Antec SuperLanBoy owners: anyone remove the front fan grill?

[fbrdphreak]

As most SuperLanBoy owners know, there's a metal grill behind the front 120mm fan. I'd like to hookup a new 120mm front fan to my fan controller, so I need a bigger hole there to run the cable through. Of course I could just dremel a hole big enough for the cable, but has anyone ever removed the entire thing? Does it increase noise? The only reason I can think as to why they'd put the thing there is to reduce noise, all it does it restrict airflow

Thoughts?

 

[Zap]

That "metal grill" is part of the case, and also where the fan screws onto. You can trim it out if you wish, just making sure you don't cut out the screw holes. I've known people to do that around here... can't remember the name but he also cut out the HDD bays and suspended his HDD.

 

[Walternowi]

If you are just trying to run the cable through, you can loosen the 4 screws that hold the entire front panel and pull out the front panel a bit to route the fan cable into the case. I did it this way.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Not a bad idea, but I'd rather just put a small hole in the grill at least and do it right; I've got the tools so why not?

 

[erikistired]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
Not a bad idea, but I'd rather just put a small hole in the grill at least and do it right; I've got the tools so why not?

why not just run it through the same hole the other wires come through? why is that not doing it right?

i'm hesistant to cut this case up since it's thin aluminum and i don't want to make it any weaker structurally.

 

[Navid]

I used my Dremel and removed the entire grill to allow more air flow. I kept the screw holes so that I can still install the fan of course.

The guy's ID who did the major modifications to his LanBoy is Tiamat I think.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...hreadid=1510014&enterthread=y&arctab=y

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: fisher
why not just run it through the same hole the other wires come through? why is that not doing it right?

i'm hesistant to cut this case up since it's thin aluminum and i don't want to make it any weaker structurally.

I guess you don't have a SuperlanBoy? No other cables come through that grill. The fan plugs into a 3-pin mini plug on the front of the case, under the outside plastic grill, so no wires run from front to inside.

EDIT Crap, I noticed in that other thread the guy said 120x25mm for the front. I think the fan I was going to put in is 38mm....

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Navid
The guy's ID who did the major modifications to his LanBoy is Tiamat I think.

You are absolutely right!

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
Crap, I noticed in that other thread the guy said 120x25mm for the front. I think the fan I was going to put in is 38mm....

You can use a 38mm thick fan if... you do not use the stock blue "waffle" grill but instead use any standard finger guard, plus you get longer mounting screws. Just take one screw out of the fan and bring it to your local hardware store to find a screw that matches diameter and threading, but is about 13-15mm longer (even longer is fine because you can trim).

 

[Shaotai]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak

Originally posted by: fisher
why not just run it through the same hole the other wires come through? why is that not doing it right?

i'm hesistant to cut this case up since it's thin aluminum and i don't want to make it any weaker structurally.

I guess you don't have a SuperlanBoy? No other cables come through that grill. The fan plugs into a 3-pin mini plug on the front of the case, under the outside plastic grill, so no wires run from front to inside.

EDIT Crap, I noticed in that other thread the guy said 120x25mm for the front. I think the fan I was going to put in is 38mm....

If you use a 38mm fan, you'll have to get new screws that will reach the existing holes and keep the plastic square grill off...
I also have cut the metal grill out and put in a Cooler Master 120mmx25mm fan and put the plastic grill back in place. It works very well...

*EDIT* Zap beat me to it! Doh!

 

[fbrdphreak]

Yeah I'd just prefer to keep the stock grill; it looks a bit odd with the blue grill off. No biggie, I didn't pay a lot for that fan, just disappointing

 

[erikistired]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak

Originally posted by: fisher
why not just run it through the same hole the other wires come through? why is that not doing it right?

i'm hesistant to cut this case up since it's thin aluminum and i don't want to make it any weaker structurally.

I guess you don't have a SuperlanBoy? No other cables come through that grill. The fan plugs into a 3-pin mini plug on the front of the case, under the outside plastic grill, so no wires run from front to inside.

EDIT Crap, I noticed in that other thread the guy said 120x25mm for the front. I think the fan I was going to put in is 38mm....

i do have a super lanboy. how do you think the front usb and button cables get to the motherboard?

if you have a new fan with a power cord the wires will slip between the plastic faceplate and the front aluminum of the case and then through the hole that the other wires come through. that's how i wired the stealth i had in there anyhow.

 

[Zap]

Here's my SLB with a finger guard instead of the blue waffle grill.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: fisher
i do have a super lanboy. how do you think the front usb and button cables get to the motherboard?

if you have a new fan with a power cord the wires will slip between the plastic faceplate and the front aluminum of the case and then through the hole that the other wires come through. that's how i wired the stealth i had in there anyhow.

Oh really? I'll have to take a closer look, thanks!

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: Zap
Here's my SLB with a finger guard instead of the blue waffle grill.

Actually looks nice, I'll have to look into that. Thanks

 

[zagood]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak

Originally posted by: fisher
i do have a super lanboy. how do you think the front usb and button cables get to the motherboard?

if you have a new fan with a power cord the wires will slip between the plastic faceplate and the front aluminum of the case and then through the hole that the other wires come through. that's how i wired the stealth i had in there anyhow.

Oh really? I'll have to take a closer look, thanks!

I think there's a little confusion here...if the fan comes with a 4-pin molex connector (to connect directly to the power supply) then there's no way it'll fit through that grille. If, on the other hand, it just has the 3-pin mobo header, it should fit through.

EDIT: If you remove the grille itself, it should actually cut down on noise. I always cut mine out of any case.

-z

 

[fbrdphreak]

The problem is the fans I have include both 4-pin molex and 3-pin mobo connectors. I could lop off the molex as I have no use for it, this is going on a fan controller. I guess last I looked at it I just didn't think the 3-pin would fit either

 

[erikistired]

Originally posted by: zagood

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak

Originally posted by: fisher
i do have a super lanboy. how do you think the front usb and button cables get to the motherboard?

if you have a new fan with a power cord the wires will slip between the plastic faceplate and the front aluminum of the case and then through the hole that the other wires come through. that's how i wired the stealth i had in there anyhow.

Oh really? I'll have to take a closer look, thanks!

I think there's a little confusion here...if the fan comes with a 4-pin molex connector (to connect directly to the power supply) then there's no way it'll fit through that grille. If, on the other hand, it just has the 3-pin mobo header, it should fit through.

EDIT: If you remove the grille itself, it should actually cut down on noise. I always cut mine out of any case.

-z

ah yeah, i haven't had a case fan with a 4 pin molex in quite awhile, so i didn't think about that. all of mine have had 3 pin connectors.

if it has both, you could always hide the 4 pin and wires behind the plastic. i have my sound card wires there now since i don't use them and you can't detach them.

edit: actually looking again the hole in the front aluminum is pretty big, you should easily be able to fit both through there.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Thanks for all the ideas guys, I'll dive into it and see what I can jury rig Thanks!

 

[Childs]

I just did this last night. You can plug the 3 pin into the front, which is connected to a cable with a molex in the case. What I actually did was run the 3pin on the new fan through the bottom of grill, which is connected to a fan controller. But then you also have a molex attached to the 3 pin connector. I would cut the molex off.

Anyways, I'm so glad I got rid of the annoying blue led fan that comes with the case.