How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays (Done)
- martini161
- Mr Awesome
- Posts: 3183
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2007 8:27 pm
- Location: Cherry Hill, New Jersey
How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays (Done)
I have a case that has a ton of 5 1/2 " drive bays, and i wanted to turn them into something useful. And i made a guide at the same time so others can do this to
What you need:
Paint (If you are painting)
Tack cloth (If you are painting)
Steel wool (if you are painting)
A mask (recommended especially if spray painting)
3 empty 5 1/2" drive bays
Painters Tape/Masking tape
A razor blade
A pencil
A drill
A 120mm fan (and some mounting hardware)
Your trusty Dremel (or something else for cutting)
Step One: What you need to do is tape the covers from the drive bays the way the would be in the case, make sure you tape good and make them even, or else it'll mess everything else up.
Step Two: Cover the entire front of the shields with what ever kind of tape you are using.
Step Three: Tape the fan onto the front of the covers, once again make sure its nice and tight, if it moves it may mess everything else up.
Step Four: Trace the out line of the fan on the painters tape, then trace the outline of the middle part (the part where the blades go) and mark the screw holes (this can be hard if you have a fan with closed corners if you cant reach the pencil in, you can try putting in a small screw driver instead and making a mark) once done this, you can take the fan off. When your done, it should look something like this: (minus the holes i drilled)
Step Five: Drill the screw whole using what ever size bit matches your mounting hardware, I used a 7/64 drill bit.
Step Six: Using the razer, cut out around the middle circular part, then peel back the rest. mine looked like this:
Step Seven: Paint (if you want) first, rub everything with the steel wool for a while, to get it smooth. Next, wipe it down with the tack cloth to get all the dust off. Next, paint. when it drys, you can peel off the painters tape, but leave it on if you didn't paint (you may want to look at bubba's guides to learn about this) here's mine after painting (i suck at spray painting)
Step Eight: Dremel out the hole in the middle. It will be a lot easier if you separate the drives now, but don't peel off the painters tape in the middle if you didn't paint! If you do you wont know where to cut! If you want, you can either sand it down, or if you want it to look cool, put some automotive trim around it. I left mine bare for now.
Step Nine: Make sure you have the shields exactly aligned, then glue them together using what ever you want. Next mount the fan. (i decided to not bother with the middle little edges, because as you will see in the last pic they dont even show. i wish i had realized this earlier, i wouldnt of had to paint )
Step Ten: Stick it in your rig! You're all done. Just be careful not to stick your finger in. if you want you can put a shield or something, but i didn't bother.
as you can see, the drive shields i whored from other cases were just a little to narrow to fit on the front of my case,(which in this case is a good thing) so they were pushed back into the actual drive bays. luckily for me, my existing shields (which have mesh and dust filters, which is why this was a good thing) can go infront. it makes it look a lot nicer.
What you need:
Paint (If you are painting)
Tack cloth (If you are painting)
Steel wool (if you are painting)
A mask (recommended especially if spray painting)
3 empty 5 1/2" drive bays
Painters Tape/Masking tape
A razor blade
A pencil
A drill
A 120mm fan (and some mounting hardware)
Your trusty Dremel (or something else for cutting)
Step One: What you need to do is tape the covers from the drive bays the way the would be in the case, make sure you tape good and make them even, or else it'll mess everything else up.
Step Two: Cover the entire front of the shields with what ever kind of tape you are using.
Step Three: Tape the fan onto the front of the covers, once again make sure its nice and tight, if it moves it may mess everything else up.
Step Four: Trace the out line of the fan on the painters tape, then trace the outline of the middle part (the part where the blades go) and mark the screw holes (this can be hard if you have a fan with closed corners if you cant reach the pencil in, you can try putting in a small screw driver instead and making a mark) once done this, you can take the fan off. When your done, it should look something like this: (minus the holes i drilled)
Step Five: Drill the screw whole using what ever size bit matches your mounting hardware, I used a 7/64 drill bit.
