Cutting fan holes / Guide to Hole Saws

Ryanaven · 09-12-2008, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolvenmoon

Well, a 140MM hole you should be able to find a holesaw for. The 250MM fan is about 9.88 inches, which suggests a nine inch holesaw-way too much for most consumer drill presses (I'm guessing)

You'd be better off getting two 140MM fans instead of the 250MM, unless you *HAVE* to have the big fan, then all I can think of is a dremmel or someone with a very well equipped shop.

Edit: 140MM converts to 5.5 inches which suggests a 5 inch holesaw, not too horrible. Also, dremmeling a 250MM hole is a huge project, I wouldn't even think about it.

I ended up taking the case to my bro-in-law. I couldn't find a holesaw between 5 and 6, so he traced a hole, used tin-snips, and chrome edging around the holes. It looks professional now. (btw, there's 5 of these in all. Blowholes: 3 /Exhaust: 2...one in back, and one on bottom)

He also used a circular saw and drilled me two 250mm holes (one right above the other on the left side of the acrylic panel), so now I have two huge fans bringing in air on the side, one 250 came with it on the front so that makes three. I wanted one dedicated to the SLI set-up, one on the Zalman 7900 cooling my Quad, and one on the WD Raptors in RAID.

You wouldn't believe the temps I'm getting. I made sure it was negitive pressured. I have 430 CFM going in, and 560 coming out. Quad is overclocked to 3.0 and she hasn't even reached any temps over 35c. I know most probably think I overkilled it, but I've put too much green in this rig to fry my parts.

Thanks for the response, had I not been so eager to get the modding out of the way, it would have helped alot.

Thanks again,
Ryan

Jodah · 09-12-2008, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolvenmoon

A quick google checkout scan says even the small ones are hugely expensive..out of curiosity, how do they work?

yeah, i didn't realize how uch they cost nowadays. basically, you drill a hole to fit a bolt through with the bottom of the punch on one side, then thread the other side on and start tightening the bolt. it pulls the two halves together and "punches" the hole. very clean way to make them.

but, as you stated, apparently a lot more expensive than i rememeber them.

Wolvenmoon · 09-12-2008, 12:58 PM

Oh that's sweet. Bet it's loud, too!

Jodah · 09-13-2008, 01:37 PM

not really, its actually pretty quiet. you don't use power tools or anything, just a ratchet and socket.

Wolvenmoon · 09-13-2008, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jodah

not really, its actually pretty quiet. you don't use power tools or anything, just a ratchet and socket.

Okay, so I've got to find someone with a set to try out.

wheelnut53 · 10-30-2008, 09:21 PM

Hey this good stuff , believe it or not using that method entered my head for about a half second because my hole was 250 mm but thanks for the guides for "normal" apps.

**Grez** · 11-15-2009, 12:50 AM

Hey guys...not trying to just bump one of my threads, here. But, I realized that I had several dead links and some missing gfx on this tut...wanted everyone to know that I've fixed it up, so everything should work now. I also added a link to a wiki article on the subject as well.