How do i cut the Side Panel of my Cabinet?

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Altair

Altair

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My rig is getting really HOT these days so i decided to modify my Cabinet and use acrylic Sheets and a couple of fans rather that buying a new case.
But my problem is how do i cut it? I have no idea how it can be cut or where can i get it cut? If anyone can help me do it please or if anyone here is from Chandigarh can you tell me where can i get it cut?
Plus from where do i get these acrylic sheets from the market?
 
You can have it cut yourself if you have the proper DIY tools. Such as a Dremel for instance - a Dremel kit costs like 3.5k~4k'ish with all the required accessories and fittings. Alternately, you can take the side panel to an engineering workshop that deals with sheet metal work and fabrication of steel work. You could find one in your locality. They do not however own Dremel but use cold saws to cut through thin sheets of metal. After the metal is cut, they grind it using an angle grinder to get rid of the sharp edges.

Acrylic sheets are sold in, well shops that sell acrylic sheets solely! :P I haven't come across shops that sell glass and acrylic sheets or some other material. You can inquire from those shops that deal with sign-boards and number plates - they source their fibre sheets from such shops.

Before you approach the engg. workshop, have the design marked on your side panel using pencil. Buy a bunch of masking tapes (3M or Abro brands are good) and cover the exterior of the panel to avoid any further painting once the required hole is cut.
 
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Okayy...Didn't knew about acrylic sheets...well i guess i have to search a bit for that also i don't have that Dremel kit and will obv. not buy it cause rather than that i would go for a new cabinet..:P
Well the only option left is to take it to a workshop..urghh now i also have to find a workshop that can cut this panel very clean.

Well thanks Gannu ji...and will post some pics of transformation from my lame cabinet :| to not that lame that cabinet after i am done with the modification. :)
 
Careful with the cutout design - do it in such a way that after fixing the acrylic sheet, you do not end up with a panel which is hard to slide with the chassis! I ran into problems when I attempted it with the previous CM690 chassis of mine.

Forgot to add, to fix the acrylic sheet with the side panel, you do not necessarily require screws. Just buy some double-sided tape (3M - Link), fix it on the sheet and attach it to the panel carefully.
 
Careful with the cutout design - do it in such a way that after fixing the acrylic sheet, you do not end up with a panel which is hard to slide with the chassis!
Click to expand...

Thanks i'll take this into account. :)

Just buy some double-sided tape (3M - Link), fix it on the sheet and attach it to the panel carefully.
Click to expand...

Yeah i kinda knew about this, saw some case modification threads here on TE. :)

Also i read somewhere the acrylic sheet is it hard to cut? Should i get it cut from the workshop only? And also how much width of acrylic sheet u think i should go for? If you need to see my cabinet first then i can post a pic here.
 
The shop that sells the acrylic sheets themselves can cut it for you. Just tell them the required dimensions (ideally this would be the cutout size on the side panel plus 20~25mm offset on all sides).

What chassis is it anyway?
 
Do all the calculations on the side panel and with a scale/pencil mark out what you want cut out. Plan where you want the fan to be on the acrylic sheet from now itself. Check with a scale to see if the width of the fan + acrylic sheet won't interfere with your CPU cooler.

Buy 1mm ~ 2mm sheets if you plan to hold up with tape as suggested with Gannu. Anything thicker than that would require more tape or screw mounts plus the sheet would cost more. Acrylic sheets are easy to cut, however be careful with 1mm low quality sheets as they tend to shatter/crack when you start drilling holes.
 
Gannu said:
The shop that sells the acrylic sheets themselves can cut it for you. Just tell them the required dimensions (ideally this would be the cutout size on the side panel plus 20~25mm offset on all sides).

What chassis is it anyway?
Click to expand...

eh...local one...:ashamed:

RD274 said:
Do all the calculations on the side panel and with a scale/pencil mark out what you want cut out. Plan where you want the fan to be on the acrylic sheet from now itself. Check with a scale to see if the width of the fan + acrylic sheet won't interfere with your CPU cooler.

Buy 1mm ~ 2mm sheets if you plan to hold up with tape as suggested with Gannu. Anything thicker than that would require more tape or screw mounts plus the sheet would cost more. Acrylic sheets are easy to cut, however be careful with 1mm low quality sheets as they tend to shatter/crack when you start drilling holes.
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I never thought about that fans etc can interfere with my cpu. :) Will do the markings wrt this on acrylic sheet. Well i have marked everything. Will go tomorrow to the workshop for the cutting.

I searched near 3-4 sectors um well near my sector but could not find any acrylic shops. I think i will have to go to the Industrial area side. Well regarding thickness, i'll go with 2mm.:)

Thanks.
 
^Expensive proposition that would be. Ideally this modding should not cost him beyond 800 bucks. Around 300 for the engg. workshop for the cutout + grinding, another 300~350 for the 3~4mm thk panel and the rest for double-sided tape, masking tape etc.

A good chassis such as the NZXT Gamma would cost him 2k.
 
But that would be a long term solution i.e. getting a new cabinet. Anyways yeah its the OP's prerogative.
BTW how much of a difference would an acrylic sheet make wrt reducing temperature?
 
