This PC FAN MOD Created a Rather NOISY Problem | Fan Showdown S5E9

Today we have a look at 4 more of your designs in this episode of the Fan Showdown. One fan offers a creative solution to a problem we have all faced during a PC build, however its design created another rather noisy situation.
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[@tomwest5083]

For a second, I thought I might have to do a Dragon Wing V2. Good job with the devil, and no, not the same Tom. But cool name.

[@avanmater]

Tom you inspired me and my friend Tom to make the Devil (after destroying the angel). We were so close! I thought our sound would be better but I suppose not so your congratulations remains.

[@tomwest5083]

​@@avanmaterwell you had 100 RPM to spare over the dragon wing, so just a tad more aggressive pitch and you'd easily have more CFM with that efficient blade geometry.

[@Sekir80]

@@avanmater So, you designed the Angel then! What if all three of you try to make something even better? :D

[@tomwest5083]

​@@Sekir80yea, lowering the dBA would quiet the whiners LOL

[@thomasrogers8239]

That blower sounds like an air raid siren because it doesnt have enough throughput going around the outside. I think making the outer shell like a a snail profile, kind of like on a turbo, you'd both cut the sound and also drastically increase airflow.

[@herrkulor3771]

If it could leave all sides open it would be like my Remington beard trimmer with vacuum. Yes, I modified the fan... MB6850 is a newer version than mine.

[@thehorsefromGOTs8]

@@herrkulor3771 I had no idea vacuum trimmers existed, I've been wanting a suck cut ever since I saw wayne's world as a kid.

[@kevinhunter7581]

Tom??

[@Roguex9x]

The blower would do better as a squirrel cage than turbo. More like an HVAC fan than a car turbo charger.

[@Oblithian]

Also the edge of the exhaust opening is sharp and close to the face. if instead of an L they rounded it and elongated the edge it should be softer.

[@chickencurry7642]

Devil's air movement was so smooth

[@FunkyWombat]

you could say it was a real...smoke show 😂😂

[@EpIcHoBoGuY]

what's even more crazy is from his testing we know the devil and the dragon wing can beat the A12 buy another 2% if resin printed meaning both would be over 530 rpm or over 70cfm

[@spitfire7772]

For real the Dragon Wing and the Devil are gonna be in real fans, those numbers look sooo good (finally rivals for the Acceleron)

[@blar2112]

Both are too noisy tho

[@Tantakugames]

@@blar2112 they really arent that bad, comparible noise to cheaper desktop fans but significantly better airflow.

[@MenkoDany]

I wonder when the commercial acceleron fan will come out. Hopefully soonn

[@yobgodababua1862]

I rally like how the smoke test visually predicts the tunnel performance in most cases. The devil had a beautiful, almost straight, vortex for it's exhaust.

[@phizc]

Agreed. I can pick the order from the smoke test unless it's really close. This one was easy.

[@kamui004]

Unfortunately for the A12x25 blower designer, if he had ever seen how an air raid siren is constructed, he pretty much was making half of an air raid siren. He just needed another disk with a different number of blades to make a full on air raid siren lol.

[@Nevir202]

Ya, but I think if he just made one whole side open, that would eliminate most of that issue?

[@tsm688]

@@Nevir202 yes, at the cost of moving zero air

[@Nevir202]

@@tsm688 No idea how you figure that. You're literally arguing that having a larger output port, means less air moved.

[@tsm688]

​@@Nevir202 Remember, this is a centrifugal fan. It accepts air into the middle, and blows it out the sides. The same air that comes out will get sucked straight back in, resulting in very little benefit. This is why they have to mask off so much of centrifugal fans.

[@Nevir202]

@@tsm688 The whole point of a centrifugal fan if to install it in a place where intake air and discharge can't mix. The reason they leave such a small outlet in most centrifugal fans, is that they are more concerned with pressure than max airflow.

[@paulreese9452]

I think the blower could be improved with a larger exit hole, or a second exit hole. The smoke test seems to reveal a bit of a back pressure issue.

[@zor8952]

Removing the cover entirely should make a huge difference.

[@michaeladler3035]

This is definitely my favorite "Show" on KZbin. Just wish it could be a weekly show.

