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Post by redkiosk on Jun 6, 2021 19:22:39 GMT -5
I’ve been craving the look a Malibu Star since the day it became available, but unfortunately, my house doesn’t have the room to accommodate a fan of this size. I’ve always wondered ‘what if’ Casablanca had offered a version of the Malibu Star fitted with the shorter Avalon blades. I figured THAT would have been the perfect fan for my house.
After the recent refresh of my 1990 Avalon, I started thinking seriously about this hybrid fan idea. I’ve never gotten ‘up close and personal’ with a real Malibu Star and with absolutely nothing in the way of used ones available for purchase, I decided to formulate a plan to build one utilizing the many photographs available online for reference.
The following few posts document this project.
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Post by redkiosk on Jun 6, 2021 19:27:38 GMT -5
I didn’t want to use the blade brackets from my Avalon as they were much larger and would look mis-proportioned fitted onto the smaller Malibu Star body, so this project really didn’t take off until I found a complete set of Malibu Star blade brackets. When I did, unfortunately they were without the bicycle sprocket hub, but the blade brackets themselves were what really made this project possible and ended up being the only parts from an actual Malibu Star that I used to build this fan.
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Post by redkiosk on Jun 6, 2021 19:29:18 GMT -5
From what I could tell, the Malibu Star body is basically an Emerson K55 (or later on, Casablanca XLP 2000) motor painted white (or the other two colors they offered initially), then wrapped with a perforated metal shield. It also sports the shorter, “switchless” switch housing found on the Inteli-Touch fans. I wanted to continue the chrome/white/black color theme of my Avalon, so l purchased a gently-used, 1989 Casablanca Ventura in Snow White. Everything but the K55 motor, switch housing and HangTru rod was then removed.
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Post by redkiosk on Jun 6, 2021 19:30:32 GMT -5
The K55 motor was disassembled, cleaned and prepped for new bearings and a flywheel. While it was apart, I painted both motor end caps and the main motor casing with white, heat-resistant engine paint, followed by a coat of clear, heat-resistant engine paint.
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Post by redkiosk on Jun 6, 2021 19:34:10 GMT -5
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Post by redkiosk on Jun 6, 2021 19:35:15 GMT -5
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Post by redkiosk on Jun 6, 2021 19:36:37 GMT -5
The bicycle sprocket hub turned out to be the biggest challenge, as I had nothing to refer to except various photographs of a Malibu Star. Counting the teeth on the bicycle sprockets got the ball rolling, as I soon learned 52T/42T are common bicycle “chainring” sizes and used sets are readily available on eBay. From what I could determine from the photographs, Casablanca had fitted the Malibu Star with an inexpensive, anodized stamped aluminum chainring set and standard connector bolts. After looking around on eBay for awhile, I decided I was going to upgrade this fan to something MUCH nicer and ended up purchasing a used/vintage Sugino Super Mighty “Drillium” Track Chainring Set. Researching what I just bought, I learned that during the 70’s, in their never-ending quest to shave weight off their bicycles to increase speed, riders and manufacturers started drilling holes in their aluminum alloy bicycle components. With a mantra of “there’s nothing lighter than a hole”, Drillium was born! It was short-lived though, as it turned out that the weight saving was slight and the aerodynamics were terrible. But it sure did look intimidating and cool! I ended up polishing both chainring sprockets to a mirror finish as I felt they paired well with the polished “drillium-looking” perforated motor shield. I also decided to use black chainring connector bolts and spacers to visually connect parts of the sprocket hub to the black fishing poles on my Avalon blades.
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Post by redkiosk on Jun 6, 2021 19:37:35 GMT -5
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Post by redkiosk on Jun 6, 2021 19:38:51 GMT -5
Since this fan is a one-off build and my personal fan I figured I could take a little creative liberty with a few design elements. Details that might be seen in the designer’s pre-production prototype, but not after the corporate bean-counters got their hands on it. Any machine screws used on the fan were replaced with polished stainless steel hex allen head screws. To make those polished hex allen heads really “pop”, the hex “holes” were painted with black epoxy paint. The standard Casablanca flat brass threaded insert on the bottom of the switch housing was also replaced with a matching polished and painted allen hex screw. These allen hex screws continued the visual theme that began when I decided to go with a hexagon pattern for the replacement ripstop nylon on my Avalon blades. Once again, the polished metal was coated with a few coats of Collinite No.845 Insulator Wax to retain it’s luster for years.
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Post by redkiosk on Jun 6, 2021 19:39:45 GMT -5
It took me a while, but I located a Casablanca Venus stepped ceiling canopy in Snow White. I felt it complemented the design of this fan better than the traditional, rounded Casablanca canopy.
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Post by redkiosk on Jun 6, 2021 19:42:37 GMT -5
I removed the fishing pole blades from my 1990 Avalon and slipped them into the Malibu Star brackets. Oops, didn’t even think of this… they’re slightly larger in diameter! They still fit into the “loosened” blade bracket, but there’s a small gap between the clamping plate and the blade bracket. I was careful to to tighten the clamping screws evenly, so the gap is even and the poles are mounted straight and solid. I downloaded an Owner’s Manual for a Malibu Star which had instructions and measurements for adjusting the angle of the blades. The Malibu Star blades are user-set at 15 degrees, while the blades on my Avalon were factory-set at 18 degrees with a permanent alignment pin located inside the blade bracket. I decided to use the Malibu Star measurements and go with 15 degrees on this fan. Setting the correct angle was was quite tedious to say the least, but the result was absolutely no wobble at any speed. Adjustment by phonebx, on Flickr
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Post by redkiosk on Jun 6, 2021 19:44:52 GMT -5
OH MY!
Can't post any more pics of the finished fan. I'll have to start a new thread…
That doesn't work either.
Moderator help please.
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Post by Jean Lemieux on Jun 7, 2021 4:42:48 GMT -5
OH MY! Can't post any more pics of the finished fan. I'll have to start a new thread… That doesn't work either. Moderator help please. I suggest you use a photo hosting website to post your photos instead of attaching them to your posts to not be limited.
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Post by redkiosk on Jun 7, 2021 9:33:59 GMT -5
OK then, looks like this is what I have to do to post the last three photos. I have an old Flickr account and downloaded them to that. Gives me a link to post, but not the photos themselves in the post. Better than nothing. Let's give it a try… I feel the body-to-blade proportion for this fan is right-on and it’s a shame that Casablanca didn’t produce a fan similar to this. To me, the Malibu Star looked best proportionally, with a K4B light assembly hanging below it and a bit too spindly without it. I’ve always felt that my Avalon could have benefited, design-wise, from losing a little weight and the Malibu Star motor turned out to be just the ticket for that. As an added plus, it doesn’t require the 9 ft ceiling height that a Malibu Star does. Of course my dream fan needed a name, so based on it’s pedigree, I came up with…Venturalon Star. Questions, comments or a better name for this fan are always welcome. Take care! Jim Fan #18 by phonebx, on Flickr Fan #19 by phonebx, on Flickr Fan #20 by phonebx, on Flickr
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Post by Tais on Jun 7, 2021 16:15:07 GMT -5
Lovely fan!
For image hosting i recommend using imgbb.com, very convenient and very mobile friendly
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