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Tin/Metal Whisker Alert!

techknight

Well-known member
3 of my compact macs, 1 worse than the other 2 are developing metal tin whiskers on the physical steel chassis. 

I had to wipe them all off as its a metallic "fuzz" Over time if they grow enough itll cause shorts!

Figure I would send out an alert. 

 

unity

Well-known member
Any pics? I have no clue what you are talking about. Right now I have more compacts that I can count, and none show this.

 

rsolberg

Well-known member
Are the whiskers wiping off easily, or are they stuck on good? What sort of duty cycle and humidity do these machines see? I'm curious if those are factors. My compacts are typically powered on fewer than ten hours a month. They're used and stored in 50-65% relative humidity. No whiskers as of last inspection, but I've seen them on other electronics of unknown provenance.

 

techknight

Well-known member
They are wiping off fine with a rag, turning it gray. 

One of the worse was an SE/30 I picked up from ebay a year back but I paid no mind because I figured it was environmental. I pulled out an SE the other day and saw the same thing so I had to wipe it all down. 

it looks like a grey metal "fuzz" on the chassis. if you have good light you can see the crystalline structure of the fuzz. Thats the whiskers. 

 
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trag

Well-known member
It's the first sign of the nanomachine apocalypse in which everything is converted to gray-green goo...

 

techknight

Well-known member
ummm. what are you talking about? im confused. 

I'm talking about metal whiskers not some apocalypse. well, maybe for the machine itself lol. 

 
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