[@disposablecowboy]

The blower fan’s exhaust has square edges parallel to the fins. That’s what’s causing the air raid sound. If the exhaust was a diamond shaped where there were no parallel edges from the perspective of the fins it might be quieter.

[@Oblithian]

It also doesn't have enough epace around the circumference it should be more like an @, unless they are ok with venting it in multiple directions.

[@chrisanderson2368]

The blower model needs a horn intake to keep all that air from getting blown sideways. And a larger output for sure. Or if we're getting crazy, a deeper fan blade (and thus larger outlet) with a spacer assembly to make the enclosure deeper as well.

[@NemoConsequentae]

The big problem was that it was intended for places that _don't_ have that room, and required the low profile. Larger / better shaped exhaust would help, it seems to be trying to suck in more air than it could exhaust.

[@The_RC_Guru]

Dudes channel is single-handedly nullifying every pc fan manufacturers engineering and R&D departments.

[@MidwestSirenProductions]

the Blower has such an air raid siren-esque sound due to the top edge of the stator being so sharp from the inside. Plenty of sirens have a "knife-edge" on the ports to better shop the air, and that's exactly what it happening here.

[@chrismichaelyoung]

username checks out

[@mandowarrior123]

​@@chrismichaelyoung it's amazing how many niche experts are in the youtube woodwork.

[@BRUXXUS]

I think it could be really interesting to add weight to the list of metrics on your spreadsheet. There may be some correlation to mass vs. performance.

[@ghomerhust]

im sure top RPM is fairly dependant on the weight of the fan, almost as much as the drag of the design.

[@TlalocTemporal]

​@@ghomerhust-- I doubt mass will change top RPM much at all. Spin up time sure, but once the fan it up to speed, the only losses are drag and friction, neither of which are tied to mass. Larger fans have more mass though, and a larger surface area will have more drag, so there might be some correlation.

[@Tar_Ogre]

Andy also made the Angel, the fan in 4th place currently. Is that the same Andy? If so and that's the same Tom then it looks like the 2 best fans teamed up.

[@DUKE_of_RAMBLE]

🤨🫨🤯 I mean, sure... they're very common names... but that would be quite interesting!

[@3lapsed]

​@@DUKE_of_RAMBLEas a Tom (not a fan maker) I can agree if both aren't the ones listed in 1st and 4th that would be a hell of a coincidence

[@maxmoller]

Pretty sure we have first team-up of the show 👍

[@tomhsia4354]

That's what I thought initially. However, those are really common names.

[@AySz88]

They're talking to each other on a different comment thread - same Andy, but different Tom.

[@WagnerFelix]

I am a huge FAN of this series

[@jasonw7852]

That's FANtastic 👍🏼

[@slateslavens]

The "Air Raid" sound is the edge of the nearly straight blade passing the edge of the blower housing output. See 4:23 for what I'm referring to. Changing the blade profile or the upper edge of the blower output (as situated in the picture) should change the sound profile.

[@orsonjgmail]

From the smoke test, it looked like the huracan actually did what the blower was trying to accomplish.

[@tsm688]

Interesting thought! I thought it was useless but maybe not at all

[@NicolasChapadosGirard]

This Tom and that other one are blowing the competition away!

[@RyyGuyy92]

"is that the same TOM?!" 👽🤣 6:34

[@StereoTyp0]

The airflow on the devil was SMOOOOOTH

[@halko1]

Gotta love the ingenuity of these designs. Experimentation is the key to innovation.

[@NinjAsylum]

The Huracan might be one of the worst fans we've seen. Absolutely zero static pressure.

[@cerberes]

The Devil did a nice job of chucking the smoke straight out the back.

[@Bularistan4o]

The A12 got beaten by *ahem*.. The Devil and the Dragon Wing, while right behind him is.. Angel. I think I will just submit a brick and call it The Hellbringer 😂

[@davidblalock9945]

The Blower housing is the cause of the air raid siren issue. Two ways to improve it. First, to improve airflow the area beyond the blades needs to gradually increase in the direction you’re trying to move it. Secondly, to prevent the air raid siren noise the exhaust port can not be squared off like that. This noise is caused by each blade slapping that wide flat edge with a air pressure front. The pneumatic equivalent to putting a playing card in the spokes of your bicycle.

