I have asked this on two other forums, but it just hit me, this is probably the best place to ask. You guys deal with this sort of crap in modding all the time. So... I've run into a little snag. I need a 140mm fan that looks great from the back. I'm going to use six of them in the front of a case, as exhaust. This means I'll have to flip the fans around. Problem is, they're all ugly as sin from the back, and I had no intention of using grills to hide them. The performance of the fans doesn't matter, but they have to be set as exhausts. An example: I hate that diagonal crossbar. The nasty sticker. The exposed wire. What looks good from the back? Also, any with vertical/horizontal crossbars?
Get fans with detachable tails, like panaflo and do custom cables so wire is all the same color. You could always desolder and resolder wiring as well to the same effect. Get some circular labels in appropriate solid color and/or print your own logo to your liking to replace the manufacturer labels. There isn't much to be done with crossbars since the fan motor needs the support.
These are actually for radiators. The front side of a push/pull config, these being the pulling side. I wonder what adverse affects I would encounter in a push/push config. Maybe using a significantly more powerful rear push fan. That should keep front-side dust to a minimum. I would think. So that the front fans would be turning, but overwhelmed by the air volume of the more powerful fans. Essentially spinning, but pushing no air.
But do they? Hmm. I'll have to tear apart one of the cheap fans I have here and see how it mounts. Could be I can just make new crossbars and attach the hub to them.
never messed with the fans but why can't you reverse the polarity to make them run in reverse? Then you wouldn't have to see the back, just the front.
fan motors cannot easily be reversed since they have a solid state motor controller attached that requires the electricity to flow the right way through the circuit. unfortunately, i dont know of any fans that meet your requirements. but can i ask why the front fans cant be set up as pushers (behind the radiator pushing out)? if thats not doable, then would it be possible to add a 3rd opening to act as exhaust? a side or top panel perhaps?
The radiators are in their own vertical chamber, which makes up the front of the case. The bottom of the chamber is a filtered opening. The fans at the back of the radiators draw air from below, and exhaust out the front. It was done this way for dust filtration purposes, and so that I could mount the front fans without filters. The front of the case is six circular fan openings. Seeing the surface of a radiator through these openings, without fans, would look like crap. Wonder why there are a hundred fans made to look pretty from the front, but not the back. Wish I could find fans built in reverse.
Server fans, yes... low speed PC fans, no. You can custom mount the fans without the original crossbars or the fan frame - as long as it is reasonably secure somehow. Low speed fans don't need much support, if any, because the torque is so low. @OP Why not replace the crossbars with clear acrylic? The impeller is designed to move air in one direction only... even if you could get the fan to spin the other way, it would be a hopeless, turbulent mess.
why dont you just have the front fan as an in, and put the filters between the fans and the rad? Then you wouldnt be able to see the filters and i would have thought that fans would be able to draw more fresh air, then exhaust through the vent at the bottom.
Too much work. One big filter versus six small filters. And have to disassemble the rad and fans to get to them.
If it comes to that I'd go with some thin lasercut iron crosses or a similar vertical/horizontal frame.
