Hey. So, I've caught this d@mn mod/cooling bug. It's worse than crack.
I want to cut out my existing grill on the back of my pc where the chassis fan exhausts and replace it with a more air friendly one. First step: cut out 80mm existing grill. Duh. Well, that' s where I need help.
I would love to do this without dismantling my rig. So, obviously, the sawzall is out along with the rotozip and the jigsaw. My latest brainstorm was to use tin snips to cut down on tiny metal particles flying around. I realize It'll be double the work and not as pretty, but seeing as I'm adding a aftermarket grill I think it'll be o.k.
Does anybody have any thought s, suggestions, ideas, or things of that nature?

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One word...

Dremel.

Use a vacuum to suck up all the flying metal bits abd you should be fine.


Mark

killer tip. thanks.

Quote: Originally Posted by warchild1984 Hey. So, I've caught this d@mn mod/cooling bug. It's worse than crack. I want to cut out my existing grill on the back of my pc where the chassis fan exhausts and replace it with a more air friendly one. First step: cut out 80mm existing grill. Duh. Well, that' s where I need help. I would love to do this without dismantling my rig. So, obviously, the sawzall is out along with the rotozip and the jigsaw. My latest brainstorm was to use tin snips to cut down on tiny metal particles flying around. I realize It'll be double the work and not as pretty, but seeing as I'm adding a aftermarket grill I think it'll be o.k. Does anybody have any thought s, suggestions, ideas, or things of that nature?

To paraphrase a muppet: One you start down the path to modding, forever will it dominate your destiny

My suggestion is to use fiber-reinforced abrasive grinding disks on the dremmel. The reinforced ones last much longer.

Now the next trick to master is cutting a round hole with a straight line disk. The best way I've found (if you have a sufficient radius) is not to cut a continuous line all the way through the metal, rather, do about 2-3 linear inches at a time, going about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way through from the inside of the case out if possible. That way if your disk skips on you you wouldn't have a scar on the outside, and you can make cleaner cuts this way and won't burn through disks as fast.

Do wear safety goggles when doing this and gloves if you have them as you will have sparks, metal bits and possibly grinding disk chunks flying up at you. That way you can go as something other than a pirate at halloween... yearrrr!

ok. but say I didn't want to risk it. the flying bits that is. Would a brand new pair of metal snips not work well enough?
Not to mention I haven't had my Lowe's fix this week .

Bill (mnpctech) has a good guide on his site for cutting a circle with a dremel. I have cut circles both with snips and with a dremel - the snips require a lot of filing, take a very long time and in the end look rather sloppy. I say dremel it

Welcome to PCAPEX!

Alright I can do that. But let me run this by you guys:
I had considered cutting a block of wood and intalling it inside the case in the place of the chassis fan while I cut . I thougt that this would keep most of the bits flying fllying inside the case. Sound reasonable?

When i done mine i used tin snip's to cut out the bulk of it then used the dremel to clean it up,Turned out pretty good and didn't take that long

Quote: Originally Posted by warchild1984 Alright I can do that. But let me run this by you guys: I had considered cutting a block of wood and intalling it inside the case in the place of the chassis fan while I cut . I thougt that this would keep most of the bits flying fllying inside the case. Sound reasonable?

OK - is there any serious reason why you can't take the rig apart?
I suffer from the dreaded laziness syndrome (AKA slobitis) and have learned my lesson the hard way.

You risk seriously damaging stuff if you get metal filings shorting things - HSF's can trap filings and flick them out after the fans start, PCI and RAM slots can trap filings worse than you can imagine and checking under capacitors for stuff is a pain.
Dremel dust will get everywhere too - even with a vacuum cleaner

For the sake of an hour to take it apart and put it back together - is it really worth the risk?

If you take everything out - not only will you be able to take out that grill easily, you may find other stuff you want to attack :misch* Also, you'll have a chance to clean all the dust bunnies out of your system

If you really can't be bothered taking it apart, I'd recommend getting some big anti-static bags, cutting them up and covering the components with them (taped up heavily with a tight seal of course)

A nibbler may also be a good idea too - you can get a decent hole with one (but it's time consuming)

Just suggestions though

Me lazy? I'm chatting in a mod forum and my grass is at mid-shin.
OK, but being an extreme noobie, I get the shakes just thinking about it. I can cut and clean the hole no problem but I need guidance on dismantling my rig. Would I need anti-static bags to store my components? Any advice, guides, or links would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

If you are worried about taking things apart and not being able to put them back together, you could:

-take pictures with a digital camera (if you have one)
-make sketches and label them extremely well
-label the cables with with masking tape and a marker so you know where to plug cables back in

Before I knew what cables went where, I'd get a roll of masking tape and a marker and make little lables to put onto the cables so I would get them plugged back in to the right spots. Just take your time and it should work for you.

When I take my parts out of my tower to mod it, I always put my sound, tv tuner, and video cards back in the original anti static bags. My motherboard won't fit back into its anti static bag because of the heatsink, I put a thin sheet of foam down under the antistatic bag, and set the whole board on top of that. After I have the case completely empty, I shut the doors (and windows if necessary) to my room and lock the door so no one can get in there to play with things they don't need to.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Quote: Originally Posted by warchild1984 Me lazy? I'm chatting in a mod forum and my grass is at mid-shin. OK, but being an extreme noobie, I get the shakes just thinking about it. I can cut and clean the hole no problem but I need guidance on dismantling my rig. Would I need anti-static bags to store my components? Any advice, guides, or links would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

No probs!
This is the skinny guide - not totally comprehensive, but good enough to be safe and get you by (I think):
Just remember - take care and you do this at your own risk - If you are iffy on anything, ask or google it first

I'd advise getting antistatic bags, but so long as you store the parts on an insulator (wood bench, cardboard box... whatever) you'll be fine.

