Making a Powerful Lego Heater Fan: Will It Melt?

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Get an exclusive Surfshark deal! Enter promo code LEGOJAMS to get up to 6 additional months for free at surfshark.deals/legojams

[@Vogan657]

hey opera gx can do that too!!! now i dont have to pay for surf shark

[@loen9591]

Be careful, pretty sure plastic fumes are surprisingly toxic

[@Maxib226]

​@@Vogan657ya mean a vpn? Opera gx vpn is not real also Opera gx may be spyware so don't use it

[@bummer6]

your demonstration of what happens when you turn the fan off and let the elements heat up actually demonstrates why you should never block the back of a hairdryer.

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Very true, I never fully appreciated that until now!

[@HA05GER]

Any hairdryer made in the last probably 39 years will have a thermal cutout and the same with electric heaters.

[@Thetankracer]

@@HA05GER You still should never block the back of hairdryers and heaters

[@HA05GER]

@@Thetankracer I never said you should but anything bought from a reputable supplier will have safety .

[@AngelaTheSephira]

@@HA05GER You sweet summer child... The safety features don't always work...

[@gazehound]

The wire sags because it expands as it heats up! This principle was used for the Sunbeam radiant control toaster.

[@watermelonpl]

Technology Connections made a great video on it iirc

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Ah of course, that makes total sense, thanks! I guess that's why heater elements are usually coils, so they can absorb some of the loss of tension when they expand

[@neonphoenix8951]

TECHNOLOGY CONNECTIONS VIEWER

[@Sharpless2]

@@neonphoenix8951 SPOTTED IN THE WILD. HAIL ALEC

[@GoonerBrothers]

I thought it was because it was melting

[@Zyghqwyv]

you should add a light sensor that detects when the motor is spinning and shuts off the heater if the motor stops unexpectedly (like if something is caught in it)

[@JamiesBrickJams]

That's actually a fantastic idea, cheers for the suggestion ⭐

[@Christina-u6p]

Good 3:12

[@Brick_Science]

These videos are so enjoyable to watch! :) keep making them

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Aw thanks a lot man, appreciate it 😁 Love your videos too - big fan

[@doLPhann]

Hi

[@TheMahtimursu]

One thing to keep in mind: infrared thermometers do not work accurately on shiny surfaces.

[@JamiesBrickJams]

I just learned that earlier today 😅 Thanks for the heads up!

[@thepizzacarpizza1056]

A ceramic heater would be good because it has a positive temperature coefficient, meaning its resistance raises as it heats, so it literally cannot get above a certain temperature In fact, this principle is already used in many space heaters

[@JamiesBrickJams]

That's pretty clever!

[@JTCF]

Hey, your last vid (on chilling drinks) has comments disabled. I suspect this is a mistake somewhere as you did ask for comments in it. Just wanted to warn you in case you don't know.

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Oof thanks for that, I must have disabled them by accident. Appreciate the heads up!

[@JTCF]

Ah, my Arch nemesis, the Heater Fan! Our battle will be legendary!

[@JamiesBrickJams]

😂

[@triggerhurt]

what you have created is, at its core, similar to what a central heating air handler does, and demonstrated why it's very important to include multiple redundant limit switches to prevent dead blower motors (or bad capacitors) from inadvertently setting your house on fire

[@suezq74]

There are unfortunately no safeties in your heater. I recommend for your next heater add a safety like overheating sensor to prevent your lego from burning up

[@ivy7642]

use some sheets of thick black paper to measure the heat, shiny surfaces are hard to measure with laser thermometers or infrared cameras.

[@JamiesBrickJams]

That's a really good idea, thanks for the suggestion, will see if I can find some!

[@dillpickle7633]

Adding a heatsink might have been able to help radiate the heat from the 12v heating element in the beginning of the video.

[@JamiesBrickJams]

That was actually what I was thinking early on, but I noticed after a short while, that 12 module was only drawing about 20 watts, so I would have needed a whole load of them and a massive heat sink. Nichrome just made more sense for a large output

[@CLOCK-WORK]

Next video: I made a working Lego jet engine!

[@JamiesBrickJams]

😂 Maybe in time...

[@talyrath]

You've hit on the design of a good space heater. The amount of heat that a heater puts into a room is entirely dependent on the wattage. By increasing the air speed, you put out a lot of warm air instead of a little hot air - and heat the whole room instead of the spot right in front of the heater.