^ Which is actually a practical option. But again, the experience he'd get out of this would be great ;)
 
^Agreed. Modding is certainly a good experience. After all the hard work that goes into it. I'm sure guys like toolius, mav2000 and rakesh knows it better. :)

Mephistopheles said:
BTW how much of a difference would an acrylic sheet make wrt reducing temperature?
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None! :P

He might intend to cut holes on the acrylic sheet to install a fan or two. In which case, will aid the airflow and help reducing the temperatures. :)
 
Gannu said:
He might intend to cut holes on the acrylic sheet to install a fan or two. In which case, will aid the airflow and help reducing the temperatures. :)
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Yeah i will install 2 fans by cutting holes etc in the acrylic sheets and add some neon rods etc...will make my cabinet Glowy..:D

and believe me i was about to buy a new Cabinet but then saw a few mods done on cabinets by members here on TE...One was done on a Zebronics Bijli Cabinet which i really liked..So i thought WTH i can atleast give it a shot. ;)
 
Altair said:
eh...local one...:ashamed:
I never thought about that fans etc can interfere with my cpu. :) Will do the markings wrt this on acrylic sheet. Well i have marked everything. Will go tomorrow to the workshop for the cutting.
I searched near 3-4 sectors um well near my sector but could not find any acrylic shops. I think i will have to go to the Industrial area side. Well regarding thickness, i'll go with 2mm.:)
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Do check it out as I had to completly change my layout after installing a TRU120 in my cabinet. Without the fan installed on the acrylic sheets, the TRU was touching the acrylic sheet.

As a breakdown of costs, heres how much everything costed me:
2mm Acrylic sheet: 125
Cutting Acrylic sheets, cutting 2 circles for 2x fans and drilling 8 holes for mounting the fans - 100
Making a window in the cabinet sidepanel - 100
Drilling holes in the side panel - 25
Sandpaper - 5
140mm LianLi Blue LED fan - 500 (already had this)
120mm LianLi Blue LED fan - 350 (already had this too)
120mm fan grill - 50? (got this as a freebie)
 
Thanks for the info.

btw have you uploaded any pic or anything else like DIY thread etc? so that i can get a li'l bit help. and see how you did that?

If not can you upload a pic please will help me a lot. :)
 
No I'm sorry I didn't make a DIY thread but I do have one old picture of the end result.

Heres an old pic before I installed the TRU -
DSC01399.JPG

This is without the screws painted black or without the grill attached.

EDIT- Also the side panel wasn't fully closed.
 
Wow man it's Nice. ;) I hope i can do something like this to mine. Well will go to the workshop tomorrow and post some pics after a bit is done. :)

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

Actually will go today :P
 
So, Guys this is what i have done in the past week:

Before Cutting:







Okay so i could not find any shop nearby :( so gave it to a friend's father who he said knew someone who could cut it.

Q.Why i did not cut it myself?

Ans.-Well i am just 18 what else could have i done. :P

Anyways I gave it to him but that guy did not cut the side panel very well and did it with so called *chaeney*(Sorry No pics available) and was cut like in a stupid manner not a clear plain one and i was like :cursing: :@ WTH did i gave it to him and all i wanted to do was :crash: it and buy a new cabinet. BUT then i saw a couple of plastic paper holding files in my house and then :!

I removed the strips that are used to hold the papers,sheets etc and tried them on my cabinet. It worked. :D

Then i cut those strips and then taped it to the edges of the cut-off cabinet portion.





As they were looking awkward as some of the edges of the strips were not placed very nicely.





So i bought a Blue tape and taped again on all the corners. Like This and then this was the finalized one.







But then i again thought it would look a bit off with my cabinet so i searched a bit in my house and finally found a BLACK paint and a BRUSH.

(Clicked these two pics in a dark room. So, the painted one might not look good but believe me they do :D )

And then tadah..:





Sorry for the bad clicks as they were clicked by my Samsung D780 2MP Camera :ashamed:

Damages:

Panel was cut for Free but was mistake :no:

Blue Tape: Rs.10

Black Paint and Brush: Found in Garage

File Strips: Taken from Lying around unused files therefore, Free

In all I spent just 10 Rs. on the tape and nothing else. BUT i spent ~200 for petrol which was a waste. :(

Anyways Comment Guys what more can i do or Undo. :)

Will be buying two 120mm Fans for this before i go for the Acrylic Sheet. So if you guys can help me out on this too it will be appreciated.

Thanks for looking.

P.S.-Did not Upload pics with the painted Panel when fitted with the cabinet as i just painted it and clicked the pics to post it here. :) Will Post 2-3 Pics tomorrow.
 
Imo, you have cut wayyyy too much. You are exposing the ugly PSU as well as the HDD and Disk drives which is sorta blank and plain.

Anyways for the amount of space the acrylic sheet has to cover, I highly suggest you get a 1mm sheet as 2mm would be too heavy to be held up by just tape once you start adding fans. Also have you decided where to plant the fans? What kind of fans do you want and how to make their grille?
 
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