Compact and quiet cooling fan for 8020 rigs

[Mascot]

Thought I'd share this as I found it's a neat solution to get some face cooling when sim racing. I'm not bothered about telemetry-controlled leaf blowers or marine bilge fans to simulate driving at speed, I just wanted a little cooling to keep my mush cool in VR.

The fan is one of these, available on eBay and Amazon from a variety of merchants for around £10 - £11 delivered. It's quiet, looks good and is remarkably powerful considering its compact size. Using it on the slowest setting is normally enough for me.

For example:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/REMAX-Mini-Portable-Desk-USB-Fan-Laptop-Cooler-with-Twin-Turbo-Touch-Control/312713372069?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&var=611431093855&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

The cool (ho ho ho) thing about this fan is the rotating metal stand. For fixing to 8020 rigs, the leg slots very neatly into the extrusion channel, which gives a very simple mounting solution like this:

File a small round slot in the plastic cap that lines up with your chosen channel position. For static rigs this is enough to keep it in place, but for motion rigs like mine you could bang a small screw through the leg to pin it to the 8020 channel. The height can be set at this point too.

That's it really. Works like a charm and is as cheap as chips. Enjoy.

 

[BP]

What’s the temperature of your room normally?

 

[Mascot]

What’s the temperature of your room normally?

Around 21C centrally-heated in winter, but during summer heatwaves it's been up around 30C at times. I'm in the UK and home AC is rare.
But regardless, VR HMDs can get warm on the face and this undoubtedly helps with comfort.

 

[Cyberbug]

That is cool just because how it fits, I had to put a window AC besides Central air in the room, I do have a small fan behind the wheel base and also run wind simulator which I love and a fan for the pedal area, yeah things get hot

 

[kizz360]

I've been looking for something like this for my rig and this looks pefect

 

[EsxPaul]

I was looking at those exact fans a few weeks back and was going to try and find a way of pairing it with one of these

@Mascot your idea looks cleaner with much less hassle involved so thank you for sharing the idea

 

[Elaphe]

That's a good idea. I also spotted that model when I was in search of a fan for my cockpit. The round shape makes it look for more like a race car fan and not like a desktop fan. The problem with some of these small fans is that the air flow is too weak. A 12 cm fan would be better but that's maybe too bulky. What I did was to strip the small motor and the blades from a cheap usb fan. Then I bought a pack of accesories to install cameras or cell phones, took the flexible goose neck and figured out the way to attach one end to the profile (using a bolt and a tnut) and the other end to the motor (screwing a little piece of aluminium). The goose neck allows me to place the fan closer to me and so get more fresh air, as well as address the air flow to the exact place. I also added a switch with a 3D-printed enclosure.

 

[GEO147]

Some of you guys are so imaginative. Where can the gooseneck be sourced?

 

[EsxPaul]

Some of you guys are so imaginative. Where can the gooseneck be sourced?

I was just doing a generic search on Amazon for "heavy duty gooseneck". Most of the ones I've seen have imperial threading which could be an issue if you plan to use metric t nuts etc so will need some planning ahead.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Open blades fan, in VR? Paul, please be careful.

 

[EsxPaul]

Open blades fan, in VR? Paul, please be careful.

No chance! I'm clumsy enough as it is without adding something that has open blades

 

[Goes To 11]

Cool, thanks. Just what I was looking for. Amazon.ca has this same brand for $67cdn but under a different brand for much cheaper:
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B072DSHKCH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Hiro Abe]

Going to have to give this a try. The ones i use are quiet but a pain to retrofit and a tad underpowered. One tip: Get one for your feet especially if you don't race barefooted. I've found it feels awfully nice having moving air on your feet while racing during a hot day. I prefer to rely on fans rather than lower the thermostat for my central air.

 

[Elaphe]

No problem with exposed blades as long as they are made of plastic. Metallic blades could do some harm if you are not man enough, but plastic will only scare you if you accidentally touch them.

 

[BP]

Around 21C centrally-heated in winter, but during summer heatwaves it's been up around 30C at times. I'm in the UK and home AC is rare.
But regardless, VR HMDs can get warm on the face and this undoubtedly helps with comfort.

I ask because I'm in the tropics...the 30C you talk about is on the lower end of the temp range for us here (27 - 37C), and my A/C has been broken since Hurricane Irma 2 years ago. I have 3 fans on me constantly and it's tolerable on most days (nights are slightly better), but when I jump into those EU races (which is 3pm over here) it's a bit warm. As you can see my rig is a mix-up of all kinda parts (with a few 80/20 pieces in there) so maybe I'll give it a try if I can find a closer supplier, but not expecting miracles in the summer time.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Crazy, why don't you guys just get an Air Conditioner instead of one hundred fans blowing same hot air on you?

 

[Mascot]

Crazy, why don't you guys just get an Air Conditioner instead of one hundred fans blowing same hot air on you?

Because a £10 fan works perfectly well for me and installing unnecessary, bulky and ugly AC would cost thousands?

 

[BP]

Crazy, why don't you guys just get an Air Conditioner instead of one hundred fans blowing same hot air on you?

Life must be nice when money doesn’t matter, eh?

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Because a £10 fan works perfectly well for me and installing unnecessary, bulky and ugly AC would cost thousands?

Small floor or window unit is a couple of hundreds, if one small fan is not enough.
We have pretty hot summers here too and fans help only when it's not that hot, below 80.

 

[BP]

Small floor or window unit is a couple of hundreds, if one small fan is not enough.
We have pretty hot summers here too and fans help only when it's not that hot, below 80.

Just FYI: 1st World US and European prices =/= Caribbean prices. You have to realise everything's more expensive in these islands due to import taxes on nearly everything: A/C units regardless of size as well as the electric bill are pretty up there (and I lived in some of the more expensive US cities for 5 years so I have first hand experience with their utility bills). It may seem weird talking about prices when I have Fanatec gear, but most of this I got through lots of saving and sale prices (I won the Wheelbase + BMW rim for 50% off when Fanatec did their first Advent sale event and the pedals were on sale for nearly 50% off that year as well).

It rarely drops below 80F here (today is unsually "chilly" only because a hurricane just passed through yesterday, but it's still low 80's), but it is what it is...I'm usually okay with it most days, but sim racing and...err...other activities make the heat more noticable LOL.

Also, due to the threat of hurricanes every year, we installed windows that make A/C window units impossible. The wall units are well over $1000 USD (we had two, as mentioned before) and running both of those in the bedrooms, even conservatively, almost doubles the electric bill each month. I'll deal with the slight discomfort vs. those prices any day.