Be sure to leave the plug in the PSU (switch it all off at the wall, but leave it plugged in too) and make sure you are touching a metal part of the case while you are handling anything that has a microchip on it.
Reason behind this is that touching the case earths you and discharges any static charge on your body (Static can fry electronic chips) - you can buy antistatic wristbands that clip onto the case so you can use 2 hands freely.

If you've never done it before, it might pay to take pictures of the inside, so you can remember where everything plugs into - I sometimes get masking tape and label connectors with it - it doesn't hurt anything to do so

Lay the case on it's side, open the panel

Unplug all of the internal power connectors from the drives, motherboard, video and sound cards (if you have them) move them out of your way (flop them over the side of the case or something)

Unplug the cables from your hard disk/s optical drives (it may pay to leave the motherboard ends attached and take the cables off the drives themselves) if you have more than one drive of each type - make a note of which cable and connector they attach to.

Remove the drives - unscrew them and take them out

Remove anything else that's plugged into the motherboard and connected to anything that isn't attached to the mobo (fans, fan controllers etc) Don't take off fan connectors that are on the CPU or chipset fans (no need to do so) One important thing - there will be a bunch of connectors for the front panel switches/lights etc. make CLEAR notes as to which way the connector wires go and where each one plugs into - some of them depend on polarity and won't work if you get it wrong
(lots of modern mobo's are colour coded - unsure if yours is though)

Unscrew the PCI panel screws and remove the PCI card/s (vid card, modem, sound card etc)

Unscrew the motherboard - there should be 9-12 screws attaching it - be careful not to let the screwdriver slip and scratch anything on the board.

Carefully remove the motherboard and set it down on somethin like paper, cardboard or an antistatic bag
The motherboard will still have the RAM and CPU attached - no need to remove them , just be sure to be earthed if you do mess with them.

Cut your hole, vacuum out the case and then install everything in the reverse order
Check that everything's connected properly (photo's are good at times like this)

Plug it in and power it up!

Hope this helps - remember - check everything before and after

Thanks for the particulars Masterp and thanks to everyone who posted. Nothing can stop me now!
I guess the first time is the worst. Any way it'll be good practice since I hope to build my next PC. I'll probably frequent the site looking for more info and maybe I'll enter the gallery when I've sunk enough money into it. Thanks again!

I use a bi-metal holesaw from Home Depot, a vacuum cleaner for the metal shrapnel, safety goggles, and a paper facemask. In my experience the metal bits can be small enough to inhale.

While technically you are tearing your case a new one, do so in a less-than-aggressive manner. Take your time and read the RPM suggestions on the package and don't just jam the holesaw into the case untill sparks and blood fly.

Happy modding!

P.S. Take your stuff out first, you don't want to have to shell out money for parts unless you happen to wish death to your motherboard and the like.

For holes like this... I use a bi-metal holesaw as well.... great tool for perfect round holes....
My tip of the day.... drilling lubricant! Makes sure the holosaw doesn't get stuck & thus preventing
the drill from "backlashing" to you...

Needless to say I'd STRONGLY suggest you taak your 'rig apart.... the metal specks & dust can
be extremely small.... like stated here... you don't want to run the risk in shorting things out...


TDR

Well guys, I think I have decided what I'm going to do. For a while I had thought about painting my case black. Once I looked into the cost/time involved and realized I could buy a black case exactly like the one I've got for $31 shipped, I decided against painting. So I'm gonna go ahead and get the new case that way I can do all the mods I want including cutting out the factory grill. Cause once I've got it like I want it, I can transfer my components and experience very little "down time" and have an awesome new black case .

Use the old case to test your cutting abilities, you wouldn't want to harm your new case by accident.

Quote: Use the old case to test your cutting abilities, you wouldn't want to harm your new case by accident.

Commandment # 11 : Thou Shalt Not Question My Cutting Abilities. J/K.

I really want to replace the grill with a cool laser-cut one, but I question the aerodynamics of a grill with flat spots. I'm now thinking of going with one of those traditional "wire formed grills" it's gotta be better for airflow. They don't look that bad, maybe a black one.

Quote: Commandment # 11 : Thou Shalt Not Question My Cutting Abilities.

Lolz... nice one... but we want to see some 'pics first! (without any blood or "dismembered" parts...

TDR

Hmm perhaps i am suicidal i mean i did water cool mine but, i just take paper, lots of tape and a vaccum cleaner on my cuts, i make a nice nifty paper box around the area i am cutting tape it off and leave the vaccum running while i cut with the dremmel. Worked well took 5 mins to make. But yeah to be on teh safe side dismantel everything, and if you do label everything like theys aid above, masking tape and a marker go along way for modding.

On the fan grill, the wire stuff will be better for flow vs the lazer, but then again no grill flows even better i personally cut out all my grills on my case just for added airflow. I paid for a 32CFM 80mm fan i want my 32CFM not 18...