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Custom Fan - Get More From Your SP3!

Looks really cool, GJ.

This thread got me thinking. So 30 minutes ago I checked my scrap boxes and found this cheap $2 china laptop cooler which I dissembled. Then I found this $2 IKEA LED lamp with flexible USB cable. Threw it on the floor together with some random wall screws and boom, FANkenstein got born.

Click to unveil the abomination:
FANkenstein1.jpg

FANkenstein2.jpg


FANkenstein3.jpg
 
Now, thats why I'm studying economics, not engineering! Those screws in the corners are completely pointless...Just assambled it on the fly without a plan really. Made it look like AT-AT's from Star Wars, tho!

As far as effictiveness; Those little fudgers seems to be pushing enough air for it to work well. Just tested it running Minecraft + HD video which made CPU run at max and temps went up to 70c. Didn't throttle at all running 60 fps stable in Minecraft (windowed) with a HD video side-by-side for 15 minutes.
 
Cothek said:
Glad you got yours and hopefully it's working well. Regarding the cover, it was hard to get that to fit tight enough without being too tight with the extruding type printer I have here. Shapeways uses SLS which should be more accurate so I apologize that the cover didn't fit tight enough.
Click to expand...

It looks like the cover is supposed to click in, is that how it attaches? What if there were grooves in the fan box so that the cover slid in from the top? Then whether it was snug or not, it wouldn't be at risk of falling out.

Just a thought, I think I'll grab one at some point to try out.
 
After using the displayport modded duct for a couple months, here are a few of my thoughts.

First, I don't feel even much of a breeze out of the vents of the duct. Perhaps this is due to the materials shapeways used or some factor of lack of constancy like that. Regardless, it works perfectly, except with most of the heat dissipation occurring through heat being transferred from the metal of the surface to the plastic of the duct, with the fan constantly cooling off the duct to maintain temperatures.

The duct fits on the side of the surface snugly enough to not move, yet not too much that it fights you sliding on or off. The cutouts for both the USB and the DP ports are more than large enough, and could actually be made smaller without any loss of function.

The main gripe I have on this prototype is the hollowing out of the arms that grip the surface to cut on printing costs. Within the first month of living in my bag, both of these have split at that joint and are in danger of tearing off completely. If these were not hollowed out, I do not believe this would have happened. I plan on using some gorilla tape wrapped around each of these to strengthen my personal alpha model.

All in all, the fan is attractive looking (I got it printed in red which matches my type cover), portable, and very easy to use in any situation, such as when using the surface on your lap. A friend saw me using it and posted to /r/surface where many SP3 users were interested in the idea. I told him to link to this thread. I have several friends who also use SP3s and really like the concept.

As much as Microsoft used the SP3 in their press conference for Windows 10 yesterday, it looks like it will be Microsoft's premium computer for at least several more months to come. I don't know if you're interested, but I feel like a well placed kickstarter to get industrial molds made for this (albeit maybe a slightly tweaked design) would find success. I mean, even an idea like this https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1463948377/ears-for-the-surface-tablets doubled its goal by fixing a design flaw in the SP1 and SP2. Just something to think about.
 
Justing6 said:
After using the displayport modded duct for a couple months, here are a few of my thoughts.

First, I don't feel even much of a breeze out of the vents of the duct. Perhaps this is due to the materials shapeways used or some factor of lack of constancy like that. Regardless, it works perfectly, except with most of the heat dissipation occurring through heat being transferred from the metal of the surface to the plastic of the duct, with the fan constantly cooling off the duct to maintain temperatures.

The duct fits on the side of the surface snugly enough to not move, yet not too much that it fights you sliding on or off. The cutouts for both the USB and the DP ports are more than large enough, and could actually be made smaller without any loss of function.

The main gripe I have on this prototype is the hollowing out of the arms that grip the surface to cut on printing costs. Within the first month of living in my bag, both of these have split at that joint and are in danger of tearing off completely. If these were not hollowed out, I do not believe this would have happened. I plan on using some gorilla tape wrapped around each of these to strengthen my personal alpha model.

All in all, the fan is attractive looking (I got it printed in red which matches my type cover), portable, and very easy to use in any situation, such as when using the surface on your lap. A friend saw me using it and posted to /r/surface where many SP3 users were interested in the idea. I told him to link to this thread. I have several friends who also use SP3s and really like the concept.

As much as Microsoft used the SP3 in their press conference for Windows 10 yesterday, it looks like it will be Microsoft's premium computer for at least several more months to come. I don't know if you're interested, but I feel like a well placed kickstarter to get industrial molds made for this (albeit maybe a slightly tweaked design) would find success. I mean, even an idea like this https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1463948377/ears-for-the-surface-tablets doubled its goal by fixing a design flaw in the SP1 and SP2. Just something to think about.
Click to expand...
Justing6, thanks for the feedback. It is much appreciated!

With regards to your SP3 Duct not moving much air, I want to make sure you have the fan blowing the correct direction. The fan should be sucking air from the big square opening and out through the small vent. It doesn't blow very hard but that small airflow really helps to move the hot air inside the SP3 and reduce the heat build up on the case temp-gauge.

Thanks for letting me know about the arms and the fragility there. As you know, Shapeways charges per cubic inch and so I was looking for ways to reduce as much "empty" space as possible and I took a gamble by hollowing out those arms. Practically they probably don't save that much volume but I wanted to try to pass that "savings" to everyone. I will fill them back in. Edit: my suggestion to fix the cracking arms is some superglue.

As far as a KickStarter goes, that may be worth a try. Do you have a link to the reddit thread?
 
Last edited:
bvone21 said:
It looks like the cover is supposed to click in, is that how it attaches? What if there were grooves in the fan box so that the cover slid in from the top? Then whether it was snug or not, it wouldn't be at risk of falling out.

Just a thought, I think I'll grab one at some point to try out.
Click to expand...
Thanks bvone21 for the feedback, I'll see what I can do but adding grooves means that I have to increase thickness which then means cost goes up. There's a limit to the reliable resolution of the printers and a minimum thickness that the printed material will be durable. In other words I tried to design the duct to be as thin as possible to save cost but remain durable.

Daniel Weck said:
The right edge of the Surface Pro 3 (towards the top) is an outlet area, which expels warm air. In my opinion, blowing cold air into it will eventually strain the built-in fan motor (counter flow).

For more details, see this discussion thread:

http://www.surfaceforums.net/thread...e-no-throttle-using-additional-usb-fan.13843/

Thoughts welcome! :)
Click to expand...
What I have found with the duct is that the internal fan actually runs at a lower speed. This in theory should improve the life of the fan not hurt it.

I have tried sucking air out the side as well but it was nowhere near as effective as blowing air into the side in my experiments but maybe you tried some thing better.
 
ok, well guess i will just make it myself. I have my own printer I would rather I am not going to pay $60 for a $10 part they always over charge everywhere, a roll of PLA or ABS is only $20
 
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