Break It Apart!

 
Reverse Engineering
Desktop Fan 

By Rohan Ayyar, Abby Bergerson, Morgan Boothe, and 

The device we chose to reverse engineer is a desktop fan. This device is made out 
of polypropylene plastic and a battery powered ​DC1-6V/3V motor. The device’s purpose 
is to be a small, portable fan and to cool down the user. The dimensions are 11.5cm ​x 
11.5cm ​x ​7cm.  
 
The fan is comprised of a basket cover, fan blades, and a stand. ​The plastic 
basket goes over the fan blades protect people from getting hurt by the rotating blades. 
The stand holds up the fan and allows people to rotate the direction of the air so they 
can be more comfortable. Inside the fan there is the motor and batteries. The batteries 
are the fan’s power source and are located under the fan [Link] batteries are 
connected to the motor to rotate the blades to move the air. To work the fan there is a 
switch in the back. That will start to rotate the fan blades.   
 
The fan is made 
up of 13 parts. There are 
4 screws .6 cm in length 
that secure the fan to 
the base and the cover 
to the battery. There are 
2 AA batteries that 
power the machine. Two 
plastic baskets 10 cm in 
diameter, one half to 
protect the user from 
the fan blades and the 
other one is used to hold the batteries and the motor. There is one motor with a switch 
on it which will turn it on and off. The motor is 2 cm in width, 3 cm in length, and 1.5 cm 
in depth. There is one cover that protects the motor and wires (5.5 cm by 2 cm) and the 
other cover protects the batteries (5.5 cm by 5 cm). The last two pieces are the fan 
 2

blades that are 2 cm in length and the stand which is 7.5 cm in height and 12.5 cm in 
length.  
 
The fan is connected to the stand with 
screws. There is a pin that connects to the 
blade of the fan. There are two batteries on 
the back with a switch that operates the fan. 
The switch and battery springs connect to a 
motor which connects to the pin that 
connects to the blade. The motor is linked to 
one wire that connects to a conductive metal 
that transmits the battery energy and 
another wire that links to the switch and 
another conductive metal. Basically, when 
you use force to switch the fan on, the 
energy from the switch opens the motor to 
energy, which comes from the battery. If the batteries have energy and the switch is 
on, the energy goes through the motor and to the end of the pin, which is connected to 
the fan, causing it to move. 
 
Two different types of plastic are used to 
make the fan. The body of the fan and fan blades 
are both made out of Polypropylene. I found this by 
finding the same product online and looking at the 
material description. Generally there is a code on 
most plastics that will tell you what type of plastic 
it is. Polypropylene is resistant to fatigue and can 
handle hotter temperatures. That makes it great 
for medical tools, tupperware, plastic bags, and 
bottle caps. Some characteristics of polypropylene 
 3

are that it can float, it is cheaper than other synthetic fibers, waterproof, lightweight, 
and can be made into many different colors. One challenge of working with this plastic 
is that it has low friction at the molecular level and most glues won’t bond the plastic to 
other materials. The motor used inside the fan is a ​130 Model DC1-6V/3V. It has an RPM 
of 17000 to [Link] motors are used most often in toys and small electronics due to 
the small shaft size of 2mm. Since the shaft size is so small the torque in turn is also 
smaller, causing the motor to be fairly weak making it good for toys and small 
appliances. 
 
Plastic molding is a technique used for shaping the plastics using rigid frames 
and molds. The molding is commonly used for manufacturing car parts, containers, 
signs and other high volume items. Plastic molding involves filling liquid polymer in 
the hollow mold so that it can take its shape. This process involves a high range of 
pressure and immense heat. There are different techniques used in plastic molding 
including injection molding, blow molding, rotational molding, and compression 
molding. The motors includes a motor dc uxcell micro model mini electric speed rc high 
torque toys toy diy rotary shaft magnetic vibration magnet gear car smart player dvd 
vdc airplane cylinder hobby helicopter massager pcs cd aircraft terminal part spare 
cars large stepper wire phase piece rpm output min power terminals appliance kitchen 
intelligent box varistor cylindrical.  
 
We decided to theoretically 
redesign this desktop fan with an LED 
light. Basically, we added an LED light in 
between the blue wire and replaced the 
AA battery on that side with a coin cell 
battery. We did this because an LED light 
requires around 1.8 to 3.3 Volts to light 
up and a AA battery provides 1.5 Volts. 
 4

Because of this, we can’t even reach the minimum of lighting the LED, let alone 
charging the fan. A coin cell battery, however, provides around 3 Volts of energy, 
which is enough to charge the LED moderately and charge the fan. A blueprint of the 
redesigned motor would look like this: 
 
In order to make this motor design fit with the desktop fan, we would drill the 
left side of the battery so it can fit the coin cell battery. Additionally, we would attach 
the LED to the outside of the fan so it’s on display while the fan is running. A basic 
blueprint of the redesign would look like this: