best fan filter?

I'm in need of a good filter for the 120mm fan I put in the side of my case. any opinons on whether the foam or screen type is better? My armor case has foam ones in the from panel for the front fan, and I'm constantly cleaning them. I just popped open my case to test my LED fans I just got in and HOLY CRAP is it dusty in there! :down: :eek:

I'm going to hit it with the air compressor on sunday and get it all nice and cleaned out, but in the meantime I need a filter

I've found these so far:

Black aluminum mesh

Washable Foam type

Another foam type

more of a grille than a filter

nier looking alu mesh type

Personally, I like the the washable foam filters. Being able to easily remove the filter portion makes it a lot easier to clean them, plus being foam, they won't corrode like the metal ones likely will, over time.

thats what I was thinking. but being that it will be on the outside of the window in plain sight, I wanted something a little easier on the eyes. ah well. I'd rather get what works best though

As a disclaimer, I've never actually used a metal filter; I'm just speaking from my experience with foam filters, and what I would expect from an aluminum filter (stainless steel not so much, but still would be a pain to remove to clean).

In my experience any filter over an 80 or 120mm fan reduces the airflow so much that its not worth it. It also increases the noise a good bit. I just clean mine out every month or so with the air compressor.

it reduces it that much huh?

Here is a test for you. Take a furnace filter and put a fan behind it and compare the air flow with and with out the filter. You can do the same thing with a woman's pair of stockings or a piece of screen wire.

One thing I did think about once was using 2 pieces of screen wire separated a few mm with something non conductive and then building a circuit to positively charge the back screen and put a negative charge on the front and it should catch most of the dust that enters the case.

Honestly, the best fan filter I've ever used was in a warehouse/e-commerce environment. Both of the shipping computers (towers) were sitting in acrylic storage boxes with a 140mm fan on the front and a 120 on the back. There was a filter box in front of the 140 and in that box was a K&N air filter. We had to clean that filter once every four months and never once did we have to tear down the towers.

So...figure out a way to put a K&N to use. I bet it can be tastefully done.

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Originally Posted by Oneslowz28

Here is a test for you. Take a furnace filter and put a fan behind it and compare the air flow with and with out the filter. You can do the same thing with a woman's pair of stockings or a piece of screen wire.

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heh thats what i was gunna suggest.... if ya wanna be cheap.... take a gander thro your womans nickers drawer... find stocking/pantyhose and make ur own filters... just make sure she doesnt catch u.... or else u might need em to cut off the bleeding...

On my sandcrawler I've been using screen cut from a roll of aluminum window screen mesh from the hardware store. I only have it butting right up against one of the 80mm fans; the other fans (80 and 120mm) are inside actual chambers and the screen mesh forms the "roof" of each chamber. Doesn't seem to impede airflow, and it catches a fair amount of dust and cat hair. It can't possibly catch all of it, but it does help quite a lot. My fan blades don't get any noticeable dust on them. I just wipe the mesh off with my hand once every month or two. And, since I bought a roll of window screen, it was a cheap way to get a LOT. If I had it to do over, I'd probably use fiberglass window screen instead of aluminum: it's even cheaper, and doesn't have the metal version's annoying habit of sharp pokey bits lying in wait to puncture-wound the unsuspecting finger.

I like that idea - I may use that :up:

Glad to be of help. One other thought - on the one hand I do like the idea in an earlier reply to run a positive low volt lead to one set of metal mesh, and a negative to the other, space 'em a few mm apart, and have an instant poor-man's-ionic-breeze...the only thing that's stopping me from trying it (apart from running extra wiring that I don't feel like doing) is I'd be worried most of the dust would get stuck between the layers, where it might prove highly difficult to clean unless you leave one layer removable.

You could just make the whole thing removable and run water over it.

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Originally Posted by x88x

You could just make the whole thing removable and run water over it.

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I may build a prototype in the next few days. I have a feeling that it is going to take more than a few volts to make it work though. My experience with powder coating tells me it will take lots of volts at low amps to charge the dust particles and make them stick to the mesh.

probably true. And just think of the fun you can have telling unsuspecting people to touch it there... :P

ima throw one in here. this is by far teh best thing i have used is the swiffer sheets you use on the hand broom things. i took one and put in over the hole and bolted the fan too it. then spray it with febreeze before you turn on the pc. it catches dust and makes the house smell good. or go with the pantyhose. I have used that before.