Step Six: Using the razer, cut out around the middle circular part, then peel back the rest. mine looked like this:
Step Seven: Paint (if you want) first, rub everything with the steel wool for a while, to get it smooth. Next, wipe it down with the tack cloth to get all the dust off. Next, paint. when it drys, you can peel off the painters tape, but leave it on if you didn't paint (you may want to look at bubba's guides to learn about this) here's mine after painting (i suck at spray painting)
Step Eight: Dremel out the hole in the middle. It will be a lot easier if you separate the drives now, but don't peel off the painters tape in the middle if you didn't paint! If you do you wont know where to cut! If you want, you can either sand it down, or if you want it to look cool, put some automotive trim around it. I left mine bare for now.
Step Nine: Make sure you have the shields exactly aligned, then glue them together using what ever you want. Next mount the fan. (i decided to not bother with the middle little edges, because as you will see in the last pic they dont even show. i wish i had realized this earlier, i wouldnt of had to paint )
Step Ten: Stick it in your rig! You're all done. Just be careful not to stick your finger in. if you want you can put a shield or something, but i didn't bother.
as you can see, the drive shields i whored from other cases were just a little to narrow to fit on the front of my case,(which in this case is a good thing) so they were pushed back into the actual drive bays. luckily for me, my existing shields (which have mesh and dust filters, which is why this was a good thing) can go infront. it makes it look a lot nicer.
Last edited by martini161 on Fri Feb 22, 2008 7:45 pm, edited 5 times in total.
Dan:3Martin:3 "my manhood is so big if i put it on the keyboard it would stretch from A to Z!"-Anonymous
Re: (WIP)How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays
You best hurry up and finish then post the pics.
I want to see it finished
Looks good. Have you glued the faceplates together? You havent mentioned this if you did. (Just wondering how the middle one is going to stay in if you haven't glued them.)
Dan
I want to see it finished
Looks good. Have you glued the faceplates together? You havent mentioned this if you did. (Just wondering how the middle one is going to stay in if you haven't glued them.)
Dan
- martini161
- Mr Awesome
- Posts: 3183
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2007 8:27 pm
- Location: Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Re: (WIP)How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays
oh jeez i just realized that! thanks for pointing that out, ill probably glue them after i cut them
Dan:3Martin:3 "my manhood is so big if i put it on the keyboard it would stretch from A to Z!"-Anonymous
- Bio-Hazard
- Legit Extremist
- Posts: 2302
- Joined: Thu May 06, 2004 9:48 pm
- Location: Back Woods Of MO.
Re: (WIP)How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays
And a super easy solution if you have a case with a mesh front bezel or at least vented 5.25 bay covers..............
- martini161
- Mr Awesome
- Posts: 3183
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2007 8:27 pm
- Location: Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Re: (WIP)How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays
i would do something like that, but i dont have the tools or the materials to work with scrap metal. i do have a rivet gun though
Dan:3Martin:3 "my manhood is so big if i put it on the keyboard it would stretch from A to Z!"-Anonymous
- Bio-Hazard
- Legit Extremist
- Posts: 2302
- Joined: Thu May 06, 2004 9:48 pm
- Location: Back Woods Of MO.
Re: (WIP)How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays
Pretty easy to do with basic hand tools, all I have is a dremel, drill and some files. Scrap came from cutting a window mod into a Lian-Li years ago................. . I don't toss anything out.
- dicecca112
- Site Admin
- Posts: 5014
- Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2004 10:40 am
- Contact:
Re: (WIP)How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays
Looking good keep it coming
- martini161
- Mr Awesome
- Posts: 3183
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2007 8:27 pm
- Location: Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Re: (WIP)How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays
my dad doesnt know where his dremel is (beginings of senelity? i hope not) so im gonna have to figure out a way to cut this with a band saw with out chopping my fingers off im not very comfortable with getting cutting that close to the edge
Dan:3Martin:3 "my manhood is so big if i put it on the keyboard it would stretch from A to Z!"-Anonymous
- Bio-Hazard
- Legit Extremist
- Posts: 2302
- Joined: Thu May 06, 2004 9:48 pm
- Location: Back Woods Of MO.
Re: (WIP)How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays
Man, A bandsaw, I'd darn near kill for one of those...................
Re: (WIP)How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays
Always wondered if I'd find a use for the gallon bag of drive face plates I have squirreled away. For an interior fan I use old drive bay fan controller fronts reversed in the drive bay (face of the controller facing the CPU) and pop a couple of holes in it,mount a fan, throw a fan face plate or mesh on it and you get great air flow over the ram and cpu straight back to the exhaust fan.
