Compact and quiet cooling fan for 8020 rigs

[Mascot]

Thought I'd share this as I found it's a neat solution to get some face cooling when sim racing. I'm not bothered about telemetry-controlled leaf blowers or marine bilge fans to simulate driving at speed, I just wanted a little cooling to keep my mush cool in VR.

The fan is one of these, available on eBay and Amazon from a variety of merchants for around £10 - £11 delivered. It's quiet, looks good and is remarkably powerful considering its compact size. Using it on the slowest setting is normally enough for me.

For example:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/REMAX-Mini-Portable-Desk-USB-Fan-Laptop-Cooler-with-Twin-Turbo-Touch-Control/312713372069?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&var=611431093855&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

The cool (ho ho ho) thing about this fan is the rotating metal stand. For fixing to 8020 rigs, the leg slots very neatly into the extrusion channel, which gives a very simple mounting solution like this:

File a small round slot in the plastic cap that lines up with your chosen channel position. For static rigs this is enough to keep it in place, but for motion rigs like mine you could bang a small screw through the leg to pin it to the 8020 channel. The height can be set at this point too.

That's it really. Works like a charm and is as cheap as chips. Enjoy.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Wow, that sucks man. And I thought living in Carribean is like a paradise.
Over 80 with all that humidity, OMG, how you endure that?

 

[BP]

Wow, that sucks man. And I thought living in Carribean is like a paradise.
Over 80 with all that humidity, OMG, how you endure that?

Yup that’s how they get ya LOL

No in reality I was born and raised here...I seem to handle it better than most though...funny enough, cities like Boston for example can be just as hot and humid, but with less breeze and no beach to go to (or at least no beach I’d be caught dead in...I have high standards for beaches you know )...anyways back on topic:

Anyone ever use a Vornado fan? My room is a 12’ by 16’...wondering if they actually work, I’ve seen some locally.

 

[anton_Chez]

I actually ordered a good one, for 170 AUD when I built my sim room which has no windows.

It never arrived and I lost the money to boot. So, unless I buy ANOTHER one, I'll never know! But they seemed good for my purpose. To create airflow around the room as well as operate like a normal fan.

 

[BP]

I actually ordered a good one, for 170 AUD when I built my sim room which has no windows.

It never arrived and I lost the money to boot. So, unless I buy ANOTHER one, I'll never know! But they seemed good for my purpose. To create airflow around the room as well as operate like a normal fan.

Oh man that sucks...they do seem good but I’m looking for a first-hand review of one in this community, preferably someone that lives in tropical weather; sometimes I don’t trust Amazon reviews.

 

[Goes To 11]

I designed and printed a cap for 15 series profile that angles the fan slightly up.

 

[Cote Dazur]

@Mascot , I found one better.

 

[Patrick Bradford]

The little honeywell fans are great. I bought one for like 12 bucks, plenty of flow. Small enough to be able to move it around, big enough to where I don't get sweaty.

 

[Hiro Abe]

It is absolutely uncanny how perfectly the arm of this little fan fits into the slot of my extrusion. With the sleeve, it offers enough friction to hold it in place. I wish I could turn it on/off with a switch but that's a minor quibble. This little sucker... er, blower... is absolutely brilliant! Thanks, @Mascot for sharing this discovery!

 

[Mascot]

It is absolutely uncanny how perfectly the arm of this little fan fits into the slot of my extrusion. With the sleeve, it offers enough friction to hold it in place. I wish I could turn it on/off with a switch but that's a minor quibble. This little sucker... er, blower... is absolutely brilliant! Thanks, @Mascot for sharing this discovery!

Thanks - glad you like it!

 

[UncleGit]

I designed and printed a cap for 15 series profile that angles the fan slightly up.View attachment 322545

Any chance you can share the STL for that ?

I'm running a P1X chassis and VR and I get foggy goggles badly in rallying....

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Cooling goggles won't help, it's the opposite.

 

[UncleGit]

Was more to cool me and stop the sweat evaporating into the goggles

 

[Goes To 11]

Any chance you can share the STL for that ?

I'm running a P1X chassis and VR and I get foggy goggles badly in rallying....

This link will expire in a week: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsnUlWequNslhLsOnU2oLsmLbC161w?e=qb3a10

I believe the P1X is 40mm. 15 series (4play racing) is ~38mm so you may need to scale it a bit. I'm no master designer and even though I allowed for some tolerance, it was still a tight fit.

 

[Alex Townsend]

Anyone ever use a Vornado fan? My room is a 12’ by 16’...wondering if they actually work, I’ve seen some locally.

Yes we have one... but to be honest its not that great.
We use it in conjunction with a ceiling fan and air con unit...
It can keep the room cool once cooled down with the air con but when you live in the tropics, in our case Malaysia, it's not long before its circa 28 degrees again...

 

[BP]

Yes we have one... but to be honest its not that great.
We use it in conjunction with a ceiling fan and air con unit...
It can keep the room cool once cooled down with the air con but when you live in the tropics, in our case Malaysia, it's not long before its circa 28 degrees again...

thanks buddy, i'll skip it then.

 

[UncleGit]

This link will expire in a week: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsnUlWequNslhLsOnU2oLsmLbC161w?e=qb3a10

I believe the P1X is 40mm. 15 series (4play racing) is ~38mm so you may need to scale it a bit. I'm no master designer and even though I allowed for some tolerance, it was still a tight fit.

Thanks - I appreciate it.

 

[Mr Latte]

Nice wee fan, I was looking at something similar but will opt to using "Alexa" within the room to help control my Phillips Hue and other devices via smart plugs/adapters.

Amazing how cheap some of these are now and what we can do.

"Alexa Fan 30% - Set Lights To VR"

 

[Mastrofus]

Keeping cool while sim racing in VR can be a challenge, and it's great to hear that you've found a compact and quiet cooling fan solution. Sometimes, simplicity does the trick, right? The fact that it's both quiet and powerful is a real plus. Plus, it's budget-friendly, which is always a win. Thanks for sharing this find! If you ever want to explore more options for staying comfortable during your sim racing adventures, you might want to check out this modern ceiling fan collection: https://kbsceilingfans.com/collection/ready-stock-in-usa. They offer a variety of stylish and functional fans that could enhance your gaming setup.

 

[Elaphe]

I have 4 Delta fans facing me while driving. However, they are telemetry controlled (Simdash), so I'm still hot and have fogging problems while on Content Manager. Do you know of any way to deceive the system so that it thinks that AC is running and so the fans are working all the time?

 

[Elaphe]

I have 4 Delta fans facing me while driving. However, they are telemetry controlled (Simdash), so I'm still hot and have fogging problems while on Content Manager. Do you know of any way to deceive the system so that it thinks that AC is running and so the fans are working all the time?

I have found a very simple solution: creating an empty Autohotkey script called acs.ahk, compiled as acs.exe, run it and then Simdash thinks Assetto Corsa is running, so the fans work as soon as I load the program. Incredible but it works XD.