[Mod Log] Painted Fan Blades and Accents

[N3rot0xin]

So I decided to paint one of my fans yesterday. Not the shroud, but the blades. It was a a standard NZXT 140mm case fan. Black frame w/ white blades that I wanted blue instead. So I painted it! I also decided to paint a few screws and prep the PCI slot covers on my case to also be painted the same shade of blue. What follows are the work shots I got of everything and the finished fan and screws. I apologize for the crappy quality of the images, they were all taken with my phone and then I had to downsize them for the forum.

 

Materials used:

Scotch Blue Painters Tape

X-acto Knife

Krylon Fusion Paint (Blue)

 

The Fan

In Progress Work(didn't have camera when outside painting...)

 

And the Finished Product (shown with painted screws)

 

The Screws

 

 

The PCI Slot Covers taped and ready

 

To anyone who has anything to say about painting fan blades: I know the paint job is not perfect, it was my first time painting anything like that. But there is no degredation in sound or increase in performance. It was not a precision engineered fan to begin with so paint didn't add much of anything. There is a little bit of noise that is barely audible but it has always done that and i wont hear it with the rest of the system on anyways. I would not attempt to paint a fan that has specifically engineered blades (such as Corsair SP/AP, Silverstone AP123s, Cougars, etc...). 

 

Make sure to leave feadback. There will be an update to this thread tomorrow sometime when I get the PCI Slot covers painted.

[Askew]

I like the way it looks in this image, but what happened in the corners of these blades?

 

[AlwaysFSX]

Wait... these just pop off?! I must get some orange spray paint now...

[N3rot0xin]

Wait... these just pop off?! I must get some orange spray paint now...

Some fans do just pop off with a little pressure, others you have to remove a little clip on the shaft of the fan blades that you have to remove. On the fan I painted, that clip had to be removed. Also, dont start of buying expensive fans and spraying them. This was more or less a free fan since it came with my case and it does nothing but move air out of the top of my case. I wouldn't recommend doing this to rad fans or heatsink fans.

[AlwaysFSX]

Some fans do just pop off with a little pressure, others you have to remove a little clip on the shaft of the fan blades that you have to remove. On the fan I painted, that clip had to be removed.

I'll have to find out what you mean by that later today, because I really want to paint my own NZXT fans but didn't really come up with a good idea of how to since I didn't know if the blades could be removed or not.

[Erik4boss]

White looks better IMO.

[N3rot0xin]

I'll have to find out what you mean by that later today, because I really want to paint my own NZXT fans but didn't really come up with a good idea of how to since I didn't know if the blades could be removed or not.

If you remove the sticker on the back of the frame, you can see the shaft and theres a little white clip that needs to be removed from the shaft. You can look up a video on how to do that, most fans that dont just pop off use the same style of clip.

[AlwaysFSX]

If you remove the sticker on the back of the frame, you can see the shaft and theres a little white clip that needs to be removed from the shaft. You can look up a video on how to do that, most fans that dont just pop off use the same style of clip.

Ooooooh.. awesome. Thanks for this!

[N3rot0xin]

White looks better IMO.

My color scheme is blue and black. If I didn't have a theme i wouldn't of bothered because yes, white did look better if I wasn't trying to color match.

[Rorgash]

removable blades the horror  think about all that dust and crap getting into it..

[N3rot0xin]

I like the way it looks in this image, but what happened in the corners of these blades?

 

The paint ran a little there, tried to smooth it off but it didn't go well. It looks bad, but after testing it doesn't cause any adverse affects on the balance. The mistake came in how I was painting. It was a bit colder outside then I expected, and I had the blades hung from a wire instead of flat.

[Moosie]

While this is a cool mod and all, you could have gotten a Prolimatech Blue Vortex 14 that just looks like this and is better than the NZXT fan (at least in my experience) for less than the cost of the spray paint, and without any of the risks.

 

But it does look like a fun project. I might try painting one of the fans I have lying around.

[N3rot0xin]

I know i could have easily gone out and bought the fan and everything for less then i spent on the painting supplies (the paint was only $4.95, not sure if a fan of anykind is cheaper then that). it wasn't about "just getting a blue fan". It was about the joy of doing it myself and knowing "hey, I painted that myself. Its in my case, and I painted it" more then anything else. If all I wanted was a blue fan, i would have bought a blue fan. But I wanted to do it myself, so I did. its not perfect but it is my own creation.

[x Relentless Xx]

The horror....those fans will never be the same ever again. I consider them ruined. No offense, painting fan blades just destroys the fan.

[N3rot0xin]

Not being the same is the point. I appreciate ur opinion but frankly your being too negative. I get painted fans aren't your thing but attempting to put me down for doing mine is pretty much against the core principle of this forum. It is not destroyed, it works same as before, and looks the way I want it to look. If it offends you so badly please don't post such negative posts.

[x Relentless Xx]

Not being the same is the point. I appreciate ur opinion but frankly your being too negative. I get painted fans aren't your thing but attempting to put me down for doing mine is pretty much against the core principle of this forum. It is not destroyed, it works same as before, and looks the way I want it to look. If it offends you so badly please don't post such negative posts.

Not being negative. Not my fault if you took it as a negative insult. I'm stating a fact. Painting fans is horrible for the fan. You might not notice it now but your fan is probably out of balance. I guarantee you it is unbalanced with that run. Down the road you'll probably notice a vibration. Your airflow is now hindered as well.

Like I said before, fans are engineered and optimized from the factory for optimal performance. Anything you do to it will make it worse. Not negativity, it's a fact. If you took it as a negative opinion, then that's your problem.

[N3rot0xin]

Not being negative. Not my fault if you took it as a negative insult. I'm stating a fact. Painting fans is horrible for the fan. You might not notice it now but your fan is probably out of balance. I guarantee you it is unbalanced with that run. Down the road you'll probably notice a vibration. Your airflow is now hindered as well.

Like I said before, fans are engineered and optimized from the factory for optimal performance. Anything you do to it will make it worse. Not negativity, it's a fact. If you took it as a negative opinion, then that's your problem.

Well its painted now. Soooo... yeah. Nothing bad is happening and it doesn't sound or vibrate any differently. If it breaks, OMGENDOFTHEWORLDSOMUCHMONEYGONE. No but seriously its a freebie preinstalled fan with no published information other then RPMs.  I'll replace it with a Prolimatech Blue Vortex 14.

/endflame

 

Anywhos, to everyone else, PCI slot covers are almost done. Got one side painted before work today. Let it dry while at work. Other side getting painted tomorrow afternoon. If you're wondering why I taped over the top part where the screw goes and the bottom that latches it to the case, thats because I didn't want to create a situation where paint flakes from the screw scraping off tiny bits or flakes from the bottom sliding into place getting into my case. No other reason. Kinda wishing I had more things to paint and a lot more time to customize other things. I want some LED strips now or something so you can SEE the pci slot covers lol.

[jredman79]

I'd really like to paint my Noctua's, but since I have 14 of them, that's quite an investment and don't want to screw them up...  It's a shame they're such an ugly color, but people who know them appreciate them when they see my case...