My Nintendo Switch (whose Joy-Cons I repaired earlier) had developed quite a rattle, so I reckoned the fan bearing was failing and it would be time to replace the fan.
So I ordered a replacement fan from iFixit. When it arrived, I started following this iFixit guide.
Just like with the Joy-Cons earlier, I struggled mightily with the tri-wing screws that held the outer shell together. I don't understand how screws that have never been removed, ever, can strip out on their own. Two of the four tri-wing screws were toast. So, it was hammer time once again, and again, to my amusement, the hammer trick worked wonders.
I had some more struggle with the middle screws on the sides, under the Joy-Cons, but after some more hammering, they came out as well. After that, the disassembly was a breeze. The only thing to note is that the cross-headed screws in the Switch are not Phillips, they're JIS, so using the correct screwdrivers is advisable. I'm not going to go through all the steps since the guide I linked above would be a better guide anyways.
When you work on a project where there are a lot of screws of varying sorts, it's important to keep track of the screws. I use iFixit's magnetic project mat. It also allows for notation with a marker:
After installing the replacement fan, the reassembly was just the disassembly in reverse. I replaced the normal thermal paste between the CPU and the heatsink with Noctua's NT-H1, but I didn't have the special viscous thermal compound that goes between the top of the heatsink and the shield plate. I left the original stuff in place there and added a bit of NT-H1 on top and hoped for the best.
After reassembly, everything worked just fine, and the rattle was gone.
This post was retroactively compiled on 2024-01-19 from a long since privated YouTube video. All the images are still frames from the video. The Switch is still going strong, although I play it much less than back in the day.