Subj:  Making the Herr Fan                   89-06-18 18:45:56 EDT
From:  Herr Fixit

It looks like summer is upon us once again and our old friend Mr Fatal Error 911 has started to grace us with his presence again. 

The best way to get rid of Mr 911 is to get your monitor off of your GS and install a cooling fan. Unfortunatly all of the commercially available fan systems are expensive, don't move much air and suck dirt into your nice clean computer. 

The solution is to build your own high volume cooling fan. You can get the parts to build your own fan for under $20. All it take is a little effort and a willingness to have something on your GS that doesn't look like it was made for it. (Even though it was.) :)

Parts needed:

A 4.71" cooling fan. 
Part # MU21 @ $11.95 new from Jameco Electronics

A 4.71" fan finger guard and filter.
Part # MFF @ $1.95 from Jameco Electronics

A fan plug cord.
Part # PLC @ $.99 from Jameco

An AC power plug.
Available at any hardware store for around a dollar.

A tupperware type container large enough to house the fan.
Available all sorts of places for under $3.

4 6-42 x 1" nut and bolt sets to mount the fan in the container. 
Available at any hardware store for less than a dollar.


Assembling the fan:
 
1. Lay out the fan on the food container and trace out the inside circle of the fan using the fan as a template.

2. Cut out the circle you drew with a sharp xacto knife or other sharp, narrow bladed knife. Don't worry if it's not perfect as the fan filter will cover this hole. 

3. Using the fan as a template again, mark the four mounting holes and drill them for the mounting hardware 

4. Assemble the power cord by attatching the AC plug to the fan plug cord and attach the plug cord to the prongs on the fan. 

5. Bolt the fan and filter into place with the mounting bolts. Make sure that the removable side of the filter is up. 

That does it. You might want to cut a small hole for the power cord so the container will sit nicely. You now have a filtered 70 CFM fan (Compared to a measly 17 CFM of unfiltered air with System Saver GS.) Now go out and use the money you saved on the fan to buy a good surge protector from Computer Accessories or Triplite.

Keep it cool

Walt