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I'm disappointed that this is on YT, shouldn't it be on OnlyFans?

Thermaltake already makes a clone:

https://www.tomshardware.com/features/noctua-nf-a12x25-vs-to...

Noctua seems fine so long as you’re not copying the color scheme and branding. Interestingly TT had a 140mm version before Noctua. Noctua seems happy being the premium option.

Unless they still have an unexpired patent on the design, it's completely legal to clone. Physical objects simply do not have the same type of copyright protection, and there is considerable precedent in making compatible components --- the most notable example being the automotive aftermarket.

Unless they have patents on their fan impleller geomeries, the IP they're referring to is likely just trade secrets. Trade secrets do have legal protections in the US, but those protections are mainly about disclosing or stealing those secrets, not about physically inspecting something and deriving the trade secret that way.

Not sure about the tech aspect of 3D scanning or if that would be accurate enough; I don't have any experience there to draw on.

You really don’t need to 3d scan, I’m not a cad expert and it took me just a few evenings to replicate pretty much the blade profile of my Noctua fans based on photos

I would think so, or by taking cross sections. Its hard to believe they have some miraculous geometry that needs guarding anyway. Maybe they are trying to dissuade people who might try to 3d print an impeller.

3d models for industrial fan manufacturers (Sanyo,NMB) are widely available.

I think they are trying to stop random small shops from making cosmetic copies that compete with their products.

Crude copies with convincing appearance would tarnish their brand. Visibly crude copies stop performance data of such copies from being mistaken as representative of actual products.

Yes, though the fidelity offered by faithful CAD would be both easier to interpret correctly and might even hint at the CAD feature tree.

Kudos to them for releasing models useful for integration.

If your goal is to reproduce it you could just make a cast of the fan and then use that to make a mold.

It’d be a bit tricky since you wouldn’t really have a convenient spot for a planar parting line, but should be possible.

Wouldn't there be too much error when you both 3D scan and 3D print it?

Aren't their dimensions standard? Many people replace other fans with Noctua's, after all.

I was just thinking the same! Spent few hours a month ago measuring 120mm noctua fans to build a custom mounting bracket for a rack cooling module I was making.

Never finished it because I kept having to tweak and remeasure, but now I can definitely go back and finish it!

You're not going to find a significantly quieter 80mm fan. It needs to be bigger so the blade passing frequency is in a less noticeable range.

Probably best to look up the local prices yourself? We don't know where you live.

There are fans that are cheaper that come close to noctua, but noctua are one of the best fans you can buy.

Well the cheapest crap fans are almost free, Noctua fans are certainly not free. So the added cost is the entire price of a Noctua fan.

Good to know, didn't realize Mikrotik did this too. Useful for homelab planning where rack space and airflow actually matter.

Especially because they previously denied his request for the files (even when they've sponsored him), stating the same IP issue.

Not just 3d printing, the proposed law applies to cnc too.