Wölfischhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/2017-06-24T23:12:39+00:00Jörg's Blog3D Printed Fan Holder for the Fursuit Hand Dryer2017-06-24T23:12:39+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/3d-printed-fan-holder-for-the-fursuit-hand-dryer<p>I couldn't find the fans of my <a href="https://woelfisch.de/blog/ultra-cheap-fursuit-hand-dryers">Ultra Cheap Fursuit Hand Dryer</a> last night and <a href="http://www.anthrocon.org/" target="_blank">Anthrocon</a> is next week. I now own a 3D printer, and with such a printer the answer to all questions seems to be PLA, so I quickly created a new holder. The most time consuming task is soldering the electrical connections by the way. The printer just happily prints while I'm doing other things.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/paw-dryer-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="New Holder" height="270" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/paw-dryer-lj-1.jpg" width="480"/></a></p>
<p>The holder is intended to be a tight fit - hence no holes to fasten the fan. You may need to file the sockets for the tube and the fan to fit your equipment, especially the outer dimensions of the fan vary from model to model. Since the fans I took from my "oh I can use that again" box are 15 mm high the holder will accept these. Unfortunately, the fans are very loud at 12V and don't always start at 5V, so I ordered new ones — they won't arrive before Anthrocon, though.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/paw-dryer-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Assembled paw dryers" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/paw-dryer-lj-2.jpg" width="270"/></a></p>
<p>The gutter drain pipe sieves are for operation as fursuit shoe dryers, by the way, for gloves I'm using cheap egg beaters.</p>
<p>I've put up the STL and 3D construction file for FreeCAD <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2402885" target="_blank">on Thingiverse</a>.</p>A Lightweight Fursuit Body Dryer2017-06-20T00:16:54+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/a-lightweight-fursuit-body-dryer<p>Sure, I just could buy a wetsuit dryer, but where's the fun in that? Also, I wanted something that is lightweight and somewhat flexible. Thus, after a run to the hardware store and a lot of clipping and fastening zip ties:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="fursuit body dryer" height="229" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-1-lj.jpg" width="480"/></a></p>
<p>The mesh is a leaf sieve for roof gutters, the same material <a href="https://tioh.livejournal.com/" target="_blank">Tioh</a> is using for puppet and fursuit heads when 3D printing isn't an option. It is surprsingly expensive, but very sturdy and easy to work with. Also, it is already bent, which is an advantage for this project. Also needed are lots of zip ties and a 100×100 mm 12 V fan, optionally some velcro pads and a water repellent cloth, an S hook and a door hanger.</p>
<p>Building is easy, cut off a rectangulare piece of mesh to hold the fan and two long pieces for the arms. Make the arms as long as possible but take care that the total length of the dryer is smaller than your fursuit box and luggage. Here's how I fastend the fan:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Fan fastened" height="270" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-2-lj.jpg" width="480"/></a></p>
<p>The fan doesn't have holes to fasten it on the other side, thus just clamp it:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-3.jpg" target="_blank" title="Clamping the fan"><img alt="Clamping the fan" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-3-lj.jpg" width="318"/></a></p>
<p>Attach the arms at an angle</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-4.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Arms attached" height="270" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-4-lj.jpg" width="480"/></a></p>
<p>A zip tie at the end of each arm keeps it rolled up, also note that the arms are a bit slimmer at the end</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-6.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Arm detail" height="247" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-6-lj.jpg" width="480"/></a></p>
<p>One of my suits has a rather low cut neck, a detachable piece of water repellent cloth avoids the air going out</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-5.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Piece of cloth" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-5-lj.jpg" width="465"/></a></p>
