How are people shrouding?

Im just curious to see how other people are tacking the task of shrouding blower fans for their radiators.
I have a few ideas on the table righ tnow to utilize a 436 cfm spal blower in my system. its a nice looking complete blower with a 3 7/16 x 3 1/16 outlet, 6"dia wheel and an overall size of 10"
very nice size, meaning it probably wont make that much noise at 10 amps, which i think ill mutilate an old AT power supply to provide the 12 volts at 10 amps it will require. perhaps the at psu will provide up to 20 on the 12 v line, but i can probably use a potentiameter to lower the current. 10 amps would produce a nice level of airflow at quite a low noise level, since the "max rpm" of this blower is 1670.

Curious though. mounting this monster will be a challenge as im already learning in my design sketches. the blower is almost bigger than the width of my case. without a ruler or measuring tape, i cant tell for sure.
I was thinking of cutting a huge *** hole out the top of my case and mounting a caprice core up there. the blower would be ducted to the side of my case from the bottom, getting air from where my front case fan would have been before. that would make a 12" duct to the heater core, and im wondering how the best way to do this would be.. i know blowers produce a much higher static pressure than axial fans, meaning that the pressure loss over 12 inches would be very low assuming a duct of uniform internal vollume all the way. would it be better to make a tappered duct, 3square to 8 square, or would i be better to make a plexi , resivoir as it were?

my sketches are all too big, but the resevoir would be fed from the side, and would basicly, fill up with pressurized air from the blower duct and having nowhere else to go, would be forced to escape the box through my radiator. I wonder if this would give me even airflow through the rad across its entire surface as pressure inside the res would be even?


the rigging of a design like this is tedious, requires the removal of 90% of my drive mounting capability. but it allows me to also keep my water cooling setup contained in a smaller space in my case, neatly. I was thinking i could build a lexan wall inside my machine to seperate the computer parts from the cooling parts, use male and famale hose barbs in the wall to attach my coolent hoses and keep everything nice and neat. no holes for hoses to catch on or whatever.

also, i could place my pump in the front of my case doing this, almost hidden, as well as a T line.
It presents the problem of hard drive placement, but if my water setup is contained in the front portion of my tower, then i still have the ensire bottom back portion to use for hard discs, which i have seen done in some water cooling setups.

stuffing my wires away would also be a challenge, but a job i could probably still manage since its all sleeved now. using a 200 watt AT psu to power the blower would save my antec from that drain.

I need some input. im working on a scale mockup now in 3d to get a visual representation of the setup and how it might look and work. ill release it in VET technology when its done to get the whole view of what i want.
I have other ideas for implimenting a blower into the rig as well. but its based mainly on the spal model. the 80 cfm torin is a nice blower, but i want a little more airflow in my system, and the spal will give it that jet engine look as well.

please, input.

http://ev0one.idleplay.net/pcca/blowerimpliment.jpg

you can make it out of flat ABS plastic from the hardware store.
and bond it with mc50 (i think) also at the hardware store it will melt the abs to make a prement bond.

Valk said:

Im just curious to see how other people are tacking the task of shrouding blower fans for their radiators.
I have a few ideas on the table righ tnow to utilize a 436 cfm spal blower in my system. its a nice looking complete blower with a 3 7/16 x 3 1/16 outlet, 6"dia wheel and an overall size of 10"
very nice size, meaning it probably wont make that much noise at 10 amps, which i think ill mutilate an old AT power supply to provide the 12 volts at 10 amps it will require. perhaps the at psu will provide up to 20 on the 12 v line, but i can probably use a potentiameter to lower the current. 10 amps would produce a nice level of airflow at quite a low noise level, since the "max rpm" of this blower is 1670.

Curious though. mounting this monster will be a challenge as im already learning in my design sketches. the blower is almost bigger than the width of my case. without a ruler or measuring tape, i cant tell for sure.
I was thinking of cutting a huge *** hole out the top of my case and mounting a caprice core up there. the blower would be ducted to the side of my case from the bottom, getting air from where my front case fan would have been before. that would make a 12" duct to the heater core, and im wondering how the best way to do this would be.. i know blowers produce a much higher static pressure than axial fans, meaning that the pressure loss over 12 inches would be very low assuming a duct of uniform internal vollume all the way. would it be better to make a tappered duct, 3square to 8 square, or would i be better to make a plexi , resivoir as it were?

my sketches are all too big, but the resevoir would be fed from the side, and would basicly, fill up with pressurized air from the blower duct and having nowhere else to go, would be forced to escape the box through my radiator. I wonder if this would give me even airflow through the rad across its entire surface as pressure inside the res would be even?


the rigging of a design like this is tedious, requires the removal of 90% of my drive mounting capability. but it allows me to also keep my water cooling setup contained in a smaller space in my case, neatly. I was thinking i could build a lexan wall inside my machine to seperate the computer parts from the cooling parts, use male and famale hose barbs in the wall to attach my coolent hoses and keep everything nice and neat. no holes for hoses to catch on or whatever.

also, i could place my pump in the front of my case doing this, almost hidden, as well as a T line.
It presents the problem of hard drive placement, but if my water setup is contained in the front portion of my tower, then i still have the ensire bottom back portion to use for hard discs, which i have seen done in some water cooling setups.

stuffing my wires away would also be a challenge, but a job i could probably still manage since its all sleeved now. using a 200 watt AT psu to power the blower would save my antec from that drain.

I need some input. im working on a scale mockup now in 3d to get a visual representation of the setup and how it might look and work. ill release it in VET technology when its done to get the whole view of what i want.
I have other ideas for implimenting a blower into the rig as well. but its based mainly on the spal model. the 80 cfm torin is a nice blower, but i want a little more airflow in my system, and the spal will give it that jet engine look as well.

please, input.

http://ev0one.idleplay.net/pcca/blowerimpliment.jpg

Click to expand...

hmm - i take it that drawing the air in from the side of the case isn't viable i.e. through a hole in the (non-removeable) side of the case

what i was actully thinking, was the place the fan sucking air in from the front of the case. there is a 120 mm mount for fans down there with a cheap plastic grill that is so easy to remove right now, i have a 120 mm evercool with a wire gril on it. looks really sweet with purple light shining from it too.

if i install this blower blowing up, that fan is removed, and relocated to my side window as a side blower fan. the rear case fan, also a 120 mm evercool, needs not be changed at all and would stay static.

the plan, is to possition the blower facing forward, with the exaust on either the right or left side, dependant on the model. using a duct, i would run that air up the side of my case where it would empty into a rectangular vessel. havent thought of shapes for that yet, but the principle of that, is that the air, which is pressurized in the blower, would want to expand when it enters an area that is less constrictive. eventually, air would have no other place to go, but through my radiator, at the top of my case.

im still working on my models to demo this concept. it is a heafty mod, but would be very quite. im tempted to just say phuc it and ust a standard push pull rad in the bottom of my case. the modding would be minimal and would still look perfect from the outside. going this blower route could have its advantages, but i need to cut out so much practical space to make room for it...
maybe im biting off more than i can really chew.

oh, i just wiped up a quicky sketch with my tablet to show, perhaps better, what i was thinking of doing.
http://ev0one.idleplay.net/pcca/blowerimpliment2.jpg

in this one, i think i drew it a little clearer, and also sketched a method to use the more popular torin model blower. I also have to take into account powering this bad ***. i might require a antec 550 watt by just adding in this fan =\.

I like your idea Valk! The best looking use of a blower I'v seen so far. Doing it that way yoor keeping the coolest air to the rad and exhausting the heated air out of the case.

it just involves RAPING my case. thats the only downside. it would look damn cool when completed and would probably cool very well for the noise level associated. i could probably get away with the lowest setting, 5 amps on the blower, and thats still like 80 cfm or more.
measuring the blower, it looks like i might have to cut some of my backside out to make room for the ducting of it. and of course, all my drive cages need to be removed.