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YOU CAN 3D PRINT A WIND TUNNEL THAT MAKES AIR VISIBLE

A hypersonic aerodynamicist published a free modular wind tunnel you can print at home, and it makes moving air visible with smoke and laser lighting.

by Jerrod W. Hofferth

FULL CAD BOM FIRMWARE DOCS

ScienceOpen-hardware

Built with3D printing

difficulty
●●●○○
time
a weekend-plus
license
CC BY-NC-SA
repo
repo FINISHED0 stars

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

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COMPAREE VERDICT

Jerrod W. Hofferth is a research engineer who works on hypersonic aerodynamics and wind tunnel engineering for a living, and he published his modular teaching tunnel as an open design. The standard configuration targets a 256 by 256 mm print bed, and an alternate small-printer chamber set lets everything print on a 180 by 180 mm bed. The test-article modules use magnetic Gridfinity-compatible mounts so you can drop in Matchbox cars or mini paper aeroplanes, and the smoke flow visualisation is the real teaching moment — you watch air cling to a surface and then separate. The creator says the tunnel can be started for under 200 dollars for filament, a 140 mm PC fan (the diffuser is designed around the Noctua NF-A14 iPPC 3000), a power supply and hardware, but that number is misleading: the smoke generator and LED or laser lighting are the entire point, and Hofferth's paper puts a complete green-field project at roughly 500 dollars. The one thing most likely to go wrong is underestimating the smoke system: a handheld glycol-based fogger (or the creator's DIY vape-coil-plus-fan alternative) plus a line laser or LED panel is where the money and the fiddling both land. If you want to teach flow separation or run a maker night at a school, this is a strong choice. If you want a desktop curiosity without the smoke, you will be disappointed.

GOOD TO KNOW

  • —76 files on Printables: 74 STL and 3MF parts, plus SVG and PDF drawings for the acrylic window.
  • —Negative-volume STL files for the model-mount interfaces are included to make remixing your own test articles easier.
  • —Detailed conference paper from AIAA SciTech 2025, DOI 10.2514/6.2025-2560, free to download from the creator's site.
  • —Licence is CC BY-NC-SA: free for personal and educational use, commercial licensing on request.
  • —Files went free on 21 January 2025; before that date they were sold for a nominal fee.
  • —No firmware or electronics assembly guide; the fan runs direct from a power supply.

Parts to buy

6 items

From our check of the build. Exact quantities and part numbers are in the creator’s BOM.

  • Noctua NF-A14 iPPC 3000 140 mm fanFind
  • 12V power supplyFind
  • Acrylic sheet for the windowFind
  • Glycol-based smoke generatorFind
  • Line laser or LED flood lightingFind
  • Magnetic Gridfinity modulesFind

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Can I build this?

Print74 STL and 3MF files; the standard configuration needs a 256 by 256 mm bed, and the alternate small-printer chamber files let everything print on a 180 by 180 mm bed
BuyNoctua NF-A14 iPPC 3000 140 mm fan, 12V power supply, acrylic sheet for the window, glycol-based smoke generator, line laser or LED flood lighting, magnetic Gridfinity modules
ToolsFDM 3D printer (minimum 180 by 180 mm bed), tools to cut and mount acrylic, basic hand tools for assembly
SkillsIntermediate: you need to print the tunnel sections (the paper lays the baseline out across 22 build plates), mount an acrylic window, wire a PC fan to a variable-speed supply, and set up smoke generation and lighting. The laser or LED alignment is the fiddly part.
TimeAbout a week of printing (the paper puts it at 6 to 7 days of print time), then a weekend to assemble the tunnel and another day or two to get the smoke generator and lighting working correctly.
Cost$$$, dominated by the smoke generator and laser or LED lighting. The tunnel itself is under 200 dollars; the complete system with visualisation is roughly 500 dollars.
SafetyLine lasers are class 2 or 3R; do not look into the beam. Glycol-based smoke generators get hot and can burn if touched during operation. If using mains-powered lighting or smoke equipment, standard electrical safety applies.

This build involves mains voltage — for adults comfortable with electrical work only.

Build at your own risk. Projects involve tools, electronics and sometimes mains voltage — follow the creator’s safety notes.