[@HISKILP]

I wonder what happen, when you wouldn't use the white cover from the blower

[@FireBean8504]

I can't get enough of these fan showdowns! I'd love to see you extract a motor from a hard drive, make a frame for it to fit into and slap some fans on it!

[@Brandon_Makes_Stuff]

Omg, the CIWS for the blower fan! 🤣🤣🤣 Perfect edit. 👍👍

[@willcarter7079]

It would be cool to see a whole season of blower fans. Give people an extra challenge.

[@ghomerhust]

hahahahaha i had to watch that "jump the gun" clip like 9 times, im laughing so friggin hard!

[@Dr_Mario2007]

Devil is apt of a name for that fan blade, just like everyone say, devil is in the details. 😈

[@ZoeyR86]

run the blower without the cover/ also print it mirrored the concept with centrifugal blowers is to force the air mass to spin so the mass of the air forces it outwards so a lot the the designs look backwards from what your mind expect it needs to look like. but really just chop off the first 3-4mm that has the sharp leading edge that creates most the noise and leave the cover off so it can toss the air without building pressure and causing a tall on the leading edge making the noise even worse

[@LordCogordo]

Upon reviewing the video, I observed that the 'Huracán Hurricane' airflow appeared overly turbulent. However, turbulent air is known for its efficient heat extraction. To enhance measurements, consider adding a loaded radiator to monitor CPU and expelled air temperatures for a more comprehensive analysis.

[@IanZainea1990]

6:35 not only is Tom in 1st with the Dragon Wing, but there's an Andy in 4th with the Angel... and then in 2nd is Andy AND Tom.... they hold the top 3 spots! (ignoring the a12x25)

[@technicallyreal]

Have you looked into using PETG as support interface for PLA prints? You don't need to use it for the entire support structure - just the support interface layers at the top of it. It allows you to reduce the top support distance to 0 for smoother bottoms on overhangs, and the support remove very easily (PLA and PETG don't bond to each other).

[@justmutantjed]

I think the Huracan fan produced a fair amount of backwash in the smoke test because of the rimward edges of the blades' profile. They look like they'd push air backwards more than a little bit. Looks sick, but just a little bit of revision needed to make it even more solid.

[@jajssblue]

TOM is just dominating!

[@Pystro]

It's funny how the Blower was outperformed in what it tried to do (expelling air sideways) by the Huracan Hurricane. And the HH seems to just be a fan that has an unintentional design flaw that somehow keeps it from expelling air "correctly". And as an added bonus, the HH doesn't sound like an air raid siren. So the way how I would improve the Blower is to actually start from the HH and amplify the feature that makes it expel the air in this unusual way.

[@willie9899]

Flat fan blade edge crossing a flat edge on the exit hole is not a good idea. Changing either of those should change the sound drastically

[@seldoon_nemar]

Codename "Tom" is actually just a Blue Origin flight engineer whos been spinning in an office chair for the last year

[@HelloKittyFanMan]

"Let's see if we're moving any air." Obviously you'll always move at least a little air with all of these.

[@lambcasualexperience7585]

Tom looking to take every podium stops lol.

[@carpediemarts705]

Glad you found and kept the best soundtrack from the start.

[@tsm688]

Also, that's literally how an air raid siren works -- a tiny hole that interrupts an airflow pressure xx times per second. Helix that flat bit maybe.

[@nameonelast598]

Thomas made acceleron, Tom made dragon wing and andy+tom made devil, I think all Tom's and Thomas's should unite to make the ultimate pc fan company to rival Noctua

[@GooseGosselin]

Awesome editing!

[@KalLanPIDT]

The blower needs a bigger shroud, there is nowhere for the air to go around it except one small corner. Look up centrifugal supercharger, thats what the housing need to look like internally.

[@Acoustic_Theory]

If there were just a little more room in the scroll, the noise issue from the blower could probably be improved. This could be done by undercutting the radial part of the mixed flow impeller, so that the inducer is still there but air can move around the outside of the blower inside the scroll. The blower is backing up lots of air pressure at the outside edge of its blades, which is seen in the smoke test by additional smoke being flung out radially on the intake side.

[@zichithefox4781]

These Tom guys really showing everyone up. Well done gents.

[@VoltZero83]

You should finally start measuring the pressure of these fans.

