After having my PC together for a few weeks, I decided this week to tear it all apart again. I was revisiting my desire to cram two fans into the top of my case, and with a half-baked idea, I went down to the point of no return.
Yes, a giant hole! The first hole was actually horrible and I had to make it bigger so it was somewhat straight. Aluminum cuts like butter with a metal jigsaw blade! Gotta be careful.
After that traumatic experience, I tried several attempts to get an aluminum sheet to bend and cut to my will so I could fit these bad boys in the top:
Oh yeah, I sleeved these guys this week as well to make it look a little cleaner than the green/yellow/black mess they were before
Feeling a bit of remorse and slight panic at the resulting gigantic hole in my case, I had an idea to 3D print a tray and grill solution! I designed a tray, and then uploaded it to shapeways, and then was immediately disappointed with the sticker shock ($60+ bleh). Luckily, there are several 3D printers at the school I work at, and I got permission to use one over the spring break (YESSS). I will be printing these this week. Still have to fine tune the tray to get it right, but the grill is done.
This is tray design one with circle cut outs
This is tray design two with a long rectangular cut out
The bottom of both trays is similar
Things to work out with the tray:
Top view of grill
Bottom view of grill
This is designed to pop into the cutout of the lid. The sides have clips and the front and back just have tabs to prevent sliding. I am hoping that the tabs are strong enough to hold the grill in place so no adhesives or anything will be needed
Anyway, that is all I have for now. Will be updating this week, and will have a build log update after. Any comments, questions, input welcome. Thanks for looking!
Yes, a giant hole! The first hole was actually horrible and I had to make it bigger so it was somewhat straight. Aluminum cuts like butter with a metal jigsaw blade! Gotta be careful.
After that traumatic experience, I tried several attempts to get an aluminum sheet to bend and cut to my will so I could fit these bad boys in the top:
Oh yeah, I sleeved these guys this week as well to make it look a little cleaner than the green/yellow/black mess they were before
Feeling a bit of remorse and slight panic at the resulting gigantic hole in my case, I had an idea to 3D print a tray and grill solution! I designed a tray, and then uploaded it to shapeways, and then was immediately disappointed with the sticker shock ($60+ bleh). Luckily, there are several 3D printers at the school I work at, and I got permission to use one over the spring break (YESSS). I will be printing these this week. Still have to fine tune the tray to get it right, but the grill is done.
This is tray design one with circle cut outs
This is tray design two with a long rectangular cut out
The bottom of both trays is similar
Things to work out with the tray:
- place to route fan cables
- cable tie/clip spot for power cable
- better coverage of the IO cables
- mounting holes/cutouts along the side rails
Top view of grill
Bottom view of grill
This is designed to pop into the cutout of the lid. The sides have clips and the front and back just have tabs to prevent sliding. I am hoping that the tabs are strong enough to hold the grill in place so no adhesives or anything will be needed
Anyway, that is all I have for now. Will be updating this week, and will have a build log update after. Any comments, questions, input welcome. Thanks for looking!