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Custom case fan ducting

L

Logan321

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 9, 2003
Messages
1,900
Hey [H]ers. I've seen lots of posts asking about ducting, and lots of replys pointing 'em to where you can buy fan ducting. But I haven't seen a lot of inexpensive solutions... So I came up with my own. Off to the Home Depot to buy some corrugated plastic sheet (also known as signboard)
duct1.jpg


First I took some quick measurements on how far I wanted the duct to extend, and added about an inch on each piece so I could just cut off the excess once I got the bends right. Then I shoved 'em in the oven at 400F for about 4 mins, and wrapped the inside and outside curves around some jars I had in my kitchen.
duct2.jpg

duct3.jpg


Next I put the fan between the sheets and sketched the outline onto another piece, cut it out, and used the first one to cut the second one. An important detail at this step is that I traced the outside dimentions of the bent pieces, not the inside... I'll show you why further down.
duct4.jpg


Very carefully, I cut out the strip of plastic on the inside of the vent on both curved pieces closest to each edge. This is where the sides slot into.
duct5.jpg


Using the slots, I just pushed the flat sides into the curved top and bottom's slots, and the pressure from the sides holds it all together.
duct6.jpg


And finally I installed it in my case.
duct7.jpg


How much of a difference did it make? Well, not much. On average, about 2C. But it's still 2C. :) And only cost about $4 in materials.
 
Well, the white was annoying me, so I took out my trusty can of vinyl paint and put a couple coats of black on it. Much better now, imo.

duct8.jpg
 
Pretty good idea, I was just looking at that material last night wondering how I could use it to help with a case mod (I was thinking about replacing my case door with it to test different airflows before making the final cuts).
Have you considered making it longer though? Have it come all the way past the Zalman and make a hole on the bottom of the duct right above the Zalman/CPU so the air flow comes through your duct, down through the heatsink, then out the back? It looks like a lot of the air is going to bypass your Zalman altogther going straight out the back exhaust fan without doing any cooling.
 
Well, it might, but the zalman is a 2600rpm fan, and the 120mm intake fan is only 1500rpm, so the air isn't exactly rushing by... I mostly wanted the zone above the zalman to be receiving the cool air from outside the case. And by stopping there, it's also cooling the strip of metal that covers the memory on the back side of the video card... which I would be isolating from any airflow if I extended the duct any further.
 
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