Dremel n00b -- making my own IO shield

[svet-am]

I have a server mobo that I rescued from a single-purpose box. Due to the nature of the box, the IO shield was manufactured into the chassis. I'm going to be putting the board into a different chassis and need an IO shield for it.

I was planning on making my own. The manual for the board has a to-scale image of the IO shield, so I can blow it up and use it as a template.

Anyone have recommendations on materials (some kind of light aluminum maybe?) and which heads for the dremel I'll likely want to use?

EDIT: I cannot buy the IO shield anymore because the board is long discontinued and has a non-standard layout in the ATX stack.

 

[Zero82z]

Honestly, I would just not use an I/O shield altogether if I were you.

 

[Omerta]

Honestly, I would just not use an I/O shield altogether if I were you.

Yeah, i don't even use I/O plates on my builds. Really don't see the point, but this guy's situation is completely different, i suppose.

 

[Diablo2K]

Its gonna be hard as hell to make one with a dremel especially the holes for vga and seriel ports. PS2 holes will be easy as you could just use a drill, but making the other holes is gonna be near impossible giving there size and shape.
If your worried about dust and other crap gettting into the case you could make a cover out of posterboard and an Xacto knife. As long as your not constantly plugging/unplugging things in it should hold up fairly well.

 

[ezdi]

I'm in the exact same boat. Picked up a Dell mobo. The original case had the IO stamped into it. I've already looked all over for a similar shield. Unfortunately, the closest I've found is using two shields from different boards and splicing them together, but I can't find one of them.

I was thinking of the posterboard solution too, but I don't think I'm going to be able to make anything terribly accurate with that either. I have come up with a good source for the metal; just get one of those tall 16oz energy drink cans and cut up the can. Of course you could drink it too so you'd be hopped up when you cut your finger on the scrap.

Pick up the dremel router attachment, print out your scaled diagram and stick it to your can and rock. You'll may have to figure out some way to keep it from shifting inside your case if nothing is plugged in, but if you make it bigger than the opening, the ports will hold it from the inside.

Not sure if I want to buy an item for only one job though, so I'm thinking of just using some sort of plastic like a DVD case and my soldering iron and using packing tape to hold it in place.

Definitely want to hear any other ideas though.

If you've got 50 fans blasting all over, then it doesn't matter that you suck air in through the IO panel and then right back out the exhaust fan above it, making noise and doing little else. I've got an HTPC that needs to suck air in past the hard drives up front using the fans in the back and make as little noise as possible, so big holes are bad. Some idiot put a computer inside an old stereo that didn't have room for more fans up front.

 

[kharan5876]

I made one once using a dremel. I had a 1u rackmount case so the standard I/O shield was too big and wouldn't fit. I just used a drill and metal cutting wheels. For the material I just had a metal top cover of an old rackmount case.

Cutting all the holes properly is tricky, espesially if you have not done dremeling before. When you are cutting the IO shield out of the metal sheet don't use the cutting wheels until they are all gone. Wait until they are about half size and then switch to a new wheel. You may find it easier to cut the small ports out using these smaller wheels.

For round things like audio jacks and ps2 ports its better to use a drill press.

For small shapes like usb ports, I found it easier to just grind out the entire shape instead of cutting it out along the perimeter. Cut a diagonal X shape in the rectangle and then grind away each of the 4 triangles.

You probably will screw up the first time but thats ok just do it over again until its right.