Your Own Custom VR Headset W/Fans

How to turn a cheap plastic units into something more like this!

Custom Paint, Dual USB Fans...

You know you want one, and you know you can paint it better than me ;)

YOU WILL NEED:

• Cheap Headset
• Fans
• Spray Paint (your color)
• Painters Tape
• Hot Glue Gun
• Dremel (seriously, you're on a DIY site, you should own a Dremel or equivalent rotary tool)
  
• Cool Deco Stuff (we used Nail Polish)

Get a cheap hard cover VR phone Headset holder like the one pictured here, make sure it has the one piece snap cover, not the newer slide cover to give camera access. Bonus, these tend to be among the cheapest units online.

Also acquire a super cheap Laptop cooler fan set, also pictured above.

The headsets run $10-$15 USD on Amazon, or at your local big box electronics retailer like Fry's or Best Buy

Amazon Link for the style of Headset we used

The fans are $5 from Amazon, but only ship slow boat, I'm sure you can be creative...

Amazon Link for the Fans we used

Prepping the face plate is super easy...

1. Pop the face cover off your headset (they snap on/off with a bit of force) we forgot to take a picture of the white thing it was, sorry!
2. Cut 2 holes just slightly smaller than the fan openings. I prefer using a Dremel for this step, makes cutting plastic a breeze!
3. Sand off the roughness, 220 grit is fine, and again a Dremel makes this easy.
4. Spray paint the whole thing the color of your choice (we like Black!)

1. Remove the legs from the fans (they are on cheap rivets, just pry them off) this will leave 4 empty hole mounts
2. Carefully cut the fans in "half" separating the two fans from each other, but not cutting any of the wiring leaving them looking like the first picture
3. Using a combination of trimming plastic away, and sanding to remove as much excess plastic as you can from each fan face, leaving a small lip and 2 empty hole mounts on each, should look like the top fan in the second picture.

Again you really want a Dremel for this step!

1. Carefully lay down a bead of hot glue along each fans remaining plastic edge, and attach it to one of the hole in the face plate, as shown in picture 1.
2. Be careful to align the fans carefully to the holes, then put down a bead of hot glue around the outer rim, securing the fans firmly to the face plate, and tack the wiring into a single point, as shown in picture 2.
3. Finally, check the inside of the face plate to make sure the glue bonds cleanly, and doesn't have any globs or strings to interfere with the fans., as shown in picture 3.

*this can be done with regular glue or epoxy, just takes a lot longer...

Carefully tape off the fans inside and out, and give the whole face plate a final coat of [your color] spray paint as show in picture 1.

Watch the vent holes, you have to spray them carefully or you end up with white bits still showing after you are all done.

Once dry remove the tape and you can CAREFULLY add detail to the fans themselves. I recommend nail polish, its cheap at the dollar store, super bright, and super durable.

Picture 2 shows our custom job, White edging on the fan blades, blue "iris" spindle cover with a bare black "pupil" in the middle.

Hook it up to your favorite USB battery or power source and test it!

You will likely want to get a USB extension cord (A to A, power only) to extend the rather short cable on the fans.

But then you can put a battery in your pocket, or whatever, really this is just a start for customizing your own VR Headset.

We're hoping someone turns this into a larger helmet thing with steam punk widgets! Or LEDs on the outside, or... who knows!

Please contact us and let us know what you make from this!

You can also follow our projects on Patreon Here.