The Computer Zone

So you have an extra case fan lying around your house from an old computer, but you don’t know what to do with it. In 3 easy steps I’ll tell you how to make an external fan that plugs into a USB port out of that old case fan. Now before we get started your going to need 4 things.

1. An old case fan.
2. A USB cable (one end needs to be a male end to fit into your USB port)
3. Wire cutters
4. Electrical Tape

If you don’t have these parts on hand you can buy them from your local hardware store and tech store for under $30. Lets now dive into how you go about creating this fan.

1. The first step in this process is preparing the case fan. From your fan you’ll see a braided group of wires (generally red, white and black) connected at the end with the power supply connector. The first thing you’ll do is cut the braided group near the power supply connector. Once you’ve cut the group untangle the wires about 5 centimeters (2″). After this take your wire cutters and cut off the white wire, this is the ground wire and its not needed for use. Strip back the wire casing on the red and black wires about 2.5 centimeters (1″). Once you’ve stripped back the wire casing you’re done with this step.
2. Now you’re going to cut open your USB cable. Cut off the one end of the USB cable. Now the USB cable has a fairly thick casing and you’re going to have to strip it. Once you’ve done this you’ll find two smaller wires (red and black) surrounded by a think piece of metal, cut it off or push it back to expose the small wires. Strip back the casing on these smaller wires and you’re on to the final step.
3. With the electrical tape, tape together the case fan and the USB cables. Now its fairly easy to do this. Tape the black wire from the case fan to the black wire from the USB cable and the red wire to the red wire. Once you’ve taped these together, go over the entire cable with electrical tape to make sure things don’t move around. You’re done!

All you have to do is plug it into a free USB port and enjoy the air. I’ve found that the fan doesn’t blow nearly as much as a commercial fan but for something that was free it’s not bad. Hopefully you’ve found this guide helpful if you have any questions feel free to email me at adam[at]thecompzone.com

This entry was posted on Monday, October 8th, 2007 at 11:00 am and is filed under Guides, Hardware / Gadgets / Hacks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.