…..man, if I told you that Apple did all and much more bad decision according to the needs and capabilitys of the all equipment, there is why I &&^&^$^ angry about it, becuase when you get opened you will see the devil is in the details again…..lifatime determinied by this normal but fully controllable prooblem to resolev in name of there customers
Maurus -
there are significant emprovemtnes possible to the air flow doesn't acpmplish it mission that is RIP my product , I have done all changes I found since reoreantaded de cooler inlet outlet work as exemple , I'll try to bring this to here because these apple Timecapsluse were desing to fail due to overheat along the time, there are meny cases, incluisice at that time there was a page were you put the date that your time capsule were dead…
Maurus -
I did change my fan according to this solution as it became louder every day.
Getting the fan was a bit of a search - I finally found and ordered it directly from an online shop in China.
When changing the fan the rubbers holding it are quite something to handle - you need a lot of tamper to make that happen.
Being very careful regarding the connector and it’s socket at least to me there was no difference to other connectors compared to eg. a 2013 iMac where I just changed the HDD and the RAM.
So if you are careful and don’t use at lot of force the connector shouldn’t be a problem.
I didn’t have to use a heat gun, the heat the old hard drive of my TC (which I also changed) was quite enough to peel the bottom layer of.
Thanks for this guide!
Florian -
Slowly start peeling at one corner... worked better than shown on the pictures.
Markus -
Slow down particularly near the bottom label where it is stiffer. Either that or I needed to give it more heat. Going too fast can risk tearing the rubber base if the adhesive is strong.
ElvinC -
If you are wondering if the Time Capsule will still work as a router if you remove the HDD and leave it out, the answer (according to another webpage I read) is YES, it will still work. Apparently, you get a warning with the AIrPort Utility about a missing HDD, but it still works. I wanted to keep and reuse the 1TB Hitachi HDD for offsite data backup.
CraigH -
Use an iron instead of a heating gun or hairdryer!
Gradually raise the temperature while checking for separation, while moving over the rubber. I first cleaned the rubber with some soap, to avoid scorching dust or grease. The setting for synthetic fabrics seemed to do the job with my Tefal iron; probably a little over 100 degrees centigrade. No steam off course!
Worked like a charm without leaving almost any residual glue.
Sticking the rubber sole back after the repair was also successful.
Frits de Bruijn -
Thanks for sharing this.
kenatkenichikato -
Adhesive tape used is Nitto No. 5015. I found a piece of a back-paper left underneath the rubber…
vesa -
Is there a possibility to change an already changed 2TB SATA to a bigger one? Mine is full. because I added another MacBook Pro, but I’d rather not buy a newer TimeCapsule
Bette Rose -
I have a heater plate from my beer fermenting days. Sat the router on this rubber side down for an hour or so and the rubber came off easily and cleanly. A pet bed heater may work just as nicely.
publiclee -