What Are Some Of The Basic Tools For Case Modding?

T

The Doc

[H]ard|Gawd
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I'm looking to modify my Raidmax Sagitta, and I would like to cut holes to run tubing through to the inside of the case for water-cooling (Like what Gigabyte did with the 3D Aurora) What are some of the basic tools I could add to my tool kit to get me started in the world of case modding?
 
Definately a jigsaw, I find a dremel offers little control over the cuts you're making.
 
if you are making holes for water tubing, maybe 3/4 OD its hard to get in the case to drill, as well as cut that with a dremel. so theres this set of things that punch holes, they are made for electricians, to use to accomplish this. I cant remember what they are called but they are usually used to punch cabinets for conduit and such. anyway all you do is drill a small pilot hole, and put this thing on there and tighten it with a wrench. I found it useful in my last case build. Still, the dremel is the thing i use the most.
 
Dremel.

You'll find so many uses for the attachments. I drilled holes for my watercooling in my case and got a clean cut that barely needed some smoothing [with a dremel bit of course]. The engraving bit is great for making your own window etching, too...
 
- Dremel with flex attachment of course
** Reinforced Cutoff discs (the brown ones will only end up breaking and lodging in your forehead)
- Needle files are great for fine tuning any intricate cuts
- Router with router table - Fabulous for cutting/shaping plex/acrylic, thick aluminum, etc. I've put about 10 hours on my router in the last week working on my latest mod. It doesn't have to be expensive, and you