CPU Fan Availibility?

[LI-ghtcycle]

Heat is a big concern for me as I will be pushing batteries and motor much harder in my next build, and I am curious where a good source of CPU type fans can be had?

I have limited electronics knowledge, and I would love to get your in-put thanks!

I also have another reason to ask, my HP Pavilion computer had been making odd fan noises for the better part of a year, but like an idiot I just opened the side of the case and use a "clip on" type fan to cool things down instead of looking inside and realizing I had let the dust get away from me and it was killing my fan!

I looked at Best Buy and Radio Shack, but no one has one individually that I have seen, just a unit of CPU heat sink + fan and it's about $40.

Can't I just get a fan to replace the old one for $10? Right now I have a case fan I robbed from one of my old computers zip-tied to the heat-sink and it's working, but I'd rather get a new one that just screws on correctly. BTW it's a 3 lead DC 12V 0.45 amp fan, I can give dimensions of the fan and or the model of computer. I have talked to HP and they have sent me to a supplier, but I just can't see buying the whole deal if I can just get a fan, and I might need one in the near future to cool a controller.

Thanks again! 8)

 

[amberwolf]

Newegg.com is your friend. Nexus makes some good and fairly quiet fans, but anything that is not a sleeve bearing will last for a good while. Unfortunately, almost all PC power supply and case fans that I have ever opened up (many hundreds, probably more than a couple of thousand by now) seem to use a sleeve bearing with zero lubrication. Some use a nylon sleeve instead of brass. Occasionally one will actually have some grease in it, but it is usually dried out and crusty, and not on the sleeve or axle anymore.

Ball bearing fans are harder to find; most fans do not say what kind they have which usually (but not always) means that they are sleeve bearings.

EG&G / Rotron makes really nice fans; some of the ones I have here for 120VAC use out of old rackmount stuff are 30-40 years old and still work fine (a few have been running more than 15 years nearly constantly for my own uses).

Papst also makes fans of similar quality, perhaps even better.

Personally I prefer metal-bladed fans, especially with very high speed units, as they distort less and cause less turbulence from blade vibration, thus are more efficient and quieter (considering how loud many high speed fans are anyway, having a plastic-bladed one with vibrational issues is pretty bad, plus the bearings wear out faster).

Nidec also makes some nice fans, although I have only ever seen DC powered plastic fans from them. 48V and lower.

I've forgotten at least a couple of other brand names that I have only seen good fans from.

Regarding dimensions, most computer case fans are 60mm, 80mm, 120mm, some are other in-between sizes and rarely some are larger.

Almost all HP power supplies I've worked on had 80mm.

 

[amberwolf]

Found an interesting assortment of fans here:
http://www.sciplus.com/category.cfm/subsection/18
while looking at a link a friend sent me to something else there.

 

[fechter]

One of my favorite sources:
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/category/220/Fans/1.html

If you want to push air through a restricted opening (like through a motor or hose), you should use a centrifugal blower instead of a fan.

 

[FMB42]

Amberwolf writes:
"Personally I prefer metal-bladed fans, especially with very high speed units, as they distort less..."

Good point amberwolf. Plastic fan blades, if left idle (static) in the sun or other high temp conditions, can sometimes soften enough to allow them to "flatten out" (when the fan is turned on) to the point that they no longer act as a (rotating wing) fan blade.

Metal blades are often the best bet in certain high temp conditions.

As far as CPU fan suppliers go, you may also want to consider Best Buy, or MCM electronics (online store).

 

[vanilla ice]

Trashed computers also.. don't forget those. The newer slim ones have some interesting fans you might want to switch to. The small desktop dells we have at work with the hinge-up lid have the squirrel-cage-shaped big exhaust fans with the 3rd wire for temp probe. Those are pretty neat fans- they automagically speed up as temperature rises.

 

[REdiculous]

If you want to push air through a restricted opening (like through a motor or hose), you should use a centrifugal blower instead of a fan.

