Cutting holes

Vertigo

Vertigo

Vertigo

Soldato
Joined
28 Dec 2003
Posts
16,713
Right, need to cut a hole in the side of my case for a 120mm intake fan. Had a look for holesaws but the cheapish kits only have 102 and 127mm sizes (4 & 5 inch) and, whilst you can get a 121mm one individually, they're £20 and that's without the arbor.

Don't really want to be spending £25-£30 just to cut one damn hole in the case, is there any other way I can do it without it looking completely crap?
 
i'm about to mount a radiator in my new case when it arrives that is and i was going to use smaller hole saw and then just file file file untill its the right size.


i don't think that a 120mm fan is 120mm, as the fan blades are slightly smaller. i don't know for sure as they haven't arrived either.
 
The 127mm would still work, but you would be left with a hole slightly bigger. The screws themselves are well outside the fan. Maybe you can buy case edging (Like a rubber u shaped channel, which would tidy it up, and seal any gap.

If you are going to do this, set your drill to the slowest speed possible. Or better yet, find someone with a pillar drill, as it takes quite a bit of power to holwsaw that size. Just take your time and dont force it.
 
PhillyDee said:
The 127mm would still work, but you would be left with a hole slightly bigger. The screws themselves are well outside the fan. Maybe you can buy case edging (Like a rubber u shaped channel, which would tidy it up, and seal any gap.

If you are going to do this, set your drill to the slowest speed possible. Or better yet, find someone with a pillar drill, as it takes quite a bit of power to holwsaw that size. Just take your time and dont force it.
Click to expand...


Or buy an Akasa 120mm filter.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-043-AK

It comes in three parts , a front cover, the filter and the back piece, I found the back piece is spot on for putting on the outside of a not so great hole cut for an intake/outtake to tidy it up visually, also means that if you want the filter you can just snap the filter and outer piece over the top.
 
You could always cut 4 57mm (think thats a standard hole-saw size) overlapping holes and just wang a fancy fan guard over the top of it
 
115mm according to the photo that was posted on here about 2 months ago by a don. Cant search though so you're welcome to go trawling thorugh.
 
This is what I use (from Panaflo spec sheet):

120fancut8vq.jpg
 
So maybe I'm best going with the 102mm holesaw? Will have to file the sharp edges down anyway which might give me an extra mm all round so I'd only be 10mm smaller than the rotor which I can't believe is going to cause much of a problem.
 
Vertigo1 said:
So maybe I'm best going with the 102mm holesaw? Will have to file the sharp edges down anyway which might give me an extra mm all round so I'd only be 10mm smaller than the rotor which I can't believe is going to cause much of a problem.
Click to expand...

exactly what i did :)

g00dsh0t said:
correct ;)
Click to expand...

since we're all being picky, dont forget to account for the thickness of the holesaw :)
 
Another option would be to drill lots of small holes inside the area of the 120mm. Just use different drill sizes, so the randomness looks intentional! :D
 
Take it to a local steel workshop, since it's quick they'll probs do it for free. My local ones helped me loads when I was doing DT projects like making angles/channels, bending and cutting etc when I didn't have the propa tools.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom