Pictorial guide on modifying your PC's front panel with a stylish MeshX front fan air intake - Page 1

By Greig Mackenzie

(See also, update)

Predicament

Surprisingly enough my CFO, er... lovely wife, wouldn't authorise the AU$400-1000 I'm inclined to spend on a brand new, feature rich, purpose built HTPC case, to house the PC components I had put aside for a HTPC machine--amassed after recently upgrading my main machine ;-). Naturally, as I virtually had another working, fairly recent, computer laying around in pieces, I felt compelled to spend something (sub $50) on a new cheapo ATX case.

Well, I had to collect my DQ6 motherboard from the PC retailer anyway, so I figured I'd see what they had on the shelves. Sure enough, your typical selection of cheaper Chinese imports were on display, the ones that are made of sheet metal less than a millimetre thick, all essentially the same but with cutesy plastic front panel differences. I chose one that was the plainest and seemed to have the basics for reasonable air flow modding--accommodate 92-120mm fans front and back--and hold at least four 3.5" HD's and four 5.25" devices.

The lucky candidate - Sharky brand PC case (AU$45 after negotiating the removal of the inadequate PSU)

Damn. I deliberately didn't take pictures of the case before performing this mod because I was sure that I had taken photos of it already. It seems like I didn't do the whole job because I could only find the these (you'll get the idea of the original front panel soon enough):

Measure, Mark, Drill and Cut

Under the masking tape is the same plastic surface as the rest of this piece of the front panel. This piece more or less pops straight out of the front panel, just beneath the 5.25" drive bays.

Measure, mark and punch. 22mm hole saw selected for the cutting job to the top and bottom edge of each grill.

You can often get away with it, but I highly recommend always clamping the work piece when drilling, cutting etc. In this case, as the piece is rounded at the bottom I had to place suitably sized backing blocks so that the work piece could be clamped effectively and to provide appropriate purchase for the pilot drill of the hole saw. Usually I would have two clamps but due to the awkwardness of the work piece I could only manage one clamp and a very firm hand. The firm hand is particularly important when the pilot drill first cuts through and the work piece wants to ascend the drill bit--that's when things crack and snap.

It is not so bad with this flimsy plastic, but I clear the cut piece from the hole saw after each hole as the pieces can get quite stuck in there when there's a few of them.

Four holes later. Draw lines between the outside edges of each hole for a guide.

Now to the vice. I used packers for good backing support and then tensioned the vice firmly on the work piece for sawing.

Two done, two to go. Keep within the lines as the edges are cleaned up easily with a bit of filing and sanding especially as this is plastic.

Now you can see what is going on. I've given the edges some rough filing already. I had to expand the curves of one side to overcome a sawing error. You wouldn't know it.

The rough furry bits you can see in the photo look much worse than they were. They're just fine little strands of plastic than come off in seconds with some sand paper... later on.

(You gotta' love the Wifey! :D)