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Cab Cooling Fan


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Ok, simple question on installation of a cocktail cab cooling fan

 

Do you install it to suck air into the cab, or to blow hot air out?

 

The fan off my cab was missing so I have no idea :unsure

 

Foot

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Not sure what is 'correct':unsure

 

I made some mame cocktail cabs for some mates a few years back, I installed the fans in the base and had it draw the hot air OUT of the machine. I also had the top sides with vented slots in them so that way it really worked well to get rid of hot air.

 

We also install fans in custom made AV cabs when our company installs home theatres, there is no 'set direction' that our installers put the fans in but 70% of the time they install them to draw air out of the machine rather than blowing ' cool breeze' inwards.

 

So I would suggest - OUTWARDS, others opinions may vary:unsure

 

Wotto

:D :p :D

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Further to the above... if you blow air into a cabinet, the air has to come out somewhere... also hot air rises, so if you plan to blow air into a cabinet, blow it in at the bottom and have an outlet at the top (preferably another fan blowing hot air out).

 

Putting an 'out' fan at the bottom wont be as effective - but obviously this depends on the design limitations if you're restoring something original.

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i would have 2 fans...

 

one at the bottom to suck in cold air from the ground, one at the top to take the hot air and suck it out and away from the unit

 

I was just about to post that one ;) my pc's are like that fan in at the front moving air through the hard disks and fan at the back up the top to draw the heat out.....works a treat.

 

Didn't think you would need a fan in an arcade cab though?? Wasn't aware they got that hot.

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Cocktail cabs don't have a lot of free air space, and yes I've run mine for ages without a fan but it does seem to get rather hot inside.

 

LAI cabs came out with one mounted in the floor of the cab http://www.aussiearcade.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2150&d=1168085938, They must have thought fans were required.

 

Besides, It's an empty hole and I want to fill it!

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I've got a fan in the base of my LAI Upright cab. I once tried to disable it as the fan has to be the noisiest fan I've ever heard. It's seriously loud but when I tried to disconnect it the cab stopped working. This was a few years ago now and I just put it back together and left it alone. I've learned to live with the excessive noise but it definitely blows air out. Despite this the cab still gets damn hot inside.

 

Brad

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I was just about to post that one ;) my pc's are like that fan in at the front moving air through the hard disks and fan at the back up the top to draw the heat out.....works a treat.

 

Didn't think you would need a fan in an arcade cab though?? Wasn't aware they got that hot.

 

I could grow Palm trees in my four slot cab it is that muggy inside it

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bullshit - I bet you couldn't.. And even if you could, who's gunna fit in the cab to pick the coconuts..?

 

There is someone around here who got into a skill tester, I'm sure coconut picking would be a breeze...

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im thinking of putting a fan in my upright to make sure it keeps cool even though there is plenty of room still want to be safe

 

so what would be the best fan to use? ive got plenty of PC fans lying around plan was to install one that sucks cool air from the bottom pointing up towards the monitor and pcb .My cab has a access area behind were the cord can be stored so i would suck air from there or am i running the risk of sucking dust in this method?

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so what would be the best fan to use? ive got plenty of PC fans lying around plan was to install one that sucks cool air from the bottom pointing up towards the monitor and pcb .My cab has a access area behind were the cord can be stored so i would suck air from there or am i running the risk of sucking dust in this method?

 

pc fans the 12 volt ones should be fine. i suggest 2 or 3 at the base of the cabinet and 2 or 3 at the top.

i only suggest this as this is what im about to install in to my lowboy.

the heat that is getting generated inside my cabinet is amazing.

you will have to clean the fans about every 2 or 3 months.i suggest using a small paint brush to do so.

you can buy molex connectors at jaycar so you can connect the fans to a standard pc power supply.

 

you can also buy the fans at jaycar too

 

here in townsville at jaycar they have them on the shelf by the boxload.

 

i have fans mounted in my pcs with at least one usually 2 down the front to suck in cold air from the front of the machine and blow over the hdd and i have 2 fans at the back of the case to extract heat from case and blow outwards.i have to clean these about every 6 to 8 weeks.id imagine the arcade machine would be the same.

 

with the arcade machine you might be able to setup some sort of quick realese mech so you can get the fans in/out in no time to make it easier to clean.

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I have a story about a cooling fan blowing in. It was a hankin cocktail with a bombjack pcb. The problem was the fan was mounted next to the pcb so the cold air blew on the pcb. MAchine was at a surf club, sucking in nice fresh humid salt air. Result, a pcb that would loose chips if you gave it a light hit. Just about all the chips had some leg rot on one side, the other faired better and only had corrosion on the outside each, so I would recommend sucking out the hot air with some 1/2" filter foam over the air intakes. Make sure the intakes are larger then the exhaust to make sure the fan isn't driven hard
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installed one in mine yesterday in the upper left of my rear access door. It blows onto the chassis and past the neckboard keeping the chassis nice and cool and due to the small space inside around the monitor and it supported by a solid MDF board the air flows hits that and straight out of the handle holes. I only turn it on for 30 mins or so but id rather be safe than sorry

 

i installed mine in the door with a plug so i can still take the door off and its easier to make a new door than patch up the cab if i bugged up

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So 12 years later I asked google the same question about cab fans blowing or sucking as I couldn't remember and this thread popped up in the search results

 

Thanks for the advise fellas :023:

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So 12 years later I asked google the same question about cab fans blowing or sucking as I couldn't remember and this thread popped up in the search results

 

Thanks for the advise fellas :023:

 

And if you ask in another 12 years, all the info you need is here: https://www.howtogeek.com/303078/how-to-manage-your-pcs-fans-for-optimal-airflow-and-cooling/

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