What hardware to use for mounting 120 mm fan and grill?

[matt_garman]

Well, my Antec 3700AMB just came in. I gutted my main PC, which was previously housed in an Antec 1080AMG (with four 80 mm fans). I ordered the 3700 AMB with no power supply; I'm currently recycling the Antec TruePower 430 PSU from the old case. So far the newly built computer is extremly quiet. It's certainly not "silent" by SPCR standards, but it's an enormous improvement over the what was in place. (The problem is, I have a second PC running in a 1080 AMG, and it's still really loud.)

Previously, my temps usually maxed out at about 50 degrees C for the processor (always running seti@home) and about 30 degrees C for the motherboard. Right now, the processor is hovering around the 47 degrees C mark, but the case is at 41 degrees C.

I only have one fan installed; it's the stock 120 mm fan that came with this case. I also bought a nice Panaflo 120 mm fan (37 mm thick) and a wire fan guard. I'm gonna go buy some Wiss tin snips and cut out the back grill as suggested here in the forum. But I haven't seen any docs on what kind of hardware I should use to mount the Panaflo and the grill guard?

What kind of screws, nuts, bolts, washers, etc do you folks usually use for this type of job?

So anyway, I'm certainly on my ways to a much quieter computer. It looks as though my HSF (Vantec AeroFlow) is currently the loudest part of my system.

Thanks!
Matt

[ColdFlame]

I think you have to drill the holes for the 120mm fan and then use McMaster rubber grommets to mount the fan. Search for McMaster and you will find a lot of info.

[Cob]

May I ask where you picked up the Antec 3700AMB **without** the power supply?
The local places near me... Vancouver BC, won't sell the case to me without the psu.

[quietdragon]

May I ask where you picked up the Antec 3700AMB **without** the power supply?
The local places near me... Vancouver BC, won't sell the case to me without the psu.

I recall sending an email to Antec asking for a P/N for this case w/o a PSU, and I received a reply stating that they don't offer it in that configuration.

[mrk22]

May I ask where you picked up the Antec 3700AMB **without** the power supply?
The local places near me... Vancouver BC, won't sell the case to me without the psu.

Directron will sell the SLK3700AMB without a power supply. They even give you a $32 credit for it too, making the cost of the case $33 + shipping. I imagine they just take out the power supply and sell it or use it to build systems. It's a pretty sweet deal for SPCRers who replace the power supply anyway.

[Ralf Hutter]

What kind of screws, nuts, bolts, washers, etc do you folks usually use for this type of job?

Man, there's many, many ways to do this.

-First of all, no matter what method you use to attach the fan to the case you're going to have to drill a new set of fan mounting holes in between the two different sets that are already there. Just hold a 120mm fan up to the case and you can see where the holes will have to go. The holes should be 3/16" in diameter.

The simplest method of attaching the fan to the case would be to screw it directly to the case using the typical stubby little self-tapping fan screws. I'm not sure you could fit a fan grill too using this method. The fan screws may not be long enough to span the grill too. The biggest disadvantage of this method is that by mounting the fan right up against the case you'll be transmitting all the vibrations and noise of the fan right into the case. This isn't a good idea if you're tying to keep your system quiet.

-Your best bet is to isolate the fan from the case, if possible. There's several ways to do this too:

1) Use one of those Vantec or Antec rubber gasket type of fan mount kits, but be sure to use a rubber washer under the screw head too, so you isolate that point of contact from the case. Also make sure your screw threads are not touching the edge of the mounting holes in the case. If they are, drill the holes out to the next larger size. I'm not sure if these screws are long enough to use a fan grill either. If you feel that it's importand to have a fan grill you can drill another set of mounting holes rotated 45° from the fan mounting holes and mount the fan grill directly to the case itself.

2) Use bolts and O-rings to mount the fan. This is how I used to do it. You'll need to get four 10-32 x 2" (or maybe 1.5", I don't remember but it's easy enough to stack everything up and measure how long they'll need to be) bolts, eight #10 flat washers, 4 10-32 nuts and 16 O-rings of the correct size. You'll screw everything to the case using the O-rings to isolate all the hardware and fan from the case. It'll go: [bolt+washer+O-ring+fan grill+O-ring+case wall+O-ring+fan+O-ring+flat washer+nut]. Make sure your bolts aren't touching the case wall.

3) Mount the fan using rubber isolators. There's two different types that are available. There's the E.A.R. Isolators (you can also get them cheaper from McMaster-Carr, you'll need the #5801K6 for fans with regular thickness flanges or the #5801K8 for the 120mm x 38MM Panaflos with the thicker flanges), or some people perfer the Verax sticks from Directron. Either of these methods mount the fan to the case using only rubber isolators and are probably the best method of doing this. Some peole use a less expensive, slightly more ghetto method of doing this by using disposable foam earplugs cut lengthwise into quarters and inserted through the case and fan.

[matt_garman]

Wow! Thank you very much for the extremely detailed response! The quality and friendliness of this site is amazing.

-First of all, no matter what method you use to attach the fan to the case you're going to have to drill a new set of fan mounting holes in between the two different sets that are already there. Just hold a 120mm fan up to the case and you can see where the holes will have to go. The holes should be 3/16" in diameter.

Hehehe... yup, I realized that holes would need to be drilled if I was to mount the fan using four bolts.

But I don't have a drill, and I realized that I can get two existing diagonal holes to line up with the fan and wire grill if those parts aren't centered. So in the mean time, what I've done (and this will probably make some of you cringe) is just use two 2 inch #10 bolts, nuts and split washers to mount both the fan and wire guard to the case. In other words: bolt head, wire guard, case body, fan, split washer, nut.

Not pretty, but good enough for now.

Thanks again for the great feedback!

[Qwertyiopisme]

What I did on my case was to use some thin nylon rope/thread (maybe 2mm diameter) and just go through the case holes, then through the fan hole, continue on the fan side, through a fan hole, through a case hole, continue on the case side, through the case hole,. through the fan hole, and so on. Then tie it tight (knowing a loggers hitch would be handy). I dont seem to get vibrations going through the case, probably beacuse it is (nylon rope) - case - nylon rope - fan - (nylon rope)

[enovikoff]

I just mounted a Panaflo L1a 120mm into my 3700AMB, but I couldn't figure out any way to mount a circular fan grill while using the EAR isolators. I bought a few extra grills and will experiment with bending them to snap into the existing case holes. I think it can be done! However, I am asking myself WHY I want the grill: protect fingers? (not really needed since the case is under a desk) EMI shielding? (I don't think the circular grill is very good at that - but maybe someone else knows better.) If EMI protection is needed, then I can always encase the fan in a jacket of foil and screw an EMI-preventing grill to the INSIDE face of the fan!