I posted this in the Mesa Walkabout Mega(?)thread, but it's kinda' buried there, so here it is for others...
Ok, so the AcoustiFan AFG80 fan gasket and washer kit was a wash, because I didn't want to change the orientation of the fan by moving it up against the back panel (away from the output components).
Instead, what I did is cut some small grommits in half (to essentially make them thick rubber washers) and sandwiched the back panel between them. In other words, grommit, back panel, grommit, standoff, fan, and the screw passes through it all.
The idea is to try and isolate fan vibration from transmitting to the case, making it louder.
To be honest, with this fan, the vibration is so minimal I'm not sure this step has any real benefit, but it couldn't hurt, so I went ahead with it.
Here's a back view so you can see the screws up against the grommit halves.
Conventiently, the screws threaded nicely right into the fan, so I didn't even need to put the original lock nuts back on (which you can sort of see in the background in the second picture below).
Here's an internal view so you sort of see the standoffs holding the fan closer to the components.
The results were quite good. Of course you can still hear the fan, but it's quiet enough now that it's no longer annoying at all. Further, while it doesn't move as much air as the original fan (28CFM vs 36.5), it does seem to move a good amount, so I'm not very concerned about overheating.
Total cost, about $20.00 including shipping for the fan. These fans are kind of expensive (relatively speaking) at about $14 each. Most 80mm case fans are about $5.
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I'm going to run with this for a while, but if, under some load conditions, it seems to struggle, or especially if it ever shuts down on me, I'm going to go a different route. Tri-cool. Basically, a switchable fan, so I can run it slow/quiet for home/studio, and fast/loud for gigs (where it wouldn't matter anyway).
In any case, so far so good.
Ok, so the AcoustiFan AFG80 fan gasket and washer kit was a wash, because I didn't want to change the orientation of the fan by moving it up against the back panel (away from the output components).
Instead, what I did is cut some small grommits in half (to essentially make them thick rubber washers) and sandwiched the back panel between them. In other words, grommit, back panel, grommit, standoff, fan, and the screw passes through it all.
The idea is to try and isolate fan vibration from transmitting to the case, making it louder.
To be honest, with this fan, the vibration is so minimal I'm not sure this step has any real benefit, but it couldn't hurt, so I went ahead with it.
Here's a back view so you can see the screws up against the grommit halves.
Conventiently, the screws threaded nicely right into the fan, so I didn't even need to put the original lock nuts back on (which you can sort of see in the background in the second picture below).
Here's an internal view so you sort of see the standoffs holding the fan closer to the components.
The results were quite good. Of course you can still hear the fan, but it's quiet enough now that it's no longer annoying at all. Further, while it doesn't move as much air as the original fan (28CFM vs 36.5), it does seem to move a good amount, so I'm not very concerned about overheating.
Total cost, about $20.00 including shipping for the fan. These fans are kind of expensive (relatively speaking) at about $14 each. Most 80mm case fans are about $5.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
I'm going to run with this for a while, but if, under some load conditions, it seems to struggle, or especially if it ever shuts down on me, I'm going to go a different route. Tri-cool. Basically, a switchable fan, so I can run it slow/quiet for home/studio, and fast/loud for gigs (where it wouldn't matter anyway).
In any case, so far so good.
