The typical fan mount point found on many different cases.
Airflow though your computer case is an important aspect of keeping your machine cool. There are a number of things you can do to improve the flow of air though your case - these range from simply keeping the inside neat, and as free from 'cable clutter' as possible (rounded cables like these and these can go a long way to helping) though to installing additional cooling fans and the like (card coolers and their clones or the various 2CoolPC products are easy drop-in airflow-stirrers). However, some cheap and easy case cutting can also make a significant improvement to the overall air-cooling performance of your system.
Many cases are supplied with places to mount fans - usually 80mm - at either the front or rear (or both). Quite often the fan mounts simply consist of an area on the chassis with a number of holes drilled into it. Equally the front bezel of the case is often not designed with airflow in mind, because the plastic case often provides virtually no venting for decent airflow.
A Dremel or similar rotary cutting tool (like the B&D Wizard) is the ideal choice for a computer enthusiast who wants to modify their case. However these are likely to cost around $150AUD, and buying one to modify only one or two computer cases may not be a justifiable option. But we can achieve professional results with only a few common, or cheaply available tools.
Chassis Cutting
It is my view that the pre-drilled
holes - while allowing some airflow - severely limit the amount
of air that the fans can push, as well as causing significant
turbulence, and hence increasing the noise. So, let's remove it!
I found a pair of straight 'aviation shears' at a hardware store (cost about $12AUD) that are ideal for this purpose (tin snips may also work, if the metal on your case is not too thick). Simply slip the end of the shears into the pre-drilled holes and cut. Soon you will end up with something that looks like this:
With the pre-drilled holes and metal cut away, its time to tidy things up. This is where I found some 'grinding stones' quite useful - these are available in various different shapes and sizes from hardware shops, or even your local 'dodgy discount shop' may stock them. They cost about $5AUD for a packet or $5 each for the larger round ones. These then attach to your drill and transform it into something Dremel-ish. I found the more expensive ($5AUD each) large round grinding stones (shown with my drill below) the most useful.
It's then a fairly simple - but somewhat time consuming - task to use the drill-grinding stone combination to sand away at the rough edges of the hole, until it is nice and even and round. A template or circle drawn on your case can make it much easier to get things nice and neat. Of course if you don't have a drill you can always use the round edged file and perform the task manually, about half a day (and lots of cuts and cursing) later you'll have a similar result.
Using this technique is fairly straightforward, and easily adapted to cut almost any type of hole in your computer. Most of all its cheap - but still produces professional looking results (when a little care and some time is taken). You can cut the metal grill from the front of your case or even create a blowhole in the top or sides of your case. Use the drill to create an outline of many holes, punch out the outline of your blowhole and use the drill-grinding stone combo to clean it all up. It's also a good idea to attach a finger guard when you screw your fan on - this should help stop any stray items from making their way into the fan.
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