<p>The fan will run fine on 5V, but with a step-up ("boost") converter to 12V it produces enough air flow to quickly dry a suit with one battery charge. My two suits were each dry before a suit on a wetsuit dryer in the same room.</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-7.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="" height="247" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-7-lj.jpg" width="480"/></a></p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-8.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="" height="480" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/suitdryer-8-lj.jpg" width="287"/></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>The 10 Euro Fursuit Head Dryer2017-03-06T21:26:54+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/the-10-euro-fursuit-head-dryer<p>Admittedly, a dryer for the head mask is more work, but still can be very cheap. One important aspect: it has to be lightweight but must be able to carry a fursuit head without tipping. So, another boring Sunday afternoon project was born. Version 1 looked like this:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/headdryer-v1.jpg" target="_blank" title="Head Dryer v1"><img alt="Head Dryer v1" height="400" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/headdryer-v1-sm.jpg" width="253"/></a></p>
<p>I used:</p>
<ul>
<li>two short pieces (150 mm) of HT DN 75 sewer pipe (doesn't exist as NPS, maybe NPS 2½ works)</li>
<li>a bunch of 4 mm (#8) screws of various length</li>
<li>some nuts and washers</li>
<li>a plastic rain pipe sieve</li>
<li>a 60×60×10 mm fan for 5V (or one for 12V that still delivers a lot of air at 5V)</li>
<li>a small plastic box lid for the fan plate</li>
<li>a large plastic box lid for the base plate</li>
<li>rubber bands</li>
<li>an old USB cable to connect to a power supply</li>
</ul>
<p>Building:</p>
<ul>
<li>one pipe may be shortened to your need</li>
<li>take the rubber ring out of the connector of the other pipe (and clean it from the grease)</li>
<li>cut off the narrow part of its connector so that only the thick part (where the rubber ring was) remains, otherwise the pipe end won't fit over the nuts that are holding the fan</li>
<li>mark and drill all the holes</li>
<li>cut a 60 mm hile into the small lid</li>
<li>fasten the fan</li>
<li>pull the the rubber ring over the pipe</li>
<li>the long screws must be moveable to a certain degree, at their threads are going to clamp the the pipe to the fan plate along with the rubber band</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/headdryer-v1-construction.jpg" target="_blank" title="Construction v1"><img alt="Construction v1" height="219" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/headdryer-v1-construction-sm.jpg" width="400"/></a></p>
<p>This works pretty well, but after a while the plastic lid wears out and the whole construction becomes rather wobbly. Also, if you want to fasten the lid on the box, remember to figure out where the cable goes before soldering the USB cable to the fan cable, otherwise you might need to cut another hole into the lid ot have the cable go into the box for transport. The screws through the base plate should be fixed to the plate with locking nuts, likewise the long screws that are clamping the pipe. The rest should be fastened only lightly to be able to take the whole thing apeart for easy transport.</p>
<p>As I wrote, the lid holding the pipes and fan wears out quite quickly, but I found some thin but riggid plastic bread boards at Ikea and updated the dryer to version 2.</p>
<p>Marking the drill holes:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/headdryer-v2-fanplate-markers.jpg" target="_blank" title="Fan Plate v2 Markers"><img alt="Markers v2" height="180" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/headdryer-v2-fanplate-markers-sm.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>
<p>After drilling and cutting:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/headdryer-v2-fanplate.jpg" target="_blank" title="Drilled Fan Plate v2"><img alt="Drilled Fan Plate v2" height="400" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/headdryer-v2-fanplate-sm.jpg" width="257"/></a></p>
<p>Result:</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/headdryer-v2.jpg" target="_blank" title="Head Dryer Version 2"><img alt="Head Dryer v2" height="320" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/headdryer-v2-sm.jpg" width="180"/></a></p>
<p>The base plate is still good, the larger Ikea bread boards unfortunately are rather thick and heavy.</p>Ultra Cheap Fursuit Hand Dryers2017-03-06T20:06:11+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/ultra-cheap-fursuit-hand-dryers<p>Sometimes I enjoy building minimalistic but practical things. Like these fursuit hand dryers</p>
<p><a href="https://img.woelfisch.de/pawdryers.jpg" target="_blank" title="Paw Dryers"><img alt="Paw Dryers" height="400" src="https://img.woelfisch.de/pawdryers-sm.jpg" width="200"/></a></p>
<p>Bill of materials:</p>
<ul>
<li>two short pieces of 500 mm HT DN40 (NPS1.5) sewer pipes, or one 1m piece that's been cut in half, if cheaper</li>
<li>two 40 mm 12 V high volume fans that will still run on 5 V (usually found in 1 HU power supplies)</li>
<li>an old USB cable to provide power to the fans</li>
<li>8 long 4 mm screws (imperial: #8, maybe #9, but see below)</li>
<li>rubberbands</li>
<li>two egg beaters from a 99¢ store</li>
<li>optional: battery clip adaptor, battery holder</li>
</ul>
<p>Construction:</p>
<ul>
<li>Cut off the connector(s) of the pipes</li>
<li>The long screws are used to to clamp the fans to the pipes</li>
<li>The egg beaters are helping with the air distribution</li>
<li>Zipties instead of rubberbands seem to work better</li>
</ul>