[@OperationDarkside]

Great episode again

[@ZmbiBglz]

Next season you could try going to a torquier motor to maybe give some of the larger more complicated fan assemblies a better chance.

[@gagehermann848]

Well done on the editing! So damn funny lol

[@MauricioRPP1]

Devil looks like a nice drop-in fan! Just like that double-bladed one from previous seasons

[@aalborgfantasy]

In the first 3 scores (except noctua) it's Andy and Tom... I guess they should start a company...

[@TFRotA1]

The blower has too much backpressure, and no way to evacuate it. Either shorten the height of the fan itself, or create a lobe that is heighest at outlet tapering away.

[@Iisakkiik]

The blower was really interesting to see! I've been hoping for noctua to make some, to be used as part cooling fans on 3d printers. Maybe I should give a try at making a smaller one, could be fun.

[@roberthercules3159]

3:29 His impeller design looks at leas "ok', but his scroll-shell appears to have EQUAL clearance all the way around the perimeter of the impeller. The scroll-cage fan (blower) design relies on the outer edge of the housing having a SPIRAL contour, rather than circular, in order to function efficiently and quietly (allows roughly equal outflow from the impeller around all points of the perimeter).

[@HelloKittyFanMan]

And one thing that was interesting about the (non-)"blower" is that because of its shape you had to face the a12's motor frame in the opposite direction, meaning that he had to give the blades the opposite pitch, also meaning that you had to put it on the opposite side of the smoke-test barrier, and also meaning that you had to do the air-tunnel test in vacuum mode instead of blower mode, ironically, which might have given us more of an apples-to-oranges comparison. Right?

[@Ferrox_]

the hurican hurricane (probably exagerates it due to the changes) shows exactly why id bet the rims are shaped like that on the actual Hurican, it spreads air in a wide arc over what would be a brake rotor behind it cooling it more effeciently. now if this was intentional by Lambo is something i cant say for sure but it surely is interesting

[@CaveyMoth]

Now I want to listen to 'The Devil Is In The Details' by Boards of Canada. Such a pleasant song.

[@djb1634]

I could tell by watching the smoke test that the devil was moving air very efficiently.

[@usercid640]

incredible things are happening on the fan showdown

[@Nevir202]

I think just making the blower open along the entire side would eliminate most of that air raid siren noise?

[@Gabberag]

NICE. I love this so much

[@killerhawks]

The hurrican did exact what it was supposed to do keep cool air on hot breaks..nice idea thoug..

[@Alan_Hans__]

As soon as I saw the smoke pattern for the Devil I expected it to put up some big numbers. It produced a very smooth looking profile. Adding some "cheater" shrouding and it may well set some records.

[@zahari_s_stoyanov]

The blower's impeller needs to be closed off(the blades should curl up on the side where they suck). Currently it just vents out because the inlet is much bigger then the expected outlet. If the blades curl up, they will create a barrier for the air, so the pressure will have to vent out the other side.

[@crazedw00kie]

I'd like to see a dual fan season of fan showdown. 1 fan is cool but 2 is cooler and I think it opens the door for some awesome design. Maybe some push pull, push push or even pull pull?

[@jajssblue]

The memes edited in are delightful!

[@LittleFox94]

Your Excel sheet has the Devil at place 20, even though the row is for place 2 ^^

[@colinsmith6340]

Give the blower a go without the white housing.

[@ZeFoxii]

I think having a tpu gasket on the a12x25 will help not only with “some” noise and redesigning the fins because that are rubbing on the inside.

[@ZeFoxii]

One more thing I feel that making the area in which the air is pushed out larger will deepen the sound.

[@HelloKittyFanMan]

Oh my gosh, that blower, or at least "blower," sounds VERY annoying!

[@BIGGlep]

Blower needs a turbocharger style diffuser and or scroll to converter the very angular velocity of the air to lower veloctiy higher pressure, as well as not sharply opening as blades pass by

[@ouzoloves]

1st - Tom 2nd - Tom and Andy 3rd - Andy Wow, now I know why I can't design a good fan, I don't have the right name

[@guycxz]

I think for the next season of the fan showdown it may be a good idea to do noise normalized testing, rather than testing noise and airflow separately. Generally it would be interesting to see how each fan performs at different noise levels and when pushing air through different levels of restriction, though that would very quickly turn into a lot of tests.

