Looking for opinions on what's the best 64mm fan and outrunner/inrunner setup available to-date (price range unimportant).
Thanks for any recommendations in advance.
Keith

Right now the 64mm market is a bit limited to a handful of lightweight fans, the GWSEDF64 is one of the original and still the best overall in sound, efficiency and performance, the Wattage powerfan is more aggressive in pitch but can sound very cool in the right applications, then you have all the knockoffs which look very much like a GWS, many of them work quite well and perform with almost the same figures.

I build the EDF64 with our ERC2445 inrunner, performance is very good on 4 cells, it pulls 38A on the bench, 42A with ducting, pushes 1.1kg thrust. Here is a video of a quickly knocked up fan to test.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf6x1YzlR1c[/youtube]

There will be a new option very soon, I will have a new 64mm alloy fan to add to our Extreme Alloy lineup, it will feature a pretty serious rotor and will take 28mm motors, performance should be at the top of the 64mm tree. Weight will be kept as low as possible with hi grade alloys and fine wall thickness.

EPF have a new allow 64mm unit out that puts out 1.12kg on 4s... I have some coming in to test and will post results as soon as they are available..
complete with video..
There is also the wm300 60mm fan..

The EPF fan is running a copy of landers current rotors, imho not a very efficient design. But thats not the real issue with their fans, the rotor material is (see photo). Metal blades are illegal in AMA regulations which is why noone makes them for props or EDF (which is considered a shrouded prop).

As for the WM300 fan, biggest problem there is it takes 70 AMPS to get a kilo of thrust out of one, whereas any plastic 64mm fan will produce over a kilo easily on 40 amps. This is a huge issue when you look at the size of the airframes that use 64mm fans, most can carry a 2200 4s1p pack, some can just get away with 2500mah 4s1p. A 70 AMP load will need a 3300mah packminimum which most 64mm airframes wont carry, it will ruin the airframes dynamics.

Thanks Extreme_RC and rorrock,
Your input is very much appreciated. I guest I forgot to add that I want to use a 2000-2700mah 4s battery and
was leaning more towards a outrunner motor. If I had to use a inrunner I would prefer one that allowed for or
incorporated a heat sink. Extreme_RC, the alloy frame fan sounds promising. Will Nitroplanes carry the new alloy
fan and how soon will it be available in the US? I'm really hoping to purchase a fan motor combo within the next few
weeks, hence the question on what the best, strongest, most efficient 64mm fan/motor combo currently available.
Thanks Again

The Alloy 64mmis my design and we will be marketing them worldwide to start with, but you can get many different 64mm fans locally, Don at donsrc.com has some nice 64mm setups ready to drop in that are very popular with the US boys, tell him I sent you over.

You could also get some nice fans from Garry and efflux rc.. really nice guy and great to deal with.
has the skyworld alloy shroud fans as well..

Rorrock,
The Alu. fans really look promising. Thanks for pointing me to the Effluxrc site.
Unfortunately, they are on vacation until 7/31. I've been thinking about the Schuebeler DS26 EDF,
but cannot find much on anyone using this fan. Any thoughts on the DS26?
As I do research for the perfect 64mm fan for me, I'm discovering there's quite a few out there and
hard to discern which would give the best performance, along with durability, for the best price.
Oh well, the search continues!!!
Thanks Again

I have run the DS31 and DS51 Schubeler and they require quite high Kv motors compared to Wemotec and HET. They are no more efficient and put out no more thrust in my tests, it used to be that carbon rotors were lauded as being able to handle more power but reality is the Wemotec &HET70 & 90mm rotorsare just as good and now that they are dynamically balanced at the factory the power levels they can handle are huge! People used to say dont run aWemo 90mmover 2000 watts, but these days 3500 watts is common in 8-12s setups with utter reliability.

The 64mm alloy fan is not available from the US seller, it is not actually in production yet, nor are there rotorson the marketfor a hi performance 64mm fan, YET
I have the 64mm housing drawings done and ready for CNC production and I have custom rotors being produced which will be dynamically balanced and will take 2000+ watts.

One thing to remember with 64mm fans is theyoften go into smaller airframes which do not like a lot of extra weight, usually 2200-2500mah 4s is the max. This is why the plastic 64mm fans that only pull 38-40 amps to produce over a kilo of thrust are the most popular choice. What are you planning on putting the fan in? Your application will dictate what you should be looking for in a power to weight range.

To understand more of where I am coming fromplease take a look at the website: www.extremerc.com.au there is a lot of test data posted up on the website which is all donein house.

A cheap $15.00 GWS 64mm fan can be made to produce 1.1kg reliably all day long, there are many copies of the GWS64mm fan out there that can also be easily balanced up and made to run at 5-600 watts reliably. Even hobby lobby has a Freewing fan and motor set (which is a spare part for the SU34) that produces over a kilo of thrust at 40A on 4 cells, you can buy these ready assembled I believe.

Well I now have official MAAA approval for the EPF in Australia and the AMA are considering the same.. The MAAA see these as an impellors and not propellers, therefore the no metal props rule does not apply here.
Hopefully the AMA will see this and do likewise.. That why these great little fans that put out 1.12kg on 4s at 57A will be available there as well.

Rob

ExtremeRc, I have never owned a Schuebeler, but heard likewise that they are pretty good motors.
I was just not sure if you're getting what you pay for with those fans. I'm planning on putting the fan in a modified
Nitroplanes "64mm Concept X Super" jet. I can always spruce up a planes, but when it comes to Fans, motors, esc
and batteries I like to buy the best I can find. The 64 mm fan you're developing sound just like the type high
performance fan I would like to have which could to be utilized in any 64mm jet and make it perform.
I think I have developed some mental issues with all plastic fans. I've owned small fans like the Hyperflow,
SAPAC, Nitroplanes, etc. just looking for something better in the aftermarket fans.
Brgds

I thought I should post up a pic of the EPF 640. that way you could see what I am talking about.
And regardless of what some may like to think, it doesn't use a copy of a lander rotor, its their own design from 3 years of CAE work and wind tunnel testing..

Wow she gets more powerful every day Its great if you can get the aero bodies to accept metal blades, I wish you good luck with it, but it doesnt address the issue of efficiency, and 57 amps to get the same thrust as the current 64mm fans get at41 amps brings us back to the same problem of battery size and/or stress induced on the batteries.

I apologise forthe comparisonbeing a little tounge in cheek,but rotor design and production in Asia is limited to a couple of factories. Take the photo below of the plastic rotors for example, one rotor is supplied by Skyworld in Taiwan, the other by Lander inChina who claims intellectual property rights. Lookthe samehuh! They even have the same factory stamp inside the molding Compare the basic blade designs of all the rotors below, very similar.

From my experienceyou need to take most asian factory claims with a grain of salt until you actually try the gear. 3 years of testing? Simple fluid dynamic design would have done this rotor in 3 weeks, there are some classic mistakes in their theory too, they claim to have closed the blade to housing gap to much closer tolerances than other fans, thats great, problem is there is turbulence at the blade tips and having a gap is actually a good thing! Up to 1mm is acceptable for fans up to 70mm in diameter,1.5mm for 90mm up. This makes no impact on performance at all.