I did a little fan modding, and realised I had a bit of a brainfart b4 and had forgotten which way typical fans blow
So the curvature of many pc fans is such to boost airflow at low rpm, where wind noise is not a signifcant issue. So reversing the fan proved to lower airflow, by what felt like about half. The noise didn't change much, at 12v the fan was only a tiny bit quieter. Anyway, here's the victim, an old 60mm fan i'm probably never going to use:
peeled the sticker off and unclipped the fan:
now the damned stator assembly seemes to be press fit and glued in aswell, because the mofo does not want to come off!!!
I cut the motor away from the fan shroud to get better access, but trying to force the stator off started to tear the plastic behind the stator
But then I saw an easier solution, rip off part of the stator backing, and just swap the wiring of the stators
So yes, there was no need to cut the motor away from the shroud, only part of the backing
The red arrow is pointing out a track I cut, and you can see two exposed tracks of the pcb where I've scratched the paint off:
I've rotated the stator a little, and done the same to the other end of the pcb, and soldered a little red wire on. You can see the cut track right on the left where the wire is soldered:
Rotated back to the other end of the pcb, and made the connections for swapping the power connections to the stators:
used a little blob of sticky tak to secure the motor backing, whilst I melted it back in place with the soldering iron:
and melted the motor back into the shroud:
Again, there was no need to cut the motor out of the shroud, but it's no biggie, since the damaged and repaired sections can't be seen from the front, and melting the plastic back together is just as strong as original when melted well. I do it by poking/mushing the plastic into each other with the iron, and then use the iron to gently smooth out the lumps.
You can see the evenly spaced layers of paper I used to center the fan, and the fan is untouched, so there are no balance issues.
Check out the raw power of the 60mm showing a business card who's boss:
yeah, it's about half the standard airflow, but if that's enough, then pop on a cone and all's good.
Otherwise, mod some fans that don't have curved blades!