Anyone ever drill holes in the side of their computer case in the clear plastic in order to mount something?

[DaveyTN]

I have the Tsunami Dream Tower case and would like to place a fan just above my two video cards. I thought I could drill four holes in the case side in the plexiglass, run screws through them into the 90mm fan in order to hold it above the video cards. Good idea or no? Anyone done this?

 

[imported_Kensai]

Very good idea. I should do that with the v2000 I'm getting... Except I want a slow spinning 300mm fan.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I've drilled some holes in my side panel. It worked out fine for me.

If you have a dremmel tool, it will be quiet easy. I actually made two holes for mounting some switched for cold cathode lights that were about the diameter of a dime, and I did it with only a knife

I'm a little confused about your plan though... you're mounting a fan to the side panel, but only drilling 4 holes for it? If the fan is right up against the case, you'll need to makes some big holes for airflow too... (I'm probably just not understanding though)

Good luck :thumbsup:

 

[DaveyTN]

Yea, I can understand that I probably didn't explain that very well. I thought that I could either cut holes in the side of the case for the air flow, or use long enough screws so that the fan was away from the side of the side panel - but I guess thats probably not as good as cutting out extra breath holes??? Should I try to cut out extra holes for breathing even if the fans aren't directly up against the plastic - I guess the outside air would probably be better to bring into the case?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: DaveyTN
Yea, I can understand that I probably didn't explain that very well. I thought that I could either cut holes in the side of the case for the air flow, or use long enough screws so that the fan was away from the side of the side panel - but I guess thats probably not as good as cutting out extra breath holes??? Should I try to cut out extra holes for breathing even if the fans aren't directly up against the plastic - I guess the outside air would probably be better to bring into the case?

I think ideally you'd want to be taking air from outside the case so it's less of an issue of just moving around some already hot air in the area (although it would certainly be better than nothing)

For max airflow, you might want to cut out a very large circle that's the diameter of the fan blades and then use a fan grille over the blades for safety.

 

[DaveyTN]

How can I cut a nice large diameter circle in the plexiglass and make it look neat? What tool can I use?

 

[everman]

A hole saw should do it, they're cheap too. A dremel would also work, but cost a lot more.

 

[DaveyTN]

Woops. I'm not sure what the side window in the Thermaltake Tsunami case is made of. Does anyone know? Is it plastic, acrylic, or plexiglass? Based on that, what tool should I use?