Blowhole Guide (2)

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Blowhole Guide

Start Hacking Away

Now we get to the fun part...our objective is to place a 120mm and 80mm intakes in the front of the case, two 120mm intakes on the side panel, a 60mm and 92mm on the rear panel, and a 120mm Blowhole on top of the case. This setup will give me a nice amount of air blowing through the case, and should keep the hot air rising to the top. I would have liked to have dual 120mm intakes, but there wasn't really room.

Front Panel

In most cases, the front panel is a thinner material than the rest of the case, making it fairly easy to cut. Some cases have pre-made grills for specific fan sizes. If you are just going to use the given size of the pre-made grills, just cut the pre-made grills off, and replace with a chrome grill. If there are only, say holes for 80mm fans and you are putting in a 120mm fan, it is still very doable. First off, decide where you want fan to be placed, and measure it to your liking. If some of the area you will be cutting is covered with a pre-made grill, you may have to take some extra precaution; here's what I did in this case.

1.) Measured for screw holes, and drilled screws.
2.) Grabbed a small piece of particleboard and a few wood screws.
3.) Screwed the piece of particleboard on the other side of the front panel.

Doing this allows you to have a material for the Holesaw arbor to grab hold of, if you don't do this, you may end up with a mangled front panel or forearm.

After the taking the proper measurements and stuff, start in with the cut, I used a Holesaw for the 120mm hole, and a Dremel to cut away the grill on one of the 80mm holes. Also, if you don't like nasty metal cuts, grind down the edges of the fresh cuts with a grindstone of some sort.

The Skinny: First, measure the locations for the screw holes. An easy way to do this is to clamp a fan grill onto the case, and use a center-punch to mark the center of each hole. Drill these holes. Then use the method in the first part of this section to use particle board (or whatever you use) as a base for the holesaw. The next step is to use a straight-edge of some sort to connect the holes adjacent to each other. The 'X' shape that you come out with is the guide in which to place your holesaw arbor. Place the arbor in the middle of the 'X', and start sawin'.

With a jigsaw or dremel the method is a bit different. In this case, you must draw an outline of the hole on the case. For 120mm holes, CD's are perfect. If you are doing a different-sized hole, or have no CD's, the best bet would be a chrome grill of that sized fan. If you are using a jigsaw, drill a pilot hole, if you are using a dremel, have at it.

Use a dremel or some kind of grinding/sanding device to clean up the edges.

Side Panel

Side panel mods are pretty simple. The largest factor to remember is to MAKE GOOD MEASUREMENTS. This is the side the people will see; off-center, or crooked fans look shabby. Usually the side of my case resembles a drawing by time I am ready to make the cuts. In my case, the holes were drilled for the screws, and I whipped out the Milwaukee Holesaw to cut the 120mm holes, and then made them look purdy with the Dremel. Chrome grills look nice on the sides of cases...whether or not you actually have fans there.

The Skinny: As you can see in the pics, I did quite a bit of drawing on the side of the case. Your best bet is to use a large straight-edge to make every measurement perfect. It is important to leave enough clearance on all sides of the fans so you can shut the side of your case door. The same rules apply when performing this mod as the last, so I will simply copy and paste what I said in the last section.

First, measure the locations for the screw holes. An easy way to do this is to clamp a fan grill onto the case, and use a center-punch to mark the center of each hole. Drill these holes. The next step is to use a straight-edge of some sort to connect the holes adjacent to each other. The 'X' shape that you come out with is the guide in which to place your holesaw arbor. Place the arbor in the middle of the 'X', and start sawin'.

With a jigsaw or dremel the method is a bit different. In this case, you must draw an outline of the hole on the case. For 120mm holes, CD's are perfect. If you are doing a different-sized hole, or have no CD's, the best bet would be a chrome grill of that sized fan. If you are using a jigsaw, drill a pilot hole, if you are using a dremel, have at it.

Use a dremel or some kind of grinding/sanding device to clean up the edges.

Back Panel

On most cases, there is not much you can do on the back panel other than just cutting out the pre-made filters. Some larger, or server cases have room to cut new holes on the back plate, but most you will have to live with Dremeling out the 60mm grill, and possibly enlarging the 92mm pre-made grill above the PSU if you are so inclined. Measure, be careful, and cut...same as before.

The Skinny: Most back-panel mods are nothing more than removing pre-made grills. In that case, grab your Dremel or bolt cutters and go at it. As you can see in the picture, pefect holes are not always expected.

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