Stir Plate Fan Question

I have finally made my own stir plate. I used the instructions from this website. I tested it out and it works well. My only concern is that the fan doesn't seem to turn as fast as I like. When I stir some water, I get a small dimple in the middle but no vortex all the way down. I'm wondering if it's the power supply. I'm using a 5V plug. If I used a 12V plug would it burn up my fan? Here's a picture of the tech specs.

A large vortex isnt necessary. Just as long as there is motion then it's enough. At least according to numerous people including Jamil Zainasheff.

However if you get into "heavier" starters that need more power... one thing I did was cut the blades off my fan. 12v probably won't do any damage. but what I found was that the fan spun too fast w/ a 12v on mine. I'm running 9v

Well.... If I might offer you my $.02
I'm sure the thing will operate at 12V, but the sleeve bearing does not like to be mounted horizontally. I burned my first one up rather quickly because of this. I dug through a couple old computer cases, running the part numbers of the fans through Google, before I found a ball bearing substitute which has worked for over 2 years now.

It looks like its rated for 7v max, so there is a chance it'll burn up

A large vortex isnt necessary. Just as long as there is motion then it's enough. At least according to numerous people including Jamil Zainasheff.

However if you get into "heavier" starters that need more power... one thing I did was cut the blades off my fan. 12v probably won't do any damage. but what I found was that the fan spun too fast w/ a 12v on mine. I'm running 9v

Click to expand...

This might work short term, but wouldn't the motor eventually burn up without the blades cooling the motor down?

Mine turned too fast. The bar was slipping. Slowing it down made it stir better. I only had a ring magnet so I snapped it in two. You can get much stronger magnets online with above 9 lbs of pull. What size stir bar are you using?

I have a 1/2" and a 1". The longer one works better.

From what I'm reading, it sounds like I don't need to worry about the speed as long as it moves the liquid.

Thanks for all the feedback. Here are some pictures of the project.