Okay... so some people swear by their dremel. Others disagree with this. Personally, I use a jigsaw and tear the snot outta my case... but it cuts like butta!
TOTALLY depends on what you are doing, blowholes == holesaws, expensive, but PERFECT (if you do it right) circles, windows depend, freeform == dremel, straight lines == jigsaw and a straight edge. AND aluminum is a LOT easier to cut than steel
dremel is a must for ghetto mods and other mods. It cut everything with the right attachment. Also check out modasylum's dremel maintaince guide if you get a dremel.
for cutting windows (in my steel Antec case) I prefer a jigsaw with some good oil to keep it from overheating... if I wanted to put a design in say, an aluminum case, a dremel would be the better choice.
I used a dremel when I made a housing for a relay for my water-cooling system. Trying to use it on thick metal is a waste of cutting discs.
Combination of tools works best. I like to use a dremel to start cuts or for short cuts, then use a jigsaw w. a 36tpi blade for long straight cuts. I have to cut my first fan holes here soon, I'm going to bite the bullet and buy some hole saws. For a 92mm fan, it'll hit me about $20, so I hope to use the damn thing again one day.
My dad has a roto-zip, not very good at cutting plexi glass from what I've saw. The scraps from my mod we had, my dad was cutting and it was cutting it so fast that he almost snapped the plexi glass, it was pretty funny. A very nice tool though.
I had the dremal on in the other had and was moving the case around a bit and it grazed my hand. Still have a slight line where it was, not noticible tho.
I have both, and for cutting just a square-ish window I think the jigsaw is better. The only problem is the trail that it can leave from the metal guide. This means you have to protect your case a little more.
I personally love the **** out of my Dremel, but the things can be dangerous. I was cutting off bolt heads for the stealth fan mod that I came up with (Later ripped off or 'adapted' by that other site), and I got a little careless with letting the disks cool down. One of them shattered into a bunch of little pieces which got stuck in my skin. Not fun, but my own fault. At least I was wearing safety goggles. Safety first!
It's gotta be the hand-drill with the circular cutting implement on it - I made a right mess of my first case mod!
Which attachment do y'all use for dremeling your case? I think I can get my hands on a cordless mini-mite, but I will likely need to buy whatever attachment I will use. (I want to expand the the rear case fan slot to accomodate a 92mm fan and possibly other stuff later on.)
I've done all my mods with a dremel. I use a standard corded dremel with Re-enforced fiberglass cutting disks for metal work and then I use the Roto-Zip attachment for working with plastics.
Hello all, Just joined the site. It's lookin good so far guys. For my moddin I use combo of tools. Digital Dremel with the flexi ext., Roto Zip, Dewalt Jig Saw among other tools.
jdii1215 said Well, to protect, the blue painter's tape is heavy enough to keep the guide from scraping case. Lay down the 2" or 4" wide stuff, draw on that, cut.
John Danielson.
Yeh, sounds like a good idea. Does it leave any residue behind, and if so, how easy/hard is it to remove?
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Playing with the cat again mmonnin?
for cutting windows (in my steel Antec case) I prefer a jigsaw with some good oil to keep it from overheating... if I wanted to put a design in say, an aluminum case, a dremel would be the better choice.
I used a dremel when I made a housing for a relay for my water-cooling system. Trying to use it on thick metal is a waste of cutting discs.
Gotta love it though, I'll post a pic someday.
Lemme guess - No pilot hole?
It works well, just time consuming.
Yeh, sounds like a good idea. Does it leave any residue behind, and if so, how easy/hard is it to remove?
tek