In the Spirit of Home-Built...

[muskE]

There are a smattering of various threads with great ideas of things people have created to make ice-life easier so here's my attempt at a Clam Fan/Light combo hack born out of my frustration for the lack of inventory for that product vs. the seemingly overwhelming demand for it. Oh mighty HSO Admins, what say you about a consolodated channel for home-built items?

One leading driver in my material selection was fan noise. Many of the threads about the Clam Fan/ Light discuss frustration with fan noise so I went to TigerDirect and purchased a computer fan with 14dB noise output. Holy Quiet Batman! This setup works wonders on the thermal zones in my Summit hub without creating a significant breeze. If I were to change anything I would have looked at the fan size closer and selected the 120mm instead of the 80mm I purchased.

I already had many of the materials for this project so the current out of pocket cost was under $15. The LED's came from Menard's on the clearence rack for $3 for 3 pucks, the fan was $11, and the 6-32 nuts/ bolts rounded up the pack.

Enjoy!

[Will]

Sweet! Good job. Nothin like homemade.

[JimBuck]

Nice! Love the DIY projects. Thanks for sharing.

[svonasek]

Great job. I love to see people make their own stuff.

I've spent alot of time this year building my own auger. It would have been way cheaper to buy one, but it's so much fun building it myself.

[buddah7]

Hey muske, not to hijack your thread but I see the inside of your summit has some type of reinforcement in the corners and hubs?! I had material failure in both spots and was wondering if they must have came out with a problem solved version? Great idea with the fan light combo! looks sweet!

[captainshane]

Nice job! Thanks 4 sharing. I might have a project this weekend.

Shane

[herefish101]

That might be the best homemade thing i'v ever seen on this site, excellent job.

[riverwader]

Muske, did you find a way to wire in the lights? I dont see any wire going to them. I know we have some of these in a closet and they last a long time on the AA batteries, but I was curious. Great job. I was trying to find a way to mount my fan and that seems like a perfect idea.

[Mankato-Ice-Man]

Very cool idea! nice work.

[walleyemaniac]

Great idea could even use that in my tent in the summer.

[Surface Tension]

I like home made stuff. Good job!

[muskE]

Muske, did you find a way to wire in the lights? I dont see any wire going to them. I know we have some of these in a closet and they last a long time on the AA batteries, but I was curious. Great job. I was trying to find a way to mount my fan and that seems like a perfect idea.

I wired them with some extra speaker wire I had from my basement project and soldered the pos/ neg to the red/ black wires on the fan and heat-wrapped the connection (the white wire is the speed control). I terminated the other ends at the battery with alligator clips.

I looked at using a 9v battery which pushed the fan (but not as well as the 12v) and mounting it in the housing but I was concerned about weight on the hub-style roof especially with snow. Also the fan push will be weaker with the lower powered battery. It will work though. You could buy a snap connector for the 9v at the Shack for about $2 and solder it.

Good luck and post what you come up with.