case modification

[o0krylon0o]

I currently have a Med Tower ATX Case w/ 350W UL/CE approved ATX power supply, and Hyper-Threading technology support. I plan on modifying the side panel by cutting an artistic design and applying a thin plexy glass with a mounted cooling fan.

Has any had any expirence doing this? Is a a good idea? Are there any places on the web which might help me with my project.

Do they even sell already made side panels?

[LooseChippings]

Try Custom PC

http://www.custompc.co.uk/

You need to register to get to all the pages but you should find it interesting.

[Play_The_0dds]

my brother-in-law wanted his pc to match his harley, so we bought a plain-jane atx case, made templates of the designs he wanted, used a dremel tool to cut the designs in the case sides. sanded the entire case, sprayed it with primer, sanded it more, shot it with midnight blue metalic, then clear coat. it is sweeeeeeeeeet. he owns a auto body shop and had the paint+clear we shot it with, and all the spray equipment + was able to use the heat lamps to bake the finnish......anyway it was very easy to use the router guide on the dremel to cut out the sides, we used plexy glass on the panels which we used polyurethane to glue it.

[o0krylon0o]

Thanks for the info, found custom pc quite interesting, yeah I bet its a lot easier to case mod when you have all the spray supplies and heat lamps...that case must be really cool with that blue primer.

anyone know if i can mount a UV Reactive case fan on the side panel and not disturb airflow or pressure instead of its original position?
Because case fans are usually on the back of computer cases right?!?
Can I have the original case fan on back and the UV R case fan on side panel?

[LooseChippings]

The pressure differential between the inside of the case and ambient will be minimal.

Flow is the most important!

Have exhast fans high in the case and induction fans low in the case.

Wherever possible use round IDE cables instead of ribbon cables and tie loose cables to the case chasis to stop them restricting airflow.

Leave as much space as possible around hard drives and optical drives to assist airflow, if this isn't possible try to get fans blowing directly onto the drives or exhausting air away from the drives.

An exhaust fan in the top of the case is a good idea.

If possible use large diameter, slow revolution fans to keep the noise level down.

[Flyfsh]

The larger slower running fans are a good sugestion. I bought a clear case I like alot. It has 5 fans in it & sounds like an airplane. (I mostly play flight sims) So sounding like aircraft dosen't bother me. :-)

[o0krylon0o]

Project 1:
-First attempt extreamly unsuccessful

Hehe I tried cutting a case this weekend and it came out looking like I rode on it down the street being pulled by a car(i.e looks like Frankenstien)

I just got a rotozip so I'm gonna use that to cut the new window on my new panel. Though I will only cut a 12 x 12 square instead of cutting designs(much easier). I have a 12.5 x 12.5 peice of plexy glass and will be mounting a fan on it.

Anyone have any suggestions to cut a clean 8cm diam hole in middle of plexy glass?

[LooseChippings]

My opinion would be put the fan on the remaining metal if there is room.

The plexi will not be as stiff as the steel sheet so you could end up the plexi vibrating and making a humming noise.

To cut holes got to your local tool store and ask for a circle cutter of the size required.

[o0krylon0o]

Project 1: second attemp extreamly successful kinda looks like this!

Well thanks a lot for all the feedback, I made sure the screws were tighted well to eliminate the humming noise of the mounted fan and used poxy glue on plexy glass on side panel.

For those of you who would like to do this project please visit the following how to guide which also helped me modifying my case.

http://www.whiningdog.net/Articles/M...eMod/page2.php

[Flyfsh]

From the picture it looks like you did a good job. Salute, looks cool