[SunRescue] Heat issues with older suns

[BSD Bob]

> I have a few older desktop/pizza box style suns(Sun2/50, Sun3/50, Sun3/60),
> which seem to for the most part have their fans on the bottom of the system. 
> What is a good way to store these systems when they run?  If they are setup in
> standard desktop fashion, will they overheat after a few days running like
> this?  Is it okay to stack them on top of each other, can they cool themselves
> properly this way?  Im just concerned about these systems due to the age of
> them.  Also, I noticed that most sun picture archives don't have many photos
> of the Sun2s.  If I can borrow my friend's digital camera, would anyone have
> interest in these pictures?

Well, from my experiences, de-dustbunnie them well, and if more air is needed,
prop them up on corks or strips of 2x2 stock (polished nicely and stained to
suit, right?....(:+}}...) to increase air flow.  I don't usually leave mine
on 24/7, so I can't comment on how reliable they may be.  When I do run them,
they don't seem to get all that hot.  The 511 boxes with the big esdi drives,
do get hot, though, so they need air flow, too, else yank the esdi drives and
put in modern scsi things.

I have run into some fans that are noisy, and need oiling.  Sometimes there
is a little metal label cover over the center bearing on the fan.  IFF you
can peel that up, or remove it, you can add a couple of drops of good
silicon oil or synthetic oil and then it will run quieter.  I do that on
a lot of my muffin fans, and it doubles their life, and keeps them quiet.

You might try to mount them vertically with the air flow upward to reduce
heat load, but make sure there is sufficient space to draw in cool air
at the bottom.

If you really want to heat your house in winter, use the 12 slot desksides,
full up with ram and other cards.  3 of them running in the basement keeps
it like toast even in winter.

That is all I can think of....

Bob