Impossible to remove blades from room fan.

[Daffy D]

I realize it sounds silly but when trying to clean one of my stand alone room fans I could not get the plastic retaining lug off in order to remove the fan blades.

 

Normally, as anyone will know, removing the fan blades is easy-peasy but I just can't get this damn thing to budge.

 

I have tried putting lug thing face down in hot water in an attempt to soften up the plastic and loosen it from the steel shaft. Have sprayed the shaft behind the blades with penetrating oil and left if face down for a couple of days hoping the oil will seep down to the thread holding the lug. Have left the whole fan out in the hot sun for some hours hoping the expansion of different materials would somehow break the seal between the steel shaft and plastic lug. So far nothing has worked.

 

I have a spare plastic lug thing from an old Hatari fan so I could always butcher off this lug and try that, slight problem is this fan is a "Protech", which I've never heard off and though they look the same if the threads may be different.

 

All bright practical ideas most welcome. 

 

 

[tifino]

 

have you checked that the thread on the lug, is not a reverse-thread

[Lamkyong]

left hand thread ??

[cornishcarlos]

As above... Always left hand threads :)

[Kwasaki]

Nothing is impossible. 

[Daffy D]

The blade rotation is the same as a Hatari fan which are all left hand threads, and the lug is clearly marked Do-Undo.

 

System won't let me upload an image  to show the lug.

 

 

 

[Crossy]

4 minutes ago, Daffy D said:

System won't let me upload an image  to show the lug.

You need to get the image below about 125kB

 

[cornishcarlos]

Did you eat your Shredded Wheat this morning ? Might just need someone with a bit more power ! Ask the wife to have a go...

[topt]

22 minutes ago, Crossy said:

You need to get the image below about 125kB

 

Sorry to hijack a little but is this an on-going issue - would explain why I could not load a doc last week?

[Crossy]

6 minutes ago, cornishcarlos said:

Did you eat your Shredded Wheat this morning ? Might just need someone with a bit more power ! Ask the wife to have a go...

 

 

[Crossy]

1 minute ago, topt said:

Sorry to hijack a little but is this an on-going issue - would explain why I could not load a doc last week?

Yeah, it's a "feature" of the latest software "upgrade"

 

[Daffy D]

24 minutes ago, Crossy said:

You need to get the image below about 125kB

 

 

Is this a new restriction?  Never had a problem before says here Max File Size 100MB.

 

[InMyShadow]

Did you ask on you tube? Since discovering you tube for tutorials I have built a gaming pc, became my own plumber and fixed my fridge..

Try it

[Crossy]

Just now, Daffy D said:

Is this a new restriction?  Never had a problem before says here Max File Size 100MB.

 

It's a new bug feature if that's what you mean

[cornishcarlos]

Did you try it right handed ie normal way to loosen ? Maybe someone before has tightened it on right handed and re threaded the plastic !!

[Daffy D]

23 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

It's a new bug feature if that's what you mean

Ah! Yes feature is the word I was looking for.

[Daffy D]

41 minutes ago, cornishcarlos said:

Did you eat your Shredded Wheat this morning ? Might just need someone with a bit more power ! Ask the wife to have a go...

As you can see from mangled lug in the photo I've been using 8in Mole grips in an attempt to get some movement out of the thing, I doubt even the wife could do any better.

29 minutes ago, InMyShadow said:

Did you ask on you tube? Since discovering you tube for tutorials I have built a gaming pc, became my own plumber and fixed my fridge..

Try it

Yes have learned a lot rom those YouTube tutorials. Trouble is once I start to look for one thing lots of other interesting stuff catches my attention and I usually forget what I came for.  

16 minutes ago, cornishcarlos said:

Did you try it right handed ie normal way to loosen ? Maybe someone before has tightened it on right handed and re threaded the plastic !!

Yea! Tried that, but as the fan rotation is clockwise so the lug has to be left handed or it would spin it's self off.

[grollies]

Buy a new fan.

[watcharacters]

Use a little WD40 give it a few gentle taps and treat it as a left handed nut.

[grollies]

1 hour ago, Daffy D said:

Yea! Tried that, but as the fan rotation is clockwise so the lug has to be left handed or it would spin it's self off.

You wish.

[grollies]

After mangling the nut, dunking in water (probably knackered it doing that anyway), spraying with oil, leaving out in the hot sun.......go on, treat yourself to a new fan and clean it more often so the thread doesn't seize.

[tropo]

20 minutes ago, grollies said:

After mangling the nut, dunking in water (probably knackered it doing that anyway), spraying with oil, leaving out in the hot sun.......go on, treat yourself to a new fan and clean it more often so the thread doesn't seize.

Nah, that's a defeatist attitude. I understand where the OP is coming from. It has become a challenge and I'm sure he'll want to succeed even if he does buy a new one.

 

I would recommend the OP take it to an old hardware shop where they carry stock from at least the past 4 decades and find a new lug... then just cut it off.

[grollies]

1 hour ago, tropo said:

Nah, that's a defeatist attitude. I understand where the OP is coming from. It has become a challenge and I'm sure he'll want to succeed even if he does buy a new one.

 

I would recommend the OP take it to an old hardware shop where they carry stock from at least the past 4 decades and find a new lug... then just cut it off.

How hard can this job be? I'll bet it's driving him nuts.....

 

and left-handed nuts at that.

[binjalin]

A fan, dear fellow, is cheap as chips!  why try and repair?  give to da poor and purchase anew dear chap.

 

Much ado about nothing

[InMyShadow]

A fan, dear fellow, is cheap as chips!  why try and repair?  give to da poor and purchase anew dear chap.
 
Much ado about nothing

It's about the challenge. Man versus reverse screwed fan.

Walk away from this challenge and your life will have no real meaning.

[tropo]

2 hours ago, binjalin said:

A fan, dear fellow, is cheap as chips!  why try and repair?  give to da poor and purchase anew dear chap.

 

Much ado about nothing

Why would you throw out a working fan just because of a stripped nut. I'd get a new nut. I just bought a nice basic fan and it cost 1500. That's a lot more expensive than buying a plastic nut. I have 6 pedestal fans in my house. I've brought 2 of them in for repairs already. You can get them repaired really cheap through PowerBuy, even if they are out of warranty. I'm not going to throw them out without good reason. I have fans that look and work like brand new and they're over 10 years old. The first 2 fans I bought when I arrived here in 2005 are still like new.

[cyberfarang]

9 hours ago, Daffy D said:

 

Is this a new restriction?  Never had a problem before says here Max File Size 100MB.

 

Appears to me in your attempt to undo this thingy ma jig, that somehow you have cross threaded it and it`s become jammed onto the threaded bolt. If this is the case you`ll never get this thing off. Either you try to clean the blades while still attached or buy a new fan.

[steve187]

buy a new lug and cut off the old one.

[KMartinHandyman]

A local miscellaneous electric appliance shop in my little city has boxes of these in different shaft diameters. He way overcharges for them but I was happy to pay after cracking mine (due to it being brittle) while taking off the blade for the same routine cleaning.

 

 

[VocalNeal]

Heat might work. A hair dryer or a kettle of boiling water. Then quickly engage the crescent wrench again! 

You will note it is a left-hand thread!

Many shops have new nuts and blades

Edited October 23, 2017 by VocalNeal