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Dremel help with cutting fan holes

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FrozenFears

Member
Joined
May 1, 2003
Location
Seattle
My case isn't moving enough air right now, my exhaust is way too weak, and so I just bought an 80CFM 120mm fan that I want to slap on the back of my case. I have room for it, and am comfortable using a dremel. (I have the multipro 395 + most attachments).

Anyways heres my questions. If I just clamp a piece of wood to the inside of the case where I plan to do the cutting will that be enough protection for the rest of the interior components? motherboard etc. Or should I remove everything from the case first?

Second part, I was thinking the best thing to use for this mod would be a carbide cutoff wheel, but since the fan hole isn't all that big I was wonderingif anyone has other ideas or reccomendations? :)

Final Part, would modding the side of my case with a 2nd fan blowing on the cpu from a distance be helpful, or not worth the hassle. I mean I don't know much about air flow/resistance factors and I didn't know if it would help or hinder the cpu cooling, since if installed, the new fan would be "stacked" only like 4-5 inches away from the cpu fan. And I don't really want to install it and find out it doesn't work and then have a non functional hole in my case ;) Currently I have a 92mm fan blowing on my Thermalright Slk-900u.
 
Guess it depends how 'pretty' you want it :D.

I personally would use my Diamond cut off wheel. It's THE most solid cut off wheel I have. It's awesome, cuts through stainless steel without reshaping, resizing, etc. You might end up with a octagonal shape though :D You could sacrifice other bits to make it around after your initial cut.
 
Heres an excellent write up on cutting circles with a dremel.

http://www.mnpctech.com/Dremel.html

I would remove the components since its easier to do a little extra work now than have to mess with making sure all the debri was cleaned out of all the components later. If you have access to a scroll saw, you might try using that instead of the dremel to do the fan hole.
 
I'd definitely recommend removing all your components. Once you start cutting, the metal and the abrasive from the cutoff wheel will get just about everywhere. Why take the chance of a short when you don't have to?
 
Thanks guys, Also where can you buy the diamond cut-off wheels? and do they look like the regular ones, or are they the ones that are made of metal coated in diamond particles?

I'm, going to label these #1 and #2 to make it really easy when you reply so I know which one you are talking about ;)

is this it #1 here??

or this one #2 here?

Sorry about links to ebay, but dremels site wont' let you directly link products, just takes you to there main US site no matter what you try and link.
 
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