Custom case fans!

[jnthnbgg]

So as i further get involved in more builds for myself and friends I find myself doing as I please with my hardware making it the way I want it, looking the way I want it to look. The one thing I don't see a lot of is custom fan work. I have painted many fans with great success and decided on my last build I want to see what people have done out there to their fans to make them unique to their build. So lets see what everybody has been doing; paint, LEDs, whatever leds see it.

From my latest build, a Noctua 200mm NF-A20 PWM. I decanted a silver and white spray paint can and painted these using my air brush. The case is a Thermaltake Core V1 with all the exterior panels in Black and interior all white.

[Enderman]

The reason there are not many people custom painting their fans is because it is bad.

 

The paint can unbalance the rotor which causes additional wear on the bearings, causing additional noise and eventually leading to failure.

Also, added weight and thickness will cause more blade flattening which can make the blades touch the fan housing.

 

People who want a certain colour of fan will either buy a fan that is already manufactured in that colour or will go with RGB.

[Bcat00]

51 minutes ago, Enderman said:

 

Now that's one theory i like a review put it to the test. I know a lot of people say it will cause issues, but no one has ever experimented with it and published the results.

Not to my awareness anyways.

[Enderman]

3 minutes ago, Bcat00 said:

Now that's one theory i like a review put it to the test. I know a lot of people say it will cause issues, but no one has ever experimented with it and published the results.

Not to my awareness anyways.

Because people who do it only really care about the looks and nothing else.

Also, I doubt those people keep the PC or fans long enough for them to see them fail.

 

If you search online you can find several people on different forums who have done it.

"Only issue I've come across regarding the weight is that when it's coated unevenly it ruins the weight distribution, thus making them spin off centered and noisy/broken"

Some people dye the fans which doesn't affect the balance.

 

[jnthnbgg]

On 12/21/2017 at 5:39 PM, Enderman said:

The reason there are not many people custom painting their fans is because it is bad.

 

The paint can unbalance the rotor which causes additional wear on the bearings, causing additional noise and eventually leading to failure.

Also, added weight and thickness will cause more blade flattening which can make the blades touch the fan housing.

 

People who want a certain colour of fan will either buy a fan that is already manufactured in that colour or will go with RGB.

So having been a year since done this I can confirm there are no issues with the balance of the fan. I also take my time and do even coats and very light coats. If you, do it with a proper air brush, paint (decanted spray cans work honestly), and take your time protecting the bearings it can be done without issue. If you don't have patience then I would say don't bother.