Braun was once a mighty pillar of industrial design; a true titan of the mid-century era. Many of the company’s finest works have been forgotten outside of coffee table books and vintage shops. [Distracted by Design] wanted to bring one of the classics back to life—the Braun HL70 desk fan.
The original was quite a neat little device. It made the most of simple round shapes and was able to direct a small but refreshing stream of air across one’s desk on a warm day. In reality, it was probably bought as much for its sleek aesthetics as for its actual cooling ability.
Obviously, you can’t just buy one anymore, so [Distracted by Design] turned to 3D printing to make their own. The core of the build was a mains-powered motor yanked out of a relatively conventional desk fan. However, it was assembled into a far more attractive enclosure that was inspired by the Braun HL70, rather than being a direct copy. We get a look at both the design process and the final assembly, and the results are quite nice. It feels like a 2025 take on the original in a very positive sense.
Files are available on Printables for the curious. It’s not the first time we’ve contemplated fancy fans and their designs. Video after the break.
jep Dieter rahm really set a standard with brAun. i also really dig his portable radios. very simple and clean. Apple is trying to emulate this in mac os, but gloriously misses the point completely on usability.
Design nerds can never resist The Cantilever.
Looks neat and no design should be forgotten.
However it seems like a design just asking for problems. Can’t imagine (what appears to be) an exposed squirrelcage fan is particularly good to have around for people with long hair, pets, or fingers that might accidentally find their way into it.
When my fingers touch it, it’s never by accident.
Really cool design and cool idea for the project but holy hell that’s a whole new breed of extremely insufferable pretentious guy I haven’t seen much in the 3D printing weekend project community yet
Really takes balls to cram your disdain for what other people design and sell, some hilariously basic beginner 3D printing design tips presented as some grand discovery, and then one’s own struggle with shame and body filler all in span of 11 minute video. All that’s missing is sponsor by bambulab but I guess that still has a few thousand subscribers to go.
“Obviously, you can’t just buy one anymore, so…”
eBay begs to differ. There are like 20+ of them available right now.
As a fan, it looks cargo-cult-ish.
It’s got the squirrel-cage impeller and it spins ’round, but the whole point of a centrifugal fan like this is the air enters the middle axially through one (or both) ends, and gets accelerated as it passes through the vanes.
With the end blocked like that, there’s no axial flow. You’ll get some air that gets persuaded to move along by viscous interaction at the tips of the vanes, but it must be horribly inefficient.
Did the original Braun design maybe draw air in through the motor?