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Gallery

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Start here

Navigation into the creator’s own docs — we don’t rewrite the guide, we route you to the source.

  1. 1.Download the files from Printables (76 files: 74 STL and 3MF parts, plus SVG and PDF for the acrylic window.)
  2. 2.Read the AIAA SciTech 2025 paper(DOI 10.2514/6.2025-2560, free to download from Hofferth's site. The paper is the build guide and the teaching reference.)
  3. 3.Use the included mount interface files if you want to adapt your own test articles(Negative-volume STL files for the aero-strut and half-span mounts are in the same Printables download; use them to fit your own models.)
  4. 4.Source the fan, power supply, acrylic, smoke generator and lighting(The Noctua NF-A14 iPPC 3000 is specified; for smoke and laser, read the paper's recommendations.)

KNOWN ISSUES

  • The 200 dollar figure is for the tunnel alone; smoke and lighting are not optional if you want flow visualisation, and that pushes the total to roughly 500 dollars.
  • The smoke generator matters: the creator recommends a handheld VG/PG fogger with power and fan-speed control (Vosentech MicroFogger 5 Pro is his pick); a DIY vape-coil-plus-fan version is listed as a cheaper option, but incense or a weak fog source will not give clean streaklines.
  • Line lasers need careful alignment to cut a thin sheet through the test section; LED floods are easier but wash out the detail.
  • The acrylic window is a separate cut-and-mount job; the SVG and PDF give you the outline, but you need access to a laser cutter or a steady hand with a saw.
  • The licence is CC BY-NC-SA, so if you are building this for a school or university that charges tuition, check whether that counts as non-commercial use under the licence terms.
  • The files went free on 21 January 2025; earlier versions were sold, so if you are following an older discussion thread the pricing context may differ.

Can I build this without the smoke generator and laser?

You can, but then it is just a box with a fan. The flow visualisation is the teaching moment and the reason the project exists.

What is the minimum bed size I need?

The standard configuration is designed for a 256 by 256 mm bed; with the alternate small-printer chamber files on Printables, everything prints on a 180 by 180 mm bed.

Can I use a different fan?

The printed diffuser is designed to mate specifically with the Noctua NF-A14 iPPC 3000, so another 140 mm fan may not fit without modifying the part. The creator also offers a separate upgrade kit with a longer diffuser and an 8-inch AC Infinity Cloudline duct fan for much higher test-section speed.

Is the licence really non-commercial?

Yes. CC BY-NC-SA allows personal and educational use; commercial licensing is available on request from the creator.

Where is the BOM?

The AIAA paper lists the major components and gives a rough cost breakdown. The Printables page has the STL files and drawings.

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Discussion1

FROM THE COMPAREE TEAM

A complete green-field build is roughly 500 dollars once you add the fog generator and lighting, or under 250 dollars if you already have those. If you were setting this up for a maker night or a classroom, would you go line laser for the clean sheets, or LED flood for the ease?

CompareeTEAM1mo agoedited

Practical notes from our verification: the design files are on Printables as model 849713, and the AIAA SciTech 2025 paper is the real build guide. It puts a working tunnel at under 250 dollars in materials if you already own a printer, a fog generator and a light source, and roughly 500 dollars for a complete green-field build once you buy the handheld fog generator and the LED or laser lighting. The files became free under CC BY-NC-SA on 21 January 2025; before that they were sold for a nominal fee. There is no GitHub repository and no electronics assembly guide; the baseline uses a 140 mm PC fan with a speed controller, with an 8-inch duct fan as an optional upgrade. Budget for the print itself: the paper estimates 5 to 6 kg of filament and roughly 6 to 7 days of printing. Smoke and lighting are where the flow visualisation comes alive, and the creator lists several smoke options, including a DIY vape-coil setup. Correction (4 October 2026): we re-checked this page line by line against the project's own repository, documentation and videos, and fixed errors in earlier versions.

Jerrod W. Hofferth

Jerrod Hofferth is a research engineer working on hypersonic aerodynamics and wind tunnel engineering. He designed this modular tunnel as a teaching tool and published it free under CC BY-NC-SA on 21 January 2025, after selling the files for a nominal fee before that date. He presented the design in a paper at the AIAA SciTech 2025 conference.

Star the project on GitHub

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