Are honeycomb grills efficient?

KaOSoFt · Post by **KaOSoFt** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 9:38 pm

So, do they really work as marketing says?

I liked this Kikboxes one, but it isn't in stock anymore... anywhere.

I have one more question. If I get a way to make these grills, would they work better if their "needles?" (well, the lines that actually make the grill... I'm not a native english speaker) were rounded, or flat? It looks like the Kikboxes ones are a little flat, but I can't even tell if the grill is metalic or plastic.

Thanks in advance.

RAFH · Post by **RAFH** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:13 am

Any grille will be less efficient than no grille at all.

That said, the less obstruction there is, the better. So the bigger the holes, the better, the small the members/struts, the better. Less is more. Of course, at some point, there's so little grille left you might as well not have any. Which has been my strategy. Then again, I don't have little fingers nor pet noses around to get into such places.

Regards your last question, yes, if the struts were rounded, they would offer less resistance. What makes noise and resistance is turbulence. What makes turbulence is sharp edges. A grille cut from flat material will have sharp edges which will cause turbulence.

As far as I am concerned, the standard wire grilles are about the best going. The ones with circles on a cross bar, they keep the prying parts out and offer the least resistance. Of course, they don't look so high tech. but some times low tech is high tech.

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:18 am

No doubt they're metal...... and not very restrictive, so I doubt the mesh would be improved by being rounded. Since it is called "laser-cut" I suspect it's simply a flat piece of metal with the openings cut out.

A cheap wire grill would work about the same. Doubt if you could measure any difference. Save your money.....unless you like the looks of the things.

Shaman · Post by **Shaman** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:26 am

If the picture of the grill on that store is indeed of the 120mm version, then the holes are spaced way too far apart! You might wanna get another grill if you wanna keep fingers away from the fan blades.

The good old round wire grills offer a good balance between protection and minimal impedance.

KaOSoFt · Post by **KaOSoFt** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 12:40 pm

Any specific recommendations (also for a 92mm fan)?

Shaman · Post by **Shaman** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 1:25 pm

KaOSoFt wrote:Any specific recommendations (also for a 92mm fan)?

You had 3 people recommend you the wire grill.. what do you want us to recommend you specifically? The color of the grill?

KaOSoFt · Post by **KaOSoFt** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 3:55 pm

Shaman wrote:
KaOSoFt wrote:Any specific recommendations (also for a 92mm fan)?
You had 3 people recommend you the wire grill.. what do you want us to recommend you specifically? The color of the grill?

Haha, sorry, I'm not a native english speaker, and instead of looking for "wire grill" on a search engine, I asked. My mistake.

Sorry again.

I chose this one.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Shaman · Post by **Shaman** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:51 pm

Ah I thought you would be familiar with the old wire grill, it has been around forever.

Nice color, although I prefer the classic chrome grill. I think the chrome grill is less restricitive because it doesn't have a layer of paint.

KaOSoFt · Post by **KaOSoFt** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:20 pm

Shaman wrote:Ah I thought you would be familiar with the old wire grill, it has been around forever.

Nice color, although I prefer the classic chrome grill. I think the chrome grill is less restricitive because it doesn't have a layer of paint.

Haha, well, I am, I just didn't recognize the phrase "wire grill" (believe me

). For instance, my Seasonic M12 600W has a chrome wire grill on its 120mm fan. Now I know how to call that thing!

Well, I'm gonna use it on the rear fan of a Thermaltake Tsunami Dream VA3000BWA. Perhaps a chrome one also looks better...

aimfox · Post by **aimfox** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 4:36 pm

it doesnt do anything, just protects ppl from putting their fingers into it

KaOSoFt · Post by **KaOSoFt** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 6:18 am

aimfox wrote:it doesnt do anything, just protects ppl from putting their fingers into it

Well, yeah, that's one of its goals, but it most certainly has something to do with air restriction. I mean, it's not the same amount (and "shape") of air coming out of a system when it has a grill, that when it doesn't. If there's a grill, I'm pretty sure there will be some kind of turbulence, which means more unwanted noise, I'm looking for a good solution.

I chose the Silver 120mm Fan Grill. It looks cool, and it's the recommended one.

See you around.

Chris Chan · Post by **Chris Chan** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:07 pm

Shaman wrote:Ah I thought you would be familiar with the old wire grill, it has been around forever.

Nice color, although I prefer the classic chrome grill. I think the chrome grill is less restricitive because it doesn't have a layer of paint.

The paint is probably thin enough to not make any significant difference to the restrictiveness of the grill.