I'm considering another mod and trying to keep it fairly cheap while looking decent. I've got an aluminum case that I tried to mod previously, adding a 120mm fan hole in the top. Fan fits but the hole is, er... ugly. Anyway. What I'm planning is a media pc and I'd like silence so would rather not have the fan there and would be best to not have the hole. I was thinking and looking around - Would some epoxy of some sort be strong enough to where I could cut another piece of alum and patch the hole and, once painted, not be noticable?
If possible i think it would be better to weld it then grind the welds down to match the level of the existing case, im not sure but i think that would be best. Rowan
It is extremely hard to weld aluminum, your best bet would be, in my opinion, to mod the blowhole into something else or clean it up.
Welding aluminuminuminum is not for the inexperienced. It takes special equipment and special skill. Here is just one of the many articles available with a Google search: Lincoln Electric's Guide To Aluminum Welding You could glue a patch over the inside of the hole and use bondo type products to fill the void on top. You could also turn the existing hole into a small window by reshaping and enlarging the hole you have to clean and smooth up the cuts. Glue a piece of acrylic over the inside of the hole after the painting has been completed. I'm sure there are other solutions too.
I was thinking of changing it into a top window but for this, I wanted to avoid windows and lights as much as possible.
Your best bet is going to be to epoxy another piece of alu on the inside, and use Bondo or the like to fill in the gap (like Grump said).
why not just clean up the hole a bit, and 7v the fan? parts express have some 120mm delta's that are damn near silent to begin with, and will start at 6v no problem. got one in the front of my pc71 (taking up 3 5" bays) and it's the quietest fan in my case.
I might end up doing that just for it to be easy. The problem with the hole was I filed out way to much and you can see past the edges of the fan. No fan grill covers that mistake.
dood - auto door edge moulding. pep boy's gets you a 25' roll for 8.99$. or just come up to middletown and i'll give you some. i got over 1/2 a roll in the basement. easily can cover 1/8" to 3/16" gaps... i use it on all my fan holes. i may even have one of my infamous 2$ 7v extensions laying around ... the htpc intake runs at 12v now, so it should be in my toolbox.
Howdy. I had a similar problem when I was cleaning up my case. I had previously cut a hole in the side of my case for a fan addition that I now wanted to cover up. I used some of that mesh tape used for patching drywall. I just put a couple strips down (enough to cover the hole) and then used Bondo to fill in the hole. It was basically the same effect as patching a small hole in drywall, except the hole was in aluminum and I used Bondo instead of plaster. Wire mesh (such as a window screen) would probably work as well. It seemed really big and bulky at first, but once I sanded the whole thing down and primed/painted it, you couldn't tell the difference. Hope that helps. -monkey
The only easy way I've found to weld ali is to use a braising kit - you can get them at machine mart in the UK - basically they are just a little kit of braising rods with a stainless brush. You braise with a simple propane torch so its easy. Still not the easiest mind you but easier then when I tried it with a mig welder
I've seen some aluminum (hard) solder that supposedly is very easy to use (melts at 380 deg C) and can be used for building and bonding. Once applied it can be drilled, threaded etc. Take a look at: http://www.alutite-world.com I tried to buy some yesterday but my local shop was sold out. .johan
I know you've said no fan grill will cover it but have you had a look at Heatkiller 120mm Fan Grill they cover slightly more than a standard type of grill. It got mentioned that you could make it into a window but if you dont want to do that you could always exchange the plexi (or whatever you want to use) for mesh helps get rid of heat and looks good if its done right
