Just about to start my first serious mod on a case. So I went out and bought a nice 'real' Dremel. However I'm not sure it will do what I want. My intention is to cut quiet small slots (ala card reader slots / slot load DVD slot) into the top of a Lian-Li V1100b case. My concerns are it isn't capable of doing this or I'm not . I have also bought a hand Nibbler but not to sure if that can cut through the thick aluminium of a Lian-Li? The other thing that concerns me is the cutting will wreck the anodising and I'll end up with bare alu around the cuts. Am I better off getting it Laser Cut? I'd prefer to do it myself but don't want to make a **** of a €200+ case Thanks in advance guys.
It is capable, you'd have to use the reinforced cutting disks and be veeeeeeerry careful, but you could do it. If you have the cash to laser cut it, that would be my choice though.
as long as your slots are wider and thicker than the cutting disc, there should be no problem, but i suggest training a lot before trying a cut like that, the Dremel will try to pull away when you go in a bit into the material, it takes some training to avoid that. You might want to do the afterwork with sand paper or files thou since it's hard to polish that kind of surface with a dremel. Just make sure you know how to clean the files if you use those, becaus they will be clogged by aluminium, and fast.
Thanks guys, pretty much what I thought. I bought a set of needle files to do the clean-up. What about the Nibbler, for straight cuts this seems to be a better option if it will get through the case?
A real industrial nibbler should have no problems, but i guess what you have is one of those cheap hand nibblers. From what i have heard about those, they are worn out after about 2 meters of cutting in 0,75mm sheet steel, they wouldn't be able to cut thick aluminium.
