Cut your case!!

[Yai]

I am going to mod my old case, I want side window with intake fan and a blowhole. My case is an old fasion one (steel not aluminum). I know I can use dremel and/or jigsaw, but I just came back from CompUSA and saw one of those little tool (nibbler) to cut steel, aluminum. Have any of you guys tried this tool? It it easy to use and strong enough to cut my steel case? thanks for your opinions.

 

[OulOat]

It will, but at the sacrafice of your hands.

 

[jarsoffart]

I heard it nibblers are really really slow, meaning you would have to make many nibbles, which is why OulOats says you will sacrifice your hands.

 

[Armageddon415]

I remember cutting out the front grills in my case with a nibbler. Boy did my hands hurt after that.

 

[Yai]

Yup it's very slow about 1/8" for one nibbling. Just want to confirm if it can handle steel case becuz all the guides show with alluminum cases. I might have to get a couple more hands for this project then, lol.

 

[cheapgoose]

dude, jigsaw is the way to go! or dremel, nibbler is alright for tiny jobs, but anything big requires a jig saw and dremel.

 

[kursplat]

they make 'em air powered too......he he he
good luck

 

[BSEagle1]

When I modded my old case to sell on Ebay, I used a jigsaw. I have never used a nibbler tool, but I've heard it's quite difficult even on aluminum. My suggestion to you would be to use a jigsaw and a rough cut metal cutting blade for the window. Don't cut too long at once, though, because the blades can break when they get too hot. I'd imagine the nibbler would be ok though for the blowhole maybe. Just be sure to also (Preferably with a grinding drum...) sand down the rough edges that the nibbler would inevitably leave. Or you could just remove the guts from a length of electric wire, slit it straight down ONE edge and use that as a kind of liner around your blowhole.
How big of a fan are you using there?

 

[chizow]

Nibblers work very well on Aluminum; I'm sure working with steel could be painful though. I've done a bunch of custom cuts on my PC-65 with a nibbler and it worked very well.

Chiz