To cut the story short, I emailed Chris and requested a quote for a custom setup. The price was was right but the Post Offices here won't do Money Orders to the U.S.!! The only way was to send an International Bank Draft, which would cost me almost half of the cost of the units themself!!! I decided to scrap the idea and live with the noise!! But then a friend saw Cliff's notes on the fanbus and he told me that he could help me build one myself. Now I wished I had paid attention during all those Electronics Engg. classes I attended back in 1991!!!:O)

Anyway, I set out and search for the components and he would help me with the wiring and soldering. First stop, the switch. That was easy as almost all the stores in Sim Lim Tower have 'em. You just need to find one rated for 12VDC.

The S$2.50 switch, rated at 12VDC, 15A.		The little dot on the switch indicates the "ON" position.

The next item on the list is the electronic hobby kit box for the fanbus, the spring wire clips, control knobs and the rheostats. The first 3 items was also easy to find but I had trouble sourcing for the rheostat. According to Cliff, he uses a 5Watts rheostat but the smallest wattage I could find was 30Watts!! Even then, the thing was to big for the faceplate!!! But then, a kind soul helped me out......it was the guy at the store where I bought the switch. He told me that I could find what I was looking for at a store just behind his. So off I went and I was presented with a sign saying, "HANDY ELECTRONICS". Could come pretty handy, I guess!!! :O) The guy was right!! They did have those suckers!!! Even though it wasn't the same as Cliff's specs, the guy was kind enough to explain to me the proper setup of the rheostat and he was also quick to understand when I told him what my purpose was for buying the rheostats. Now that's what I call service!!!! I ended up buying 3 pieces. But sad news for others.....he told me that these are the last 3 pieces and they won't be bringing in the low wattage models anymore. He said that it cost too much and they weren't selling very well. Weren't selling well?? Then how come these are the last 3 pieces???

The electronic hobby kit box and the spring wire clips. Kit Box : S$1.60 Clips : S$1.50		The Rheostat Brand : CHIBA Watts : 10 Resistance : 25 Ohms Cost : S$18 each

Having all the items ready, I called my friend and we proceed to assemble the units. I started to cut the wires to the desired length and my friend started to solder them to the connectors. Not really professional stuff, but it will do........

Outside view of the Fanbus with labels.		Internal view of the Fanbus wirings. Pretty neat, huh???

I decided to mount the switch and the rheostats directly to the faceplate. The faceplate was quite soft and easy to work with. Looks like the front panel of a guitar amplifier!! COOL STUFF!!! Now all it needs is labels!!

The rheostats and switch attached to the back of the faceplate. I soldered these babies myself!		Front view of the rheostat and switch setup.

Here's both units after being connected together. The Fanbus is attached to the Control Unit through plastic wire connectors, so it can be easily removed for setup with different controllers. Here you also see the male MOLEX connector for connection to the PSU.

Completed Control and Fanbus Units

Here is an updated schematic drawing of the setup.

Hoping Day 5 would turn out just fine............later dudes..... :O)

Day 5......setbacks...... :O( >>