I love this pic:
So simple, so elegant. Published here. A 120mm fan in three slots of a 5.25 bay.
I wanted something like it, but I only had two 5.25 slots. OTOH, one of my four slots was being taken up by an IO unit that was not full depth. What if I mounted my fan behind it?
So I did. Used some foam to pack it in. Here it is from the back:
Here's what it looks like behind the IO unit:
Closeup of the friction mount:
What is it behind?
Finished unit:
After that I moved it upstairs. Nice and quiet.
Edit: I swapped out the 120mm Shark for a 140mm. Link is here.
I decided I was dissatisfied with my 120mm intake fan in the 5.25 bay. I thought, I can do better than this:
So I looked for a 140mm fan that would run quietly and still push a lot of air. This one allegedly pushes 50cfm at 800rpm:
But at 140mm it's 10mm taller than the 130mm space occupied by three 5.25 slots. So I would need access to the top of the 5.25 cage. Hence, up came the top:
Here you can see the 120mm fan under the cross bar. You can also see the CCFL transformer, and where it is normally Velcro'd to the top of the case. And then there is the TR-140 top intake fan. Normally the open spot to its left is covered, and the fan itself has a 140mm filter.
Next, a shot from a different perspective:
You can see the electronics behind the IO panel that takes up the front of one of my four 5.25 slots.
Padded 120mm Shark vs unpadded 140mm Shark:
Note that even with the padding on the 120mm fan, the 140mm fan is taller.
Here's a fit test of the unpadded 140mm fan in the 5.25 bay:
The blinding spots are pieces of masking tape set at the edges of the fan and the inner edges of the 5.25 bay. As one would expect, there is more than 5mm between the fan and each side of the 5.25 cage walls.
First draft of padding the 140mm fan:
Both kinds of strip foam are from a hardware store. The stuff on the side is actually double sticky. It is also dense foam, and resists compression. This did not fit in the 5.25 bay.
Padded 120mm fan on top of the 1st draft of padding of the 140mm fan:
Although they look close in width, the foam on the 120mm fan has much more give than the stuff on the 140mm fan.
Second draft padding on the 140mm fan, this time on top of the 120mm fan:
Yup. Second draft padding allows the 140mm fan to fit in the 5.25 bay:
Note how the top of the 140mm fan is taller than the crossbar. The 120mm fan fit under the crossbar, and needed padding to fill the gap.
140mm Aerocool Shark in place in the 5.25 bay:
Smoke test - no smoke (which is good):
Now all I have to do it put the screws back and my case will be together again.
And it's back upstairs: I'm typing on it now.
BTW -- I put a 140mm fan in the 5.25-inch bay of a Zalman Z11 here.
Edited by ehume - 4/10/13 at 8:07pm





