+1

Those blowers for air mattresses (/rafts) might work.

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

Kewl, thanks all for the good info!

I found this one on Newegg, and it looks like it should work for my AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core 4600 2.4 GHz, it's weird that I can't find just the fan, I have to buy the whole heat-sink too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835114025&cm_re=cpu_fan-_-35-114-025-_-Product

This isn't a heat-sink that is compatible with my processer, but if I understand correctly it's a 70mm fan like I have now, and it's cheaper than the one listed for an Athlon

 

[vanilla ice]

This is the style with the built in temp probe. Would be great as exhaust fans cause they idle along when cold, and only spool up when they need to.
http://cgi.ebay.com/DELL-DIMENSION-OPTIPLEX-NMB-FAN-BG0903-B044-VTL-/150467669280
You would have to reposition the probe (PITA) to use it as an intake fan .

 

[zap]

I'm more than a little surprised amberwolf's first response wasn't dumpsters :lol:
That's the first place I'd start looking unless Oregon City doesn't have any. :wink:

 

[evblazer]

If you have a radioshack nearby and it is on your way you might step in. Many of them are letting go old stock of CPU fans and such for really cheap. I got a bunch of big copper and some big aluminum heatsinks with cpu fans for about $1 each last week. They were never really in it but from what I was told they tried for a bit to carry modder stuff for pcs and they are dumping some old stock so it all depends on the local.

 

[amberwolf]

I'm more than a little surprised amberwolf's first response wasn't dumpsters :lol:

If it weren't illegal in so many places, I probably would--can't do that here in Phoenix anymore though, so unless I happen by when someone is tossing stuff out so I can ask them if it's ok then I wouldn't do it. If the cops come by they often enough will do something about it (not always, but too often to risk). Of course, they don't stop the *dangerous* crimes from occuring, but the easy-to-arrest (or ticket) ones they do a lot of.

 

[zap]

If it weren't illegal in so many places, I probably would--can't do that here in Phoenix anymore...

How sad. What brought that about? Bums, identity theft? Does it only apply to dumpsters or also individual's trash on the curb?

I can remember decades ago going to the dump with a truck load and coming home with a 1/4 or a 1/2 truck load. Maybe 15 years ago was when the transfer stations started to stop you from collecting "trash" when you were dropping off.

Damn Country's going to *ell in a handbasket thanks in part to lawyers and a sue happy population always on the look out to get something for nothing.

 

[amberwolf]

I assume the main reason laws got passed would be the huge messes people often made by throwing all the stuff out of the dumpsters all around, just to see what was in there, and not picking it up afterward.

Another reason might be that druggies and homeless would use them for toilets.

Also, I think that druggies and other similar types used them for drops for money and product.

Unfortunately, I doubt any of that has decreased, but legal salvaging of course is now impossible, so it has only increased waste and possibly increased crime around them, since now no "normal" salvagers would go near them to interrupt the other activities (intentionally or otherwise). I suppose it may decrease some crime, since there are a LOT more police observations of them since the laws were passed than before, because they can now just arrest anyone that is not supposed to be in the dumpster-specific area (typically at businesses, rather than at apartments and the like).

Before the laws I used to get LOTS of stuff this way, and many of my computers were built entirely from discards from computer shops that did corporate upgrades and tossed all the old stuff. Sure, it was three or four generations behind, but it worked for me and other friends that didn't have money for new ones.

As for curbside stuff, like bulk trash, I am not aware of a law against salvaging from it but I never looked it up, as I have never had any police interrupt me as they pass by while I am neatly going thru things there. I suppose if I was making a mess, they would have a reason to law or not. I've saved a lot of stuff out of bulk trash collections over the years, but these days pickings are quite slim due to all the salvagers with trucks that grab anything even resembling metal. (some of them even steal stuff out of people's front yards, like benches or shelves or chairs or statues or mailboxes, etc.)