why go outside to find some natural wind when you can make your own wind in the comfort of your own home!
for this very purpose I proudly present 'the Gale'
it's a right dandy little(ish) desktop USB fan.
it's not currently working at full capacity as I'm having a wee spot of bother with the fan bit at the mo. but I can confirm that it does indeed puff out a slight; but very distinct breeze. result!
please let me know how well it works for you
EDIT 1:
right, i was thinking to myself one day and decided that my best course of action would be to get an existing fan with a DC brush-less motor and a working fan in it already. this would solve my issue of the model motor getting really hot and the printed fans falling off the shaft, which is no good to anyone. and also hopefully gain sufficient airflow through this contraption.
subsequently i have bought said fan (http://www.amazon.co.uk/SAVFY-Portable-Retro-Mini-Plastic/dp/B00JUK0UDS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1438632685&sr=8-1&keywords=usb+fan) and hacked it up so i was left with about 5-10mm of the black housing poking out the back of the wee circuit board (see picture for clarity). this makes for a dandy mounting solution and just pushes into the 'motor mounting plate v2' which you need to print to replace the first one. if you do go down this road, you will also need to print the 'ring mount retrofit' and eventually glue this into the top of 'casing_pt1' in order to screw the main ring assembly onto the bottom.
also, the usb fan comes with an on/off switch that can be made to fit in place of the speed controller by making the round hole rectangular with a file or something. the air flow out of this thing doesn't really warrant turning down, maximum is just fine.
EDIT 2:
After receiving a couple of requests for a smaller version of the fan, i have finally given in to the pressure and made a smaller version. in the included zip file you will find all the ring parts that now makes a 140mm diameter fan outlet and a base with a 95mm internal diameter. you will however need to design your own motor mounting plate to hold whatever motor you are planning to use.
Enjoy!!
casing_pt1.stl | 534.0KB | |
fan.stl | 1.7MB | |
fan_shroud.stl | 145.0KB | |
INVENTOR_ZIP.zip | 55.5MB | |
motor_mounting_plate.stl | 347.9KB | |
motor_mounting_plate_v2.stl | 165.9KB | |
ring_1.stl | 1.4MB | |
ring_2.stl | 1.8MB | |
ring_3.stl | 380.0KB | |
ring_mount_retrofit.stl | 155.8KB | |
scaled_compressor_wheel.stl | 1.0MB | |
smaller_version.zip | 4.9MB | |
STEP_ZIP.zip | 6.2MB | |
STL_ZIP.zip | 3.4MB | |
turbine_housing_2.stl | 1.2MB |