Cleaning Your Machine

A Renderboxes workstation will run better, quieter, and last longer if you keep it clean. Dust is the main enemy — it accumulates on fans, filters, and heatsinks, and over time it reduces cooling performance and makes the machine louder as fans ramp up to compensate.

This page covers light, routine cleaning you can do yourself safely.

Rule #1 — Never work on a powered machine

Always fully power down before cleaning

Never clean the inside of the machine, blow compressed air through vents, or even wipe it down while it’s running.

1. Shut down completely — not sleep, not hibernate. A full Windows shutdown.
2. Switch off every PSU at the rear rocker. Photon and Electron have one PSU; Atom, Atom Rack, Nano Pro have two; Molecule Air has three.
3. Unplug every mains cable from the workstation.
4. Wait 60 seconds for residual power to drain.

Only once all of the above is done is it safe to clean.

How often

• Monthly, if you run the machine hard (content creation, rendering, 3D, ML, CAD)
• Every 2–3 months, for office or light use
• Immediately, if you’ve just moved the workstation, carried out any renovation work in the room, or noticed a sudden increase in fan noise

If your workspace is dusty, carpeted, or near a window that’s often open, err on the side of more often.

Exterior — the powder-coat finish

Renderboxes workstations are finished in a durable powder-coat paint. It’s tough, resistant to most things you’d encounter in normal use, and can be wiped clean easily.

To clean the exterior:

1. With the machine powered off and unplugged, use a microfibre cloth — slightly damp with water is usually enough.
2. For stubborn marks, add a drop of mild washing-up liquid to the water. Rinse the cloth and wipe the chassis down again to remove any residue.
3. Dry immediately with a second, dry microfibre cloth.

What NOT to use on powder coat

• No abrasive cleaners — they’ll scratch the finish
• No solvents (acetone, nail varnish remover, white spirit, bleach) — they can strip the powder coat
• No scouring pads, wire wool, or rough sponges
• No pressure washers — absolutely not, and we shouldn’t have to say it
• Don’t soak the machine — a damp cloth is fine; a wet cloth is not

Interior — dust removal

Dust builds up on fans, filters, radiators, and heatsinks. Removing it keeps the cooling system working as designed.

What you need

• Canned compressed air (kept upright while you use it — if you tip the can upside down, it sprays liquid propellant, which will damage components)
• A soft dry brush (a clean paintbrush or an anti-static brush works)
• A microfibre cloth
• Lint-free wipes (optional, for stubborn dust on flat surfaces)

The procedure

1. Confirm the machine is powered off, unplugged, and discharged (see Rule #1 above).

2. Move the machine somewhere you don’t mind getting dusty. A garage, outdoor patio, or shed is ideal — you’ll be blowing out a small cloud of dust. Don’t do it in the same room where the machine normally lives if you can avoid it.

3. Open the side panel (refer to your model’s manual or the manufacturer’s manual for Electron and Atom Rack, which use HAVN and Macase chassis respectively).

4. Use canned air in short bursts, holding the can upright and about 10–15 cm from the target. Work through the machine in order:

   • Front dust filters (if fitted) — blow from the inside of the chassis outwards, so dust goes away from the machine rather than further into it.
   • Intake fans — short bursts. Hold each fan blade still with a pencil or the brush handle so the fan doesn’t spin up under the air pressure (fast-spinning fans can generate voltage and damage the motherboard).
   • Exhaust fans — same technique.
   • Radiator fins — AIO radiators at the top or front of the chassis accumulate dust. Blow across the fins, not into them.
   • GPU heatsink — blow through the heatsink fins.
   • CPU heatsink (if air-cooled) — blow through the fins.
   • Motherboard surface — light bursts, brush away anything stubborn with the soft brush.

5. Wipe any flat surfaces inside the chassis that still look dusty with a lint-free wipe.

6. Reinstall the side panel.

7. Reconnect power, power on.

Dust filters

If your chassis has removable dust filters (most Renderboxes models do), take them out, wash them in warm water with a drop of washing-up liquid, and let them dry completely before reinstalling. Damp filters in a workstation are worse than no filters at all — they restrict airflow without trapping dust.

What not to clean yourself

Leave these to the workshop:

• Thermal paste replacement — requires specific skills, the right paste, and often a new cooler mount. If temperatures have gone up over time, contact us — we can do this as part of a service.
• AIO liquid cooler internals — sealed unit, never open
• Power supply internals — never open the PSU. Dangerous voltages remain stored even after the workstation is unplugged.
• Motherboard components — if something on the motherboard needs replacing, it’s a workshop job under warranty

When to have the machine serviced

Cleaning yourself is routine maintenance. For a deeper service — thermal paste refresh, fan replacement, drive upgrade, component-level diagnostics — book a workshop service:

• support.renderboxes.com/support/new-ticket
• servicedesk@renderboxes.com
• +44 (0)1304 799748

We offer routine service as well as warranty repair. Cleaning is free; deeper work is priced on request.