D.I.Y. fan cooled goggles for under $20 or so...

[localfreerider]

D.I.Y. fan cooled goggles for under $20 or so...

I came across a forum post "D.I.Y. fan cooled goggles for under $20" but after looking for it again, I think it has been sucked into some black hole of the inter-web to be found by a paleontologist a million years from now. This was a practical mod that was really easy to do with no real technical skill involved, just an adventurous spirit a steady hand and some basic tools.

I thought I would document my efforts and post a quick write up of my success or lack there of. I don't think it needs to be said, but a quick disclaimer! I am not responsible for you destroying your fancy new mask or goggles, its your eyes on the line, its up to you to know what your doing. With that out of the way, this is how I made my poor mans D.I.Y. cooling system.

For tools you will need

- Wire cutters
- Scalpel or craft knife
- Glue gun

Nice to have but not needed

- Heat gun
- Sharp needle
- Ruler
- Nail file or fine grit sand paper
- A clean work space



For materials you will need

- Mask or goggles, I used my ESS Profile NVG, $50 from eBay
- Laptop mini muffin fan, the smaller the better mine were 2x2x1cm, $7 for 2
- Wires, I paid $7 for 150ft but you can get some from an old computer
- 9v battery and snap 5$ for 10 or you could cannibalize your smoke detector
- On/off relay $2, unless you want the fans to be on all the time
- Electrical tape $1, I used heat shrink tubing $6 for a more professional look
- Some way to attach the fans, I used the metal wire from bread bag ties and hot glue but you could use small zip ties or some bolts for hard fixing them, be creative!

Nice to have but not needed

- Craft foam, $7
- Velcro strips $2



To start you want visualize where you want the fan/s to be placed while taking into consideration where your switch and battery will go and the air flow for the mask. Remember to measure thrice, there no going back after you start cutting. Remove or cover your lenses, no point in trading fog for scratches.



Once you know what you want then start, be careful and go slowly! I know my goggles rubber cuts like a Hemophiliac . I placed my fans one for each eye, in the little recesses behind the headband and I was surprised by how well they fit, almost like it was meant to be.



I lashed the fans to the rubber frame of the goggles with metal wire and filled in the gaps with craft foam and hot glue to create an air duct. Removing the foam dust cover from the top allows the hot air to vent up. Use a file or sand paper to clean up any rough cuts.



After you have fans secured you can wire it all up. On my fans there were 3 wires, red is (+), black is (-), yellow is (ground) I think, but then again I know nothing. I only figured this out through trial, error and one burnt out fan.



When connecting wires strip about an inch of exposed wire and twisted them parallel making sure to twist all the wires in the same direction and then folded it over and shrink wrapped all the connections. Remember to put any heat shrink tubing on the wire before twisting off the connection and watch out what you heat. The rubber in my goggles melts at around the same temperature the heat shrink tubing cures at and I'm not sure what the heat will do to your impact resistant lenses.

For the relay I chose a 5v push button so the fan is only on when I hold it down. I bent the metal casing to make a box where the wires connect. The three pins are power, NC normally closed, NO normally open. You can clip off the NO pin unless that your sort of thing . I bent the pins to make hooks but if you do so be-careful not to break the pin. Wrap a good amount of wire around the pin and secure it with shrink wrap, use hot glue to prevent short circuits and connections coming loose. I wrapped the relay in craft foam to hide my spaghetti wire job. Connect the battery and attach it to the head band with Velcro.

Pat yourself on the back! Your done, now enjoy hours of fog free gaming and remember to bring your Visine because if your fan job is anything like mine its strong enough to dry your eyes out.

If anyone goes through all this trouble post your results here I'd love to see what you guys come up with. If you have any questions don't be afraid to shoot me a PM I'll do my best to answer quickly, I am not on ASC often.

A "localfreerider" top tip: If your mags wobble and rattle in the mag-well try shimming with hockey tape or the soft side of Velcro. Use Teflon tape to seal air leaks, shim threaded connections and shaky stocks *Do Not Use In Gearbox*

I do a bit of gunsmithing and after my friends Tanaka Browning Hi-Power broke we found out parts are near impossible to find. I am in the proses of hand crafting a new rocker plate out of sheet steel with tin-snips and hand files. I will post my success or failure in my next post and hopefully we can restore more wall hangers to game-able condition.

PS: I haven't finished posting all the pics and the final product. I will soon though!

[coach]

cool

edit: you got pictures.

what voltage are those fans running? I use 12v type but have been looking for 5v ones

[Gunny_McSmith]

You could have gotten this instead for the battery... they are only 2-3$ shipped! :P



Link: http://cgi.ebay.ca/1PCS-9V-Battery-H...item27b98c1137

[localfreerider]

to coachster

the fans are sunon DC5V I have 2 with a 9V battery so I figured it would be good. One thing is they are loud right next to my ears but I only use them for 10-20 second bursts.

to Gunny_McSmith

I could have gone with one of those... but wheres the fun in that? The truth is I didn't know where to find one . beside the fans, I got all the rest at the local PC store.

[kaiu]

I found this site, it sells stuff slightly more but it is Canadian

http://www.ezcreation.ca/FANZ_KITS__...35_568344.aspx

The Micro Fans are friggen tiny, if you want them really low profile lol (Same size as the ones in my Revision Fan Version, so I guess it should perform the same...) Good fog control when set on high... Although I also use anti-fog solution on my lense.

[coach]

did you get the fans locally? online? all I have found at my local haunts are the 30mm 12v versions.

I used 2x12v with a single 9v and it worked for a while but ran the battery dry fairly quick. I suppose if yours are too noisy, you could slow down the fans a bit with some resistors or put in a potentiometer or variable resistor to dial it back a bit. (ie a home brew fan speed controller)

[localfreerider]

I got them online but I can't recommend the retailer, shipping took way to long to get to me and when it finally arrived it was the wrong product.

[Snakebite1967]

Ive used the EZCreations ones for years good product and cheap and Canadian

[Cliffradical]

In my adventures through paintball goggles I found that when you have a dual-fan system like this one, it's most efficient to orient the fans to that one 'blows in' while one 'sucks out'.

Think computer cases; if there's more air being forced in one direction more than any other (all out, all in, more in than out etc) you'll create dead spaces where the air is not being moved as much as it could be.

In the case of goggles this is only theory, but in practice it seemed to be sound theory. Ultimately it comes down to personal preference.

Tape your fans in with a bit of masking tape before you affix them permanently and go do some yardwork.
Find out which way works best for you!

[coach]

Originally Posted by Cliffradical

In my adventures through paintball goggles I found that when you have a dual-fan system like this one, it's most efficient to orient the fans to that one 'blows in' while one 'sucks out'.

Think computer cases; if there's more air being forced in one direction more than any other (all out, all in, more in than out etc) you'll create dead spaces where the air is not being moved as much as it could be.

In the case of goggles this is only theory, but in practice it seemed to be sound theory. Ultimately it comes down to personal preference.

Tape your fans in with a bit of masking tape before you affix them permanently and go do some yardwork.
Find out which way works best for you!

with paintball goggles that the fans are mounted on top, the ideal way is to have forced air flowing down. reason being, when you exhale, warm moist air gets trapped by the goggles as it rises. the majority of the time, this is the cause for fogging, unless you sweat a lot in the face area. having the fans in opposite directions would work but not nearly as well. with them both pointed down, it helps prevent any exhaled air from entering your goggles.

with the OP's glasses, a cross wind might work but then you'd be drawing warm moist air over one side. so if air is drawn in from the left, the right side could still fog up.

I think his idea here is to maintain a positive pressure of fresh air entering the goggles, though I don't know if there are points for exhaust.

[chaz]

NVM

[Trev140_0]

You can wire 2 of these in series to get a 10 V load. (I know its not perfect and not going to go into load on in series motors with people here but it works)

Once wired in series, you can take a 9.6 V nun chuck battery and use it as the source. I wired my motors to an old cell phone coil cord and put on the connectors for Tamnyia

You will never fog or run out of power.

[Thenooblord]

i hook my goggles fan up to an old 7.4v RC battery in my breast pocket, I could go to a month long game and itll never run down, lol

[lurkingknight]

I'm a bit concerned with the size of the holes in the fan casing, almost big enough for a bb to pass through.

I used micro computer fans on my ess strykers. 7mmx7mmx3mm 2 fans and while I probably could've powered them off a pair of AAA batteries, each fan has its own AAA battery pack. when they're running, they're not super loud and no fog ever has built up in the goggles. All you need is to twist tie them right to the goggle mesh on top... as long as there's enough air gap, air will flow.


prowl through the catalog at digikey.ca if you want to find a specific sized fan.

[localfreerider]

the only way I see that a bb would pass through that part is if the fan blades fell out. It is so well hidden by the headband I do not think I will have penetration into the goggles.