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Modding Fan Blades

R

Robolf

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 14, 2004
Messages
87
Thought of a [H]ard idea.

Silent fans are quite expensive but usually dont push a lot of air.

Anyone modded a cheaper fans blades to make them quieter with a dremel or the like?

Rob
 
no but that is a good idea .... however i would think that messing with the blades to much would put a strain on the motor and ware the fan out faster ie. adding or subtracting to much would either put undue stress on the motor or allow the motor to "overrev" as it were
 
Aye cutting the blades would reduce airflow and hence noise, but if you look at the super expensive silent fans they all have pants airflow.

Now about over-revving, i use a fan controller so it wouldnt be a problem.

Im not talking of cutting the blades down to matchsticks, just enough to take the edge of the noise.

Might have a go tommorow, anyone post a decent pic of a very quiet fan so i can see what the blades are like?

Ive got 5 Antec fans i can scrap :) (had 6 but thats another story :D )

Rob
 
I read somewhere once of people sanding the edges of fan blades to make them quieter with some success. It's worth a try.
 
isnt it usually the motor that makes most of the noise? especially cheap fan motors.
 
I doubt that since the motors are simple magnetic coils, I think most of the noise comes from the fan blades cutting through the air.
 
rm.o said:
I doubt that since the motors are simple magnetic coils, I think most of the noise comes from the fan blades cutting through the air.
Click to expand...
good point. i never knew you could get a whine from blades moving through the air. hmm...
 
I think the biggest issue here is balancing the blades. If you begin to cut material off of the blades unequally, the thing will spin out of balance........reducing the life of the motor, and/or creating noise.
 
rm.o said:
I doubt that since the motors are simple magnetic coils, I think most of the noise comes from the fan blades cutting through the air.
Click to expand...
It's the method of reducing friction that makes noise, be it ball bearing or sleeve bearing. Cheap fans have cheap bearings which is why they make so much noise and fail in the long run.
 
the major sound is from the blades... i've sanded all my fans in my casing and IT REALLY do reduce the sound. just use a 600grit sandpaper... not dremel please! if you cut your blades, chances that the blades will go unbalaced. unbalaced blades will cause vibrations when spun at high speed. this will creat another problem and vibration noise is more annoying than fan noise!

another point of interest... i've just sandpapered my car's radiator fan ;) REALLY see major improvement in noise reduction!
 
I can see how sanding the blades would help but how do i get the blades out without destroying my fan im working w/ 2 80mm tornados and 1 80mm delta High Air Flow plus 2 delta high air flow 120's seeing as these are not cheap fans i don't really feel like screwing them up... any suggestions
 
Some fans the only way to do this is cut the mount supports if they're on both sides...you'd still have to be careful not to damage the motor though.
 
Also, a lot of the noise comes from the air hitting the fan's surroundings (usually in the form of fan grills). Try to make sure the fan has a clear path both in front of and behind it. This will reduce the air being whipped around things and causing turbulance which is a major contributor to the noise. It will also help airflow.
 
lentic said:
I can see how sanding the blades would help but how do i get the blades out without destroying my fan im working w/ 2 80mm tornados and 1 80mm delta High Air Flow plus 2 delta high air flow 120's seeing as these are not cheap fans i don't really feel like screwing them up... any suggestions
Click to expand...

Most fans have removable blades. Peel the sticker in the middle back and you should see a shaft with a small keeper pin around it. Remove the pin and the fan pulls right off the motor. Just try to be gentle with that keeper pin so you can reuse it.
 
Can anyone who has sanded their blades post a pic please.

It has me thinking about something regarding turbulence that i came across while porting a 2 stroke race engine.

Rob
 
Why not look on a website that discusses balancing model aircraft propellers for tips, We do a lot of this even on real aircraft propellers and turbine blades, even sanding can unbalance blades, the idea is to smooth them out, with round edges and no sanding marks. Getting rid of any obstructions to the airflow will also reduce noise... just my 2¢
twajetmech
 
here's a pic of a "fan mod" that I did. It reduced the noise a considerable amount, however it would have reduced it more if I would have sanded all the edges smooth.

fan.jpg


I was actually going to try and glue some feather edges to the trailing edges of the fan blades. If you've ever paid attention to biology and looked at an Owls feathers, it's what makes them absolutely silent in flight. I figured, why not try the same thing with fan blades??
 
thats more like what i was after from you men, thanks alot, it reminds me of the thermaltake silentboost, they used a slotted side on that to reduce noise.

dremel here i come ....


Rob
 
I vividly recall that my Dad bored holes in the paddle he used for "enforcment" purposes...I wonder if drilling holes would have any effect? Maybe something worthwhile comes from these painful memories...? LOL...probably not ;)

Q
 
QualiC said:
I vividly recall that my Dad bored holes in the paddle he used for "enforcment" purposes...I wonder if drilling holes would have any effect? Maybe something worthwhile comes from these painful memories...? LOL...probably not ;)

Q
Click to expand...


The holes in the paddle are actually there to move LESS air, basically. The less air resistance, the less ass-cushioning you get. :D So holes in fan blades might let it spin faster, but it would probably move less air and be louder.
 
zer0signal667 said:
The holes in the paddle are actually there to move LESS air, basically. The less air resistance, the less ass-cushioning you get. :D So holes in fan blades might let it spin faster, but it would probably move less air and be louder.
Click to expand...

LOL...seems getting older hasn't saved me from being abused! :confused: hehehe

Q
 
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