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About a month ago I asked you guys how to fix the heating problem behind my panel. I took the advise and installed a couple of 4" fans.
DigiKey has a pretty incredible filtering tool on their website and I used it for selecting a couple of fans. I picked a low rpm fan as I didn't
want a lot of noise and they easily exceed the cfm that would be required to displace the air behind the panel. They also have a very large
supply of different style fan screens. My biggest challenge was installing these in a finished panel. What you don't see in the pictures is that
I removed my displays and put towels behind the panel to keep metal shavings from mucking up my avionics.
First I made a template out of a piece of fiber board that I purchased at Hobby Lobby. I cut out the exact size of the fan and then drilled the
holes for mounting the fan.
I used a 1.5" knock out punch for the holes:
At this point I cleaned up the circle and reduced the sharp edges. I also made sure my glare shield cover also had matching holes and then attached the screens glare shield and fans together.
The glare shield material is actually a form of velcro that is used on convention displays. It looks really nice and stuff will stick to it.
DigiKey has a pretty incredible filtering tool on their website and I used it for selecting a couple of fans. I picked a low rpm fan as I didn't
want a lot of noise and they easily exceed the cfm that would be required to displace the air behind the panel. They also have a very large
supply of different style fan screens. My biggest challenge was installing these in a finished panel. What you don't see in the pictures is that
I removed my displays and put towels behind the panel to keep metal shavings from mucking up my avionics.
First I made a template out of a piece of fiber board that I purchased at Hobby Lobby. I cut out the exact size of the fan and then drilled the
holes for mounting the fan.
![5MyZnWw.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2F5MyZnWw.jpg&hash=c583429d3c6e6539d192610ca1b225a2)
I used a 1.5" knock out punch for the holes:
![9nVFAXC.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2F9nVFAXC.jpg&hash=06be0c34f949e7fae8e4807c5d691427)
![VQkI0fN.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FVQkI0fN.jpg&hash=ce6470ad26096c04bd3dd9dede62328d)
![UJTb5er.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FUJTb5er.jpg&hash=6b86148cd5714fc7be09a13dd5ededc8)
![Jsd6zXV.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FJsd6zXV.jpg&hash=24490beca9756ab8a263c5e915915175)
![pY9Emz3.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FpY9Emz3.jpg&hash=16ae360369151abbc1dc18dc7daa6d0f)
![pY9Emz3.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FpY9Emz3.jpg&hash=16ae360369151abbc1dc18dc7daa6d0f)
![zNbjcw0.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FzNbjcw0.jpg&hash=da2ea7538caccb7b6b7be199020b478a)
At this point I cleaned up the circle and reduced the sharp edges. I also made sure my glare shield cover also had matching holes and then attached the screens glare shield and fans together.
The glare shield material is actually a form of velcro that is used on convention displays. It looks really nice and stuff will stick to it.
![PpZTw35.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FPpZTw35.jpg&hash=5a8c16f4882985e417cf5b4f144ab5ce)
Last edited: