Mounting a PC Fan help please

[Beastman420]

Hey guys. So I'm at the point where I'm just about to get this whole thing going finally. I have about and inch thick wood for my back door and need to fit two 12v fans on the door somehow. I thought it would have been much easier but I cannot think of a reasonable way...

The fans are from radio shack the big heavy duty ones and I've wired them to adapters/chargers I've had laying around.

The fan itself is 4 5/8 inches both ways but the real problem is that it's 1 1/2 inch thick.

Any suggestions would be nice... +rep

Thanks

 

[mofizzle415]

pics ?...there always a way to do something brotha...always...unless of course the dimesions just dont work and sometimes even then.....Pics

 

[IAm5toned]

cut a hole bigger than you need in the door.
cover this hole with a peice of sheet metal, mounted firmly to the door. use silicone to seal the edges.
punch a hole in the sheet metal for the fan beforehand...
mount the fan to the sheet metal. id reccomend 6/32 screws with nylon locknuts

or, alternatively, you could cut a hole in the door slightly smaller than the diameter of the fan body, and use longer screws to pass all the way thru the door. again use 6/32 with nylon locknuts...

 

[mofizzle415]

good advice......niceeee...thats what im talking about...thinking outside the box....

 

[digitalliquid]

if you are looking for short term you could use duct tape or my favorite , Velcro (spelling) to hold the fans in a temporary place.

 

[MikeyPeenz]

Pics would help out huge dude we can see your layout and all that jazz.

The sheetmetal sounds like a great idea, and same with the handymans favorite tool, duct tape!

 

[dukeofbaja]

I use the 80mm PC fans and to mount them I drill a 3 1/2'' diameter hole in a square piece of wood. The hole is perfect size for the fan, and I can mount the fan to the wood securely with 4 screws, 1 in each corner. I then mount them onto 3'' PVC pipes that import/exhaust air, but you can screw the fan directly onto the door (unless you need a light baffle, in which case go with something that is dark on the inside and has a 90 degree bend). And it sounds like you have larger fans, but measure the diameter as exact as possible and go to the home improvement store to look for something that cuts a hole of the same diameter.

Good luck!

 

[Beastman420]

Hey guys thanks for all the help. Woke up this morning and still no sprouts I'm really concerned about underwatering. I think I've been way too stingy on the water. There was no run off in my tray does that mean theres not enough water, or does the light burn it all away. Back to the fan, the exact dimensions are 4 5/8'' by 4 5/8'' and 1 1/2'' wide. I might use the duct tape until I get this sorted, I'm not too handymanish. The sheet metal way that Iamstoned mentioned sounds good I just don't know if I really know what I am doing. Dukeofbajas way sounds just as good actually. Might not get chance to do much work on it today so I'll update Monday with what I did most likely.

Ok, I'm worried bout pics because of that whole GPS thing. But my phone is not even connected to any 2g or 3g network so I'm hoping GPS is disabled. But I took pics and here they are!!!

Ok so not sure if that helps you but there's a few. I'll be checking this all day actually just might not get much work done on it today.

Thanks for all the help!!!

Edit - And Mylar is on its way they just forgot to send it, should be here tomorrow

 

[IAm5toned]

what size light is that??

it looks a little close... temps might be high.
also unfinished wood will cause extremely low humidity...

you dont actually need the light untill the plant sprouts...
dont you remember those stupid 3rd grade experiments with beans that show plants germinate faster in the dark?

 

[Beastman420]

Man I've lost a lot of my memory of back then due to certain substances I think haha. The light is the 150 HPS from HTG. It really does not generate that much heat and I usually have my apartment pretty cold. Either way I've done that test with putting my hand under the light for a minute and it was easy, other then my arm getting tired haha. One of them actually has sprouted but I still think it is quite dry in there. How can I increase humidity. Also anymore ideas for that fan, I don't think I can get sheet metal with a hole in it. I'm going to end up just screwing the fan to the door and have the screws go through but then I come into the light tight problem. I might just put that light tight fabric over the back.

Thanks for the help +repped yall

 

[dukeofbaja]

You can mount the fan right to the door and still keep it light proof. You just have to use a light trap. An easy way to do this in your spot is to use 4'' or 3'' PVC with a 90 degree bend or two. Light can't travel past 90 degree bends. I included some pics of how I mount my fans...

 

[Beastman420]

See this is something I was looking for. Thanks a whole bunch man. How did you mount the fan on the end of the PVC? Do they have square pieces like that orrr? +rep

Thanks again

 

[dukeofbaja]

See this is something I was looking for. Thanks a whole bunch man. How did you mount the fan on the end of the PVC? Do they have square pieces like that orrr? +rep

Thanks again

It is 3'' PVC, and so it has an outer diameter of 3.5''. I drill a 3.5'' round hole in a square piece of wood. After I paint the wood and PVC, it fits real snug. If you don't paint it, you will need duct tape to keep it stuck on. Then, you just mount the fan onto the piece of wood. It just happens to work out that 80mm PC fans are about 3.5'' in diameter, so that works out well. I can send you better pics tonight once the lights come back on.

 

[Beastman420]

Alright so here are just some updated pics. I ended up just putting the fans on the door and for the light off hours which is right now I just have a thick quilt over the box until I figure something out. The pvc idea seems good it just does not fit my fans very well. They are huge and the 4'' PVC pipes are HUGE and I think still would not fit the fan. I'm still not to sure how your saying mount the fan onto wood, sorry if I'm being, dummbbb. Thanks for the help though it's keeping me motivated at least haha.

Found out Mylar is not coming until Wed . That was my way of sealing light through the few cracks I have cause I can just Mylar over the corners. Other wise I'm still going to need a way to seal the door completely after I get these fans worked out.

EDIT - How about light proof cloth, I saw a guy that cut triangles and put it on the outside of his box over the fans. Would that work too? How... reliable is that?

Thanksss