[@HelloKittyFanMan]

Wow, it's "COOL" (Ha, again!) that the Devil beat even the real deal in wind-tunnel pressure, according to your testing system!

[@agoddamnferret]

Okay so I don't have the design skills to practically design it, but if you were to take that exit for the blower, close it by like 35-40-ish% then have an opening pointing the opposite direction it would create enhanced suction pulling more air with it., now for the "air raid siren" sound I'm not sure cause that design lends itself to how air raid sirens/tornado sirens tend to work.

[@wackywixted]

You did the blower dirty on the radiator flow test. It should be mounted at a 90° angle so it blows through the radiator, not trying to suck through as you have there!

[@aqua_sakura5021]

Make a trumpet bell type of shape on the intake to let more of the air to go in

[@Alexandra-Rex]

Kind of looks like the Blower needs more of an opening to exhaust the air. It would be interesting to see it with various size openings (maybe make one with a slider so you don't need to make several?).

[@ZHaunDK]

you need to make a spinoff using the Noctua NF-A4x20. quick prints, and really awsome for making some turbine builds with the high rpm.

[@bait28]

Looking for a blower to use in place of a side case fan? Delta BFB1212 Quite a few variants, I've used them in cases a few times, sound profile is decent depending on rpm

[@DPete27]

Ppl with 3d printers get to have all the fun. The rest of us get stock A12X25

[@dogukangegecan]

I am realy curious about the layer lines effect on air flow, because it would increase the depth of the boundry layer that air velocity is zero relative to the blade, but if the layer lines are parallel to the air flow isnt the increased boundry layer still there to mess stuff. Next year Im gonna take the class that teaches fluid simulations and Im definitely going to mess with this stuff

[@silentferret1049]

The Huracan Hurricane was the better case against fane than what the blower was. All its airflow was out its sides and far quieter.

[@PoopCop]

Hey I think the blower could be improved if you smeared mayonnaise around the inside of it.

[@patrickradcliffe3837]

The blowers outlet is way to small and the blade geometry is not correct and air was leaking out. The concept is very cool but needs more devlopement.

[@stewiex]

I wonder if the Bambu Lab printer could print the "OMG What Have I Done" fan I submitted a while ago on the Fan Showdown subreddit. 🤔

[@Aodhan45]

The Toms think there can only be one "_____ Hardware"

[@Flying0Dismount]

I think the sweep of the blades on the "blower" is not quite right.. He's got a complex curve that appears to go the wrong direction as it approaches the hub, but it really just needs to be a simple concave.. Think regular squirell cage fan shape, but just a bit of scoop on the fan side..

If the variance at the top of the table is under 0.4% and I can see what Dragon Wing was printed... in detail without any burrs against Devil. So it would be a good idea to print Dragon Wing and Devil, at the same exact settings, and give it another test.

[@MichielvanderMeulen]

Finally finally I'm gonna give it a try, that's a promise.

[@azertyQ]

got some great surface finishes on those prints, what layer height/plastic is that?

[@Eidolon1andOnly]

Is it just me or do these prints look messier than usual?

[@MarkhorSculpin]

It's not just you.

[@Eidolon1andOnly]

@@MarkhorSculpin Thanks. I thought so.

[@BRUXXUS]

Yeah. There were some tough overhangs, plus it looked like the filament may have needed to be dried before printing.

[@tsm688]

who cares?

[@arutezza]

would love to see more wheel-themed fans, im suprised theres not more of them

[@TheRealAlpha2]

The Hurrican's performance should tell you why. I think even though sportscar hubs are meant to look cool they also need to be aerodynamic. It seems like even with the slanted air passages it's pushing more air along it's face than it's actively sucking through. Kinda like the dimpled golf ball fan it slipped though the air more than it pushed.

[@willcarter7079]

Brony's design is super interesting. We should explore that direction more

[@ThePCExpertAmateur]

I see that the Hurricane spits the air in every direction. I just wonder if there'd actually be a scenario INSIDE a PC where that would be good. I'm also wondering how that works as an exhaust fan - good, bad or ok?

[@maarten_zappos9189]

Tom reveal yourself!!