Mini oscillating fans, ideas?

Hi folks. Planning a small grow. 50 x 50 x 90 cm. Got everything pretty much thought up and ordered, very diy, making my own carbon filter, passive intake, 120mm silent pc fan exhaust. I'm thinking a small tower fan to circulate air, but the diyer inside of me wants to mount small pc fans on something that will allow them to oscillate back and forth, and take up less space. Anyone done it or seen it, or got an idea? The simplest way I've thought up so far is an arduino controlling a servo that is rotating a vertical pole in the corner of the space going almost top to bottom with pc fans glued on throughout the length. Thing is I don't want an arduino, is there an ic or smaller chip/circuit board I can use to control the servo?

Are there any small (around 2 inch) oscillating fans I can buy?
 
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nunyabidness420

Well-Known Member
Hi folks. Planning a small grow. 50 x 50 x 90 cm. Got everything pretty much thought up and ordered, very diy, making my own carbon filter, passive intake, 120mm silent pc fan exhaust. I'm thinking a small tower fan to circulate air, but the diyer inside of me wants to mount small pc fans on something that will allow them to oscillate back and forth, and take up less space. Anyone done it or seen it, or got an idea? The simplest way I've thought up so far is an arduino controlling a servo that is rotating a vertical pole in the corner of the space going almost top to bottom with pc fans glued on throughout the length. Thing is I don't want an arduino, is there an ic or smaller chip/circuit board I can use to control the servo?

Are there any small (around 2 inch) oscillating fans I can buy?
ESP32
About the same price, much much faster, +wifi and bluetooth.
 

NewGrower2011

Well-Known Member
Are there off the shelf components for the contactors you'd need to deliver your 12v to the fans if they were on a rotating platform? I had thought about using PC fans myself (actually threw away several older server ones recently) but was left wondering how to get an oscillation in the mix. I kept thinking of how old fans were built but something simply rotating would seem better IMO. Just not sure how you'd provide the power in that rotating connection point and I don't want to rig something up like a kids high school project for a DC motor and brushes/contacts. :D Hold the bar a little higher, I'd imagine there's raw parts out there somewhere and I don't know the vocabulary to search with.

Myself I bought a bunch of the little Flippy fans from Vornado as it's a well known name and they had oscillation as well as multiple speeds. For now I've got them sitting on the floor but they look like you could rig something fairly easily to support them over a canopy, tent pole, etc.
 

SupraSPL

Well-Known Member
12V fans are surprisingly efficient. If you use adjustable power supply you can dim it until its nice and quiet and avoid any resonances.
 

Dopaw13

Well-Known Member
You can get some 12v car fans for like 15 bucks hack the end off and use a 12v box have done it a few times for small area fans
 

Just Be

Well-Known Member
Instead of trying to find an oscillating fan for the cabinet that I run, I rigged up a small piece of Reflectix that hangs from a fishing swivel that hangs from a half-ass hook attached to the top of a PC fan. It swings back and forth and round and round randomly enough to remove any hot spots that might develop and it makes a great buffer ensuring that none of the leaves get any kind of wind damage.
 

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