- martini161
- Mr Awesome
- Posts: 3183
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2007 8:27 pm
- Location: Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Re: (WIP)How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays
lol youd love to live in my house heres a pic of my dads workshop
hes got a table saw, a band saw, a drill press, a stationary router, a chop saw, a rip saw, at least 2 handheld routers, an 18v drill, 2 laser levels, an air compresser (and a stapler), a bench grinder, a belt sander, and probably at least 1000 drill/router bits plus a dremel, and a rivit gun, but i use those more than he does. (and he stole them both from work, they still say lookheed martin test engineering department ) and all of his stationary power tools are connected to a sawdust vaccum system
hes got a table saw, a band saw, a drill press, a stationary router, a chop saw, a rip saw, at least 2 handheld routers, an 18v drill, 2 laser levels, an air compresser (and a stapler), a bench grinder, a belt sander, and probably at least 1000 drill/router bits plus a dremel, and a rivit gun, but i use those more than he does. (and he stole them both from work, they still say lookheed martin test engineering department ) and all of his stationary power tools are connected to a sawdust vaccum system
Dan:3Martin:3 "my manhood is so big if i put it on the keyboard it would stretch from A to Z!"-Anonymous
- Bio-Hazard
- Legit Extremist
- Posts: 2302
- Joined: Thu May 06, 2004 9:48 pm
- Location: Back Woods Of MO.
Re: (WIP)How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays
Nice setup, I could build all my own furniture and everything with a setup like that...............
- martini161
- Mr Awesome
- Posts: 3183
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2007 8:27 pm
- Location: Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Re: (WIP)How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays
yeah i dont he uses 2/3rds of that stuff enough to justify buying it. but hey, its what he loves to do. the onlt thing ive realy seen him use alot is the router, the table saw, and the chop saw. ive never seen him use the rip saw, drill press, or any of his hand tools (exept the drill of course) he used the router to put molding in every room, halway, and everywhere else in the house. he probably would uses alot more stuff if my mom would actually just be happy with the way the house looks for more than a week
Dan:3Martin:3 "my manhood is so big if i put it on the keyboard it would stretch from A to Z!"-Anonymous
- martini161
- Mr Awesome
- Posts: 3183
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2007 8:27 pm
- Location: Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Re: How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays (Done)
all done people comment away
Dan:3Martin:3 "my manhood is so big if i put it on the keyboard it would stretch from A to Z!"-Anonymous
Re: How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays (Done)
Didn't realise it was going to be behind mesh things.
Looks very nice.
Dan
Looks very nice.
Dan
- Bio-Hazard
- Legit Extremist
- Posts: 2302
- Joined: Thu May 06, 2004 9:48 pm
- Location: Back Woods Of MO.
Re: How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays (Done)
Looka like it all worked out well for you............. Looks good, and I hope that you still have all your fingers, well, at least most of them...................
- martini161
- Mr Awesome
- Posts: 3183
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2007 8:27 pm
- Location: Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Re: How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays (Done)
well actually neither did i if i knew i wouldnt have bothered paintingDMB2000uk wrote:Didn't realise it was going to be behind mesh things.
Looks very nice.
Dan
and thankfully, i still have all my fingers
Dan:3Martin:3 "my manhood is so big if i put it on the keyboard it would stretch from A to Z!"-Anonymous
Re: How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays (Done)
good job, next time when you draw circles for fans these work well..
I am 24% addicted to Counterstrike. What about you?
Biostar 590/AMD 6400+
2 Gigs of Ballistix Tracers
2 WD 160Gig in Raid0
8800GTs in SLI
PC Power & Cooling 510(highly modified)
Case Changes Weekly, lol
Biostar 590/AMD 6400+
2 Gigs of Ballistix Tracers
2 WD 160Gig in Raid0
8800GTs in SLI
PC Power & Cooling 510(highly modified)
Case Changes Weekly, lol
Re: How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays (Done)
ThermalTake Armor full tower case 250mm side fan? If it is how loud are the interior 120mm fans that came stock? Been looking at that case.
Re: How To: Mount a fan in extra 5 1/2" bays (Done)
Nice job, looks good once its all finished. You do need to work on focusing your pics though.