I got 76mm holesaw and 113mm holesaw I believe, and they worked fine. But anything a couple of mm under the fan size should do.
do u think its better to use a hole saw or a dremel? My case is a bit of a pain coz its got a plastic cover on top of the metal, and so its got to cut through the plastic then the metal, but there is a small 2-3mm gap between the plastic and the metal. It may look cool but its a pain for modding it!!
a holesaw will be quicker and give you a much better cut. I think i have seen the case you are trying to mod, is it a chieftec case or mad e by mesh? tell me how it goes as a friend has the same case and i didn't want to help him mod it as i thought it would go wrong as there would be a gap between the plastic and the metal meaning the fan grill won't sit flush with the case.
hole saw would be better both on plastic and on the metal. Remember that when you are cutting the plastic to run it at slow RPM's for much better results...
holesaw v dremel After using a dremel to make a few cuts and exploding several cutting wheels I finally broke down and got the holesaw/arbour combo. It was very slick! 2x80mm holes in about 20 mins. Just make sure you use lots of oil to keep the temp down or you will wear out your holesaw. I got the 76mm and a 114mm too. I figured it I wanted to really get it to 80/120mm I could then use the dremel to widen it a little. I actually used this fan template.
Re: holesaw v dremel did you use the cutting discs that are laced with fibre glass as they ones that come with the dremel won't do a good job off cutting metal.
cutting wheels I blew through the ones that came with it then got some real cutting wheels and I still prefer the holesaw method. It is difficult to keep from bending the cutting blade causing it to shatter or bind. The hole saw is pretty much a no brainer. Just go slow and oil it. One thing that I have found when cutting faceplates is to cut a guide hole in the face plate with it attached to the case. Make sure the bit goes through both the bezel and the skeleton. Then you have a guide hole in the skeleton matching where you are drilling the faceplate. Then remove the faceplate and drill the metal front of the case using the guide hole from the first cut.
I would get one. But my worry is, what if this is the only case I ever mod? (AS IF!) I use a jig saw and rought cut the hole a little smaller than the actual size I want. Then clean it up with the dremel clone. Works well for me....of course I also have always used molding. The great thing about the hole saw is the perfect hole.
cutting I am actually cutting a case up as we speak. I'll post some pics in an hour or so. We are doing 3 blowholes and a front bezel hole.
blowhole pics We actually ended up doing 5 holes, six if you count the double drilling of the faceplate. Check them out - blowholes.