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Thanks! And yes, heat should be correlated only to wattage. I think as a desktop personal heater this strikes a reasonable balance between air speed and keeping it aimed in a fairly small arc (vaguely person-shaped)

[@njdotson]

Even if it was at the spot right on the heater wouldn't it spread to the other areas of the room eventually?

[@emerald5567]

great job you made a primitive toaster

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Making an actual toaster is something that's been on my mind a bit 🤔

[@emerald5567]

@JamiesBrickJams that would be a fire video honestly

[@DCcopter]

We need a video showcasing your lego collection!

[@JamiesBrickJams]

That'd be the most embarrassingly messy video - it's already taken over my small apartment 😅

[@ynzeselders4184]

thats not how infrared thermometers work. the detection area is conical shaped. at a small distance you can already not measure the temperature of small things. it will take the average of surrounding temperature and the temperature of the part over the whole detection area, the object you are trying to measure needs to fill up the entire detection area (which size depends on how far you are from the object). you can also not measure bare metal since its very reflective in infrared and you will mostly just measure the ambient temperature again. youll need to stick some capton tape on bare metal to be able to measure it. the laser is just a guide. its not actually measuring at just the laser dot. emissivity is also a thing

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Damn that's really interesting, thanks for the heads up! Clearly I've got to learn how to use this thing better. Or just invest in a thermal camera. The main point I was trying to get across was really just 'hot, hotter, hottest', so it still served its purpose. Thanks a lot for the explanation though - that'll help the accuracy of my next videos! 😁

[@ynzeselders4184]

@@JamiesBrickJams happy to help :) thermal cameras are really fun! love seeing things from a different perspective. Also have some of the same issues though since its essentially the same as an infrared thermometer but it has thousands of them to make the image.

[@TheColinputer]

Whats really cool is if you measure the voltage at different points along the heating element you can get different voltages. (commonly known as a voltage divider) infact this is often used to power the fan motor in hair driers/fan heaters and other things so avoid the need for a transformer.

[@thaumologist662]

its always a good day when Jamie uploads

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Wow really appreciate that, thanks for the comment 😁🙏

[@verdisquo97_arts]

Would you happen to be able to use those steel parts to make a turbine that can handle hotter gases than air?

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Hmmmm that's an interesting idea... I guess it might be possible. Next mission then is how to generate pressurised steam for something like this

[@verdisquo97_arts]

@@JamiesBrickJams the only thing I can think of is a capillary steam generator or a modified coke can into a boiler using candles as a heat source, if you add in a secondary heating coil made of thin copper tubing, you could theoretically make superheated steam, if you do plan on doing this, you might consider making a de-airator to minimize rust, should be simple as pulling a partial vacuum in a sealed vessel

[@Nick12_45]

damn only 215 comments for such great video?!

[@uujims3762]

Instruction unclear, house burned down

[@JamiesBrickJams]

That'll keep you warm 🔥

[@OfficialOwnerOfBirdClip_Studio]

I wonder why this channel does not have 100k you are really good at making interesting videos with legos.

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Well appreciate your support on the road to 100k 😁🙏

[@calebmezenberg137]

8:30 *Gets a wire hotter than most baking temps close to the upper limit of an oven* "Wow thats hot, I cant even put my hand above it" well yeah because its at baking temp. Either way interesting video, keep up the good work.

[@thekitsunedev_hun]

As long as you don't exceed ~70-80 °C (158-176°F), the Lego should be fine. Since Lego is made from ABS which starts to soften at around 105°C (221°F), and melts between 190 to 260°C (374 to 500°F).

[@JamiesBrickJams]

True, I've been realising boiling water is just on the verge of causing it to deform

[@phillip-ym8vk]

The Lego you launched at 2:03 was funny

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Haha happens every build 😂

[@ehansytaxian]

Next you should make a lego AC! that actually blows good cold air

[@jasoned7024]

7:15 the death spring

[@JamiesBrickJams]

🔥

[@Lego-Electronics-more]

thats really cool I have wanted some of those mettel parts for so long, evey video you make me want to mess with what ever was in the video.

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Aw thanks, I'm glad some of these videos can give folks like you ideas - best of luck with your own experiments!

[@MNSweet]

Run the motor off the same power as the heater or at least have a board with a MOSFET to kill the heater voltage when the fan voltage isn't detected. But then you're leaving Lego so the light sensor in the other comment is a better "for fun" idea

[@JamiesBrickJams]

That's still a really good idea for safety, cheers for the suggestion!

[@karangaglani5854]

The next most logical step is a Lego marshmallow toaster

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Not gonna lie, I considered that for a brief moment while making this!

