What tools do you need to cut a side window?

a dremmel is the tool of people who mod there case's.

not cheap but very good at what they do.

ask if any of your friends have one to borrow but practice first on something metal.
 
A jigsaw and a drill can also be used, use the drill to make a starting cut and then let the jigsaw get to work. You have to make the corners rounded though as it can be quite hard to make a square
 
As some one who has modded a custom side window before hand - A Drill, a good quality jigsaw with a proper 2mm aluminimum cutting blade (was for a Lian-Li case), and then some hand files for making sure the cut edges are smooth.

A proper perspex drill bit and some nut/bolt fixings for the actual window.

And lastly, a proper workbench/g-clamps for holding your panel as you work!

Make sure you use some masking tape to cover the surface that your cutting on, and that you draw your cut out accurately.

A steady hand is all you need - just remember its not a race, take your time, and cut as straight as possible. The files can then be used to smooth down the cuts and the finish off the corners.

Jigsaws work best by having two straight cuts meet, rather than trying to cut round a corner in one motion.

Its actually a lot simpler than all this, and I intend to mod a window into my current Lian Li A70B case - keep an eye on the Project: AirRAID thread here in Case Central.
 
Arthalen said:
As some one who has modded a custom side window before hand - A Drill, a good quality jigsaw with a proper 2mm aluminimum cutting blade (was for a Lian-Li case), and then some hand files for making sure the cut edges are smooth.

A proper perspex drill bit and some nut/bolt fixings for the actual window.

And lastly, a proper workbench/g-clamps for holding your panel as you work!

Make sure you use some masking tape to cover the surface that your cutting on, and that you draw your cut out accurately.

A steady hand is all you need - just remember its not a race, take your time, and cut as straight as possible. The files can then be used to smooth down the cuts and the finish off the corners.

Jigsaws work best by having two straight cuts meet, rather than trying to cut round a corner in one motion.

Its actually a lot simpler than all this, and I intend to mod a window into my current Lian Li A70B case - keep an eye on the Project: AirRAID thread here in Case Central.
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I've also found this quite helpful. Are there any differences in technique or types of cutting blade reuired when cutting steel panels? Are Dremels up to the task of cutting steel? I'm thinking of adding some fan holes to the steel side panel of my 800D.
 
if i were to chop a circular hole to stick a 120mm fan (possibly 2), in the bottom of my case (aluminium, not sure how thick but feels pretty flimsy...) is there any better way that a jigsaw? im not sure my hand-eye coordination is upto that...
 
schizo220168 said:
a dremmel is the tool of people who mod there case's.

not cheap but very good at what they do.

ask if any of your friends have one to borrow but practice first on something metal.
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squares are not too difficult really.
you can just drill a hold in each corner, then use the jigsaw from hole to hole to cut out the straight edges
 
thingemajib said:
if i were to chop a circular hole to stick a 120mm fan (possibly 2), in the bottom of my case (aluminium, not sure how thick but feels pretty flimsy...) is there any better way that a jigsaw? im not sure my hand-eye coordination is upto that...
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Its actually not the difficult - if you look my old Water Cooling Project log (Project: Ice Dragon) you'll see the Triple Rad I modded into a Lian-Li G70, and the 120mm fan holes I cut with a jigsaw freehand.

There weren't absolutely 100% perfect, but a good set of files helps smooth any cuts you make.

The other alternative is to get a Holesaw and Arbor for a Drill. I tried this approach and didn't get on with it (not to mention there expensive for a one off job, where as a Jigsaw can be used for all sorts of things), so stuck with the jigsaw to get the fan holes I wanted.
 
i used my brothers angle grinder :D and several files to make the corners smooth and straight, and im going to use industrial strength double sided tape to secure my acrylic :)
 
For this i used a Hole saw fitted to my electric drill for the corners, a jigsaw with diy line guide for the straights and a decent large file to get the lines true, a small curved hobby file for the corner prep and wet and dry sand paper of various grades to finish the lot.

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Just remember the tools you have are useless if you haven't got patience, take your time and dont rush it.
 
mike gunnz said:
I'm thinking of adding some fan holes to the steel side panel of my 800D.
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I'm planning of getting a 700D in the near future and also plan to put some fans in the side panel. Rather than try to make perfect circles what I plan to do is cheat a bit and make a rough cut and cover it with a rad grill which will also support the fan. The rad grill should nicely hide all the rough arsed hacked up edges :)
 
a steady hand, masking tape, a pen, a dremmel, files of various roughness.

for bigger cuts if you have a workbench a jigsaw/holesaw combo is quiker and as long as you spend a bit of time tidying (or use some grommet strip to hide you bodge) you will be fine.

edit: there are some places that will do it for you for about £35 send me a message in TRUST i will send you a link
 
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Performed my motherboard mods yesterday, and I now now why I spent £60 on a decent jigsaw last time I did case modding...

My cuts were far from perfect, but not a total mess lol :)

A good quality jigsaw with a laser line is ideal for this kind of work. Without the laser line to work with I found getting a straight cut almost impossible.
 
I would recommend the Bosch 550w Jigsaw with laser level.

This is what I had beforehand and it was awesome.

The one I have now (borrowed, I might add) is some non-descript unbranded peice of junk.
 
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