making my own cooler

im lookin to make my own laptop cooler (for the fun and idea of it more that anything). and i was wondering what i should use to make the body of the cooler? plastic? and also, i will be using desktop fans for the cooling purposes so what can i use to power those?

==edit==

ill probably be using 60mm fans. are their any brands that are better than other or are they all just fans?

 

aluminum

are there still 60mm fans around? theyd probably have to run at high rpms and be really loud, probably bes to use 80mm ones

power? maybe from something used in hard drive enclosures?

oh and if u get lots of help/advice making it, is it still your cooler or our cooler

 

well ok ill think about 80mm ones but i wanted to keep them as small as i could but i guess ill just have to mount them outside the back of the cooler. and as for the material im still open for suggestions and i would like to keep it as something easy to cut so that i can rout the air right to the computer.

 

depends on what kinda cooler do ya mean? one that goes under the laptop or one that attaches to the back?

to the back then it probably could be plastic, but underneath it needs to be something like aluminum which stays cool under heat

 

it will go under it. what thickness aluminum do you think i should use? i would like something that i can cut easily with like a dremel or something like that. and ofcourse it needs to be easy to fix it together with another sheet of aluminum (maybe solder??).

 

If you use aluminium as the material, then the cooler should eb more effective, as it is more thermally conductive than most metals. If you use thin sheets, then you will need some support. You could use some thin pieces of steel to give support, or wood. It wouldn't be too difficut to use either. Have you thought about how to power the fans. Most of them are 12 volts, so using a 5 volt supply, like the USB, may not spin the fans fast enough to generate any real air movement.

 

ok for a power supply i was thinking about something like this . but i like the idea of usb power. i also wanted to put a usb hub on there so if you guys knew of any low power fans i could run off of USB instead of a power adapter that would be great. but if i do need to use the power cord, would i need some type of adapter to get it connected with the fans or what?

 

why not just wire them up to a usb cable and plug them into the laptop. If you run them @ 12v they'll be very loud anyway unless you wire in a rheostat or resistor to reduce the voltage/speed. I added fan to my router and resistored it so it wouldn't be so loud.

As far as connecting wires you're going to have to cut and solder.

 

I like the idea of using that adapter that you linked. It will give the full 12 volts. If you did choose to use it, I think you would probably need to strip the wires and connect it to those of the fan, through some sort of switch or variable resistor, if you want to control the speed. That would give you quite a lot of control over the speed of the fan itself.

Alternativelym, you could go for lower voltage fans, such as 7 volts or 5 volts, which still spin aroughly the same speed at those rated at 12 volts. That would enable to use USB connecotrs as a power source, thus making the cooler more transportable. Personally, I think its a better idea. You could also, again, wire in a variable resistor to deal with noise difficulties, if there are any, similar to what WarlordOne has done.

 

ok well sorry but im very new to wiring and the like so what kind of switch would you recommend so that i can adjust the speed? portability isnt that important so using the power adapter will be fine. and what about just using very thin sheets of wood for the whole thing? that would be the easiest.

 

Using wood should be fine, since it easier to cut to a specific shape. However, the thermal properties of wood aren't particularly good. Alunimium on the other hand is a very good conductor of heat, but it is much more difficult to cut to shape. Both materials have their own advantages and disadvnatges. The choice is for you to decide.

If you choose to use the adapter, then wiring should not be a problem. All you have to do is match the positive with the positive of the fan, and the negative with the negative on the fan.

 

ok but from what ive done with wires (ripping up old broken things) there is usually three or four different wires. so when i cut the end of the cord, how do i tell which it which?

 

The red wires are almost always the positive, and the black ones are negative. Anyway, in the adapter that you linked, there shouldn't be more than two wires. The "Adapaplug" that is advertised only seems to have two terminals, which should mean that it only has one positive and one negative connection.

 

ok thanks. where can i get some leather or some pleather to make it look better?

 

If the length of the dapter wire is long enough, you could just simply hide the connections within the cooler. That would be very simple, as you would need some insulation tape to cover the connections. If the wire isn't that long, then you should be able to get some sort of insulation material from a local hardware store.

 

ok thanks. do all the adapters i need come with that power cord? whats a good switch i can use so that i can control the speed of the fans?

 

the simpler design the better.......millions have already poured into notebook cooling research, and the cases are some what self sufficient at the cooling themselves

so in my opinion the most efficient way to introduce a lower temperature is to somehow pull the air away even faster, not introduce new air into the mix


wood is better in my opinion and much easier to manipulate than aluminum.....

here is a read on general notebook internal cooling

http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/Print.cfm?AD=1&ArticleID=7534

here are two beginner projects that are a good place to start

http://www.instructables.com/id/EOUC1AQF51ZB9WS/

http://www.z-a-recovery.com/blog/2006/07/04/the-ultimate-notebook-cooling-device/

 

The switch would depend on the voltage and current value of the fans. Using Ohm's Law (Voltage = I (Current) x R (Resistance) ), you should be able to work out a range of resistanes to control the voltage range.

EDIT:
To work out the range of resistance values needed, you need to use the formula Voltage = I (Current) x R (Resistance). Use the equation to work out the standard resistance at 12 volts. So, for a fan with a voltage of 12 volts and a current of 0.1 amps,this would be R = 12/0.1 = 120 Ohms.

Then use the equation to work out the current, with the desired voltage, which for this example, could be 5 volts. So, the equation here would be I = 5/120 = 0.0417

Lastly, work out the voltage drop across the resistor which is 12 - 5 = 7 volts. Use the equation to then work out the new resistance, which would be R = 7/0.0417 = 168 Ohms.

So, the required range would be from 0 Ohms to 168 Ohms.

 

the only thing wrong with those beginner projects, is in the one with the copper fans, the angle of the fans themselves is obstructed.....allowing maximum airflow means NO obstructions in the path of the exiting air and a good seal between where the fan is screwed into the wood

the second one really shows no internal paths or exit points....they could be blowing air toward the notebook which just doesnt do the most efficient thing for cooling

 

I d go with the aluminum. Thin sheets with structural strengthening (T or L shaping the sheet) will solve the problem of flexin. The only problem is tat desktop fans are quite fat, u ll have to raise the laptop significantly to make it efficient.

 

I agree that if you got it together with aluminum that it would look a lot better and possibly more beneficial, but making it will be much more difficult when you factor in whole saw, lining up the edges and attaching them and making the whole thing sturdy

 

Haha. If you use anything over 7v it'll sound like you strapped a jet engine to your laptop. If you're going usb power I'd reccommend just wiring it up with a power switch. If you really want to use the 12v adapter I'd go with a SPCO or DPCO switch and resistor it to run 5v, off, 7v. I had to some similar work when I made a homemade projector.

LED calculators make finding the right resistor easy for this type of project:

http://led.linear1.org/1led.wiz

Source voltage -this will be voltage of your power source
diode forward voltage -desired voltage at your fan
diode forward current (mA) -desired current at your fan

 

uhg, this is all starting to get confusing.

 

http://www.instructables.com/id/E67H7V8QOVEXCFGWQW/

 

that was very helpful thanks. now, i hate to be a pain, but if i do it that way, would i need a different cable for each fan, or could i just get some kind of adapter and use just one?

 

You should be able to use just that one USB cable, if you go with such a system. However, USB ports provide a maximum current, and if it is less than the fans current, you may run into problems. Thats quite a good guide, though.