[@turboGD-c8h]

My father also uses those chompy alligator clips

[@outer_spacedgames5048]

Great idea, need this thing in my house on my desk right now ❄

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Tis the season alright! 🥶

[@Bus-8076]

I spy... ...With my clean windshield... ...A fire hazard! **Grabs fire extinguisher**

[@reeepingk]

You could have connected the source current INSIDE of the risers so that they wouldn't be exposed to hot nicrome wire.

[@legalburglar4404]

Make a Lego wind tunnel with some experiments!! love the vid btw

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Hmm cool idea!

[@Super_64]

Would you be able to use solid core wires (household wiring) that can support themselves and then wire the coils to them? Then there wouldn’t be anything hot touching the legos and then you wouldn’t need to use the aluminum legos?

[@AaronTureRonAbrahamsson157]

4:44 Surf shark pry’s eyes, I am so scared for my life!

[@mitto_96]

It could work much better if you put the heater in the back of the fan

[@TheCollectorOfNerf]

back in canada, theres not much snow left, but it would be cool if you could make the fan powered with an air engine!

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Haha that would be cool. It's definitely possible to make a good air powered fan using a pneumatic engine. You'd need to store a lot of air though to run it for a while! Might experiment with seeing how long a small single cylinder engine can run for though on a few bottles. Neat idea, cheers 💡

[@williamhuang8309]

6:54 wow that is glowing *bright orange* based on the colour of the wire it could mean that the wire itself is reaching 1000C!

[@JamiesBrickJams]

I wish I knew what temp that wire was reaching!

[@MNSweet]

2:49 HAHA, Rubber...

[@zat-1-fury]

You should try making this but only have it run on Lego battery boxes only

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Haha fun idea! It wouldn't run very long as this thing was consuming nearly 300 watts. But cool concept 👌

[@Derpingmuffin]

Remember: if you melt plastic do it in a very well ventilated area. The fumes are very bad for you

[@virtualtools_3021]

especially legos since they are made of abs

[@Derpingmuffin]

@@virtualtools_3021 they've been doing their sit ups!

[@carriemermis154]

Ok do it Jamie You can do it you can do it but can you make a heater fan go with 100,000 boats

[@KangJangkrik]

Hawaiian people would love this

[@JamiesBrickJams]

😂

[@woaminibricks]

The video is very interesting but a bit dangerous

[@trailtalesAustria]

If u would put the heater behind the fan, it would actually just suck the hot air to the blades and push it towards you, with ur design it blows cold air to the heater and reduces the temps on the coils, so ye

[@danieljanecek7887]

Your thermometer doesn't show "correct" (they are correct, but for different emissivity) temperatures because you have wrong emissivity setting. Your thermometer has emissivity set to ε = 0.95, which is too high. Aluminium (which is the material of the heating module casing, I guess) has ε = 0.1 - 0.2 and stainless steel has ε = 0.35. Nichrome has about 0.87, which is why you are getting more accurate readings, but I guarantee you, that the steel bolt didn't have 33 °C. But it was pretty cool and interesting video nonetheless, keep them coming.

[@JamiesBrickJams]

You're totally right, I've just been learning today that I was misinterpreting how I was using this thing. Thanks for sharing, this is very helpful!

[@inputusername4763]

My intrusive thoughts want me to touch the funni glow wire

[@JamiesBrickJams]

You and me both 😉 But I saw what it did with the marshmallow ...

[@DrMartinYoung]

I enjoyed that, James! Good job!

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Thanks Martin, hope you and the family are well!

[@jecs0N778]

When the ribbon microphone?

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Haven't forgotten - will still try to get it to work properly! Just been experimenting with a few other things in the meantime 😉

[@jecs0N778]

Ok

[@brobeckskazooremixes8703]

Love seeing a video right when it comes out

[@JamiesBrickJams]

I'm glad it was timed right 😉

[@imahotdog1000]

this was awesome i have all kinds of useful gadgets that I built for my room and I use them all the time every single day. can you do more experiments with pneumatic engines and power generation making a generator with magnets and magnet wire please? I find those creations to be the coolest things ever

[@JamiesBrickJams]

That's awesome, I'm impressed you actually use all of your gadgets and inventions. There's nothing more satisfying that a genuinely useful gadget that you made for yourself. And absolutely, I love generators - I have plenty more experiments coming that revolve around generators! Especially air powered ones

[@imahotdog1000]

@@JamiesBrickJams oh man I'm so hyped to see all your future projects! and so happy to hear you've got more of pneumatic generators coming I cant wait to see em, keep it up you're making awesome videos that are top tier quality that are so fun to watch, I'm gonna build all sorts of stuff like this once I get money for a ton of off brand technic parts

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Glad to see folks like you get a kick out of these contraptions 😁 Have fun building your own!

[@mayrbxplayz7954]

From the title i thought this was gonna be about HEAT shells (High Explosive Anti Tank)

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Now there's an ambitious Lego project 😉

[@Pale_Kingg]

Very underrated channel

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Appreciate it a lot! 🙏

[@viktig_sau]

make an atomatick marsmellow toaster that toast them perfectly

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Haha that's not a half bad idea! I love a good toasted marshmallow

[@mysefengineering]

Hey! Awesome video! I was just wondering, do you have dc?

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Is DC discord? If so, I'm afraid not yet. Though I've been thinking of setting one up

[@mysefengineering]

@@JamiesBrickJams Would be very nice! I would personally like to show you some stuff

[@InflatableSloth]

ngl those filters for surfshark sound alot like ublock origin

[@teammodman]

8:40 W quote from Brick Jams

[@JamiesBrickJams]

🌰

[@mistercheeeez]

What if you made a lightbulb with the coils? Just because they glow so bright.

[@JamiesBrickJams]

I was wondering that myself - good idea!

[@Wolf-e]

This is really cool, nice video

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Hopefully it's hot! And thanks 😁

[@zentran2690]

I literally just turned on my fan space heater and then this video was released.

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Ayyy nailed the timing 🙌

[@Leonvolt28]

I think that you might get away with using plastic instead of steel because the fan will cool the wires down.

[@JamiesBrickJams]

I don't think the fan will be able to cool the wire down that much 😂 Lego deforms around 90 degrees, and that wire is several hundred degrees - even when the fan is blowing on it

[@alstillplays]

Now make a collag cooling fan Air conditioner

[@Onewiththestud]

Heater or light?

[@vystaz]

if you positioned the element lower, so the fan blows the hot air without cooling the coils, would it be more effective?

[@JamiesBrickJams]

I suspect it's all about the same.. Heat is provided purely by watts of power. Where you blow will only impact how the air is spread around

[@bentleyheselton7400]

When you say Celsius can you also convert it to Fahrenheit

[@freedrider1530]

Just subbed! More builds with the metal technic parts please!

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Thanks for joining 😁 And I'm sure I'll have plenty more uses for them in future projects

[@DecayedPage]

Why didnt you buy a few of those heating elements and put heatsinks on them? Wouldn't that be a lot safer?

[@JamiesBrickJams]

It might have been safer, but those modules only draw about 20 watts, so I'd need about 15 of them and a really massive heat sink. Not totally undoable, but certainly not an efficient way of generating heat

[@PlanesNstuff158]

THATS NOT WHAT I MENT WHEN I SAID I WAS A LEGO FAN 💀

[@JamiesBrickJams]

😂

[@ImNew-b1q]

7:59 i was amazed at how orange the nichrome got also, 0:14 Can you please tell me the link for that heating rectangle thing to i am interested in electrical stuff or anything that has to deal with electricity.

[@ImNew-b1q]

and also 8:18 if you want to know where it said max on your heat gun and next to it was 244 that is 471.2!, Degrees Fahrenheit

[@browserplaysmc]

love it

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Appreciate it 😁🙏

[@hybridstoatdragon]

WHERE DO YOU GET THE RUBBER NIPPLE THINGIES. HOW DID YOU GET THOSE. I NEED THAT

[@hybridstoatdragon]

8:22 made me code brown. Do you know how close you were to electrocution..... 🤢

[@JamiesBrickJams]

I'm afraid I don't actually remember which set those rubber thingies came in. I think one of the motorised sets with the tracks - the rubber pieces help it stick to the ground. And don't worry about electrocution - the voltage and current is way too low for that. Getting burned is the only real risk here

[@greenphantom093]

Where do you get the resources for this.

[@Nix357]

Bro you just made a lightbulb

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Pretty much 😉 I'd love to experiment more with making a lightbulb, but that's an experiment for another day

[@minhbaolegosandgaming]

Can you make a electric motor with lego?

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Sure can ... But unless I can think of a use case for a very powerful motor, I'm not sure it makes much sense other than a demonstration, as it's then easier to just use a regular Lego motor. But I'll probably experiment with a motor in the near future 😉

[@DanielLua-c4v]

8:39

[@nathan_is_good_at_fortnite]

can u also list freedom units

[@sharonbradford4494]

You just made a lightbulb

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Ha pretty much! I'm quite interested to see how it'd perform in a vacuum, like a bulb

[@JakeDouglas-l3f]

How did you get the blades

[@jpettersson84]

I'm a pretty powerful Lego fan myself.

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Hell yeah 👊

[@chrismayer3919]

😁

[@Steamdecker447]

You should make a stove

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Haha 😂 I've wondered if it's possible to make a toaster, but an oven would be quite a step up!

[@Steamdecker447]

@@JamiesBrickJams you should try the toaster.

[@DiamantOpp]

Unbelievable how he's just goofing around and accidentally makes something really useful

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Haha that's how most of my experiments go 😁 And thanks!

[@Najib-pt4sq]

Please use EV3

[@internet_archivist]

electroboom of lego

[@JamiesBrickJams]

That's high praise, I love electroboom!

[@jakobb.1472]

The house burner 9000

[@JamiesBrickJams]

™️

[@HunterKupfer]

Can you please make a drone our helicopter out of lego ??

[@larisamanole6005]

yesssssss

[@GeneralBartov]

Where can I buy this multimeter?

[@JamiesBrickJams]

It's actually a great multimeter! It's the Kaiweets km601 and I just got mine on sale on Amazon

[@glowytheglowbug]

pfft cute

[@Ryba252]

1:34 you used cada bricks?

[@Mexmex1975]

Now make it blow cold, with the current state of things, nobody is interested in hot air. Use the brains, THINK!

[@JamiesBrickJams]

I still live in Ireland 🥲

[@Mexmex1975]

@@JamiesBrickJams The rest of the world doesn't.

[@kirills5730]

Советую вам приобрести тепловизор для более точного отслеживания температурных зон. Если совершить правильный выбор в приобретении, то вы не пожалеете.

[@JamiesBrickJams]

I'd really love a thermal imager - Can't afford one right now, but it's on the list!

[@OSUTY]

0:53 why use nail clipper 😂😂😂

[@DragonsREpic]

Eww metric....whats the real temperature?

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Reeeeally hot 🔥

[@lukeomalley3769]

Any chance the apartment no longer smells like burnt fake lego? 😉 I hope your landlord isnt watching this video 😄

[@JamiesBrickJams]

The apartment smells great, I just shifted the smelly experiments to your room for the weekend! Enjoy 😉

[@lukeomalley3769]

That is hot, that is really really hot!@@JamiesBrickJams

[@JamiesBrickJams]

😂

[@That1Phish]

new sub plus a complement i wish i looked like you

[@JamiesBrickJams]

Aw well thanks for joining!

[@Engineeringtech768]

I’m actually trying to do the same thing like you did but with a battery that I can also take anywhere with me it’s supposed to be like a little heater because we’re gonna be going on a camping trip and I need to be prepared so I’m building a backpack that is a little work bench and it’s actually going pretty good but the problem with it it needs a heater because when we go on a camping trip I will need to bring a tent and it’s gonna be really cold so I need to find a way to build a little heater box inside the backpack I do have a bunch of aluminum cans laying around in my room. I thought they were conductive but when I saw your video about using his legal with the special legal parts, and he said aluminum that reminds me of a aluminum can but I just need your help. Trying to find a way to find a battery that’s powerful nothing easy to charge so I can make a heater. I do have a radio that I can connect by using it as battery but I don’t wanna break it. I want to find a power source on an able to charge the radio while supplying power to the whole back that I’m creating so wish me luck.

[@JamiesBrickJams]

I admire your thinking outside the box here! And I really like the idea in general - I was thinking of making a little portable heater myself. However, if you're going camping, I'll make a recommendation. If you want to run a small heater like this, it's drawing around 300 watts. So if you want to run this for an hour, you'd need a bank of around 60 5000mah LiPo batteries, which would likely cost you several thousand, and would weigh a ton. Or you could bring about 6 lead car batteries, which would similarly weigh a ton. And this would only run the heater for an hour. You're better off just bringing a bag of coal and some firelighters 😉

[@Engineeringtech768]

List on batteries just like dispose of the energy without any problems I could try building a circuitboard that can make the energy from the lithium ion batteries to make it way more powerful so when I do that, it might be able to be longer or just die straight like that I don’t know

[@Engineeringtech768]

There’s gonna be a built-in fireplace inside the backpack I am like really good at starting fire because I’m a pyromaniac so I’m gonna make a blueprint and build a schematic of for the fireplace and the building and try finding a tin can so I can use it for the fireplace frame then I’ll try finding some pop cans for theexhaust so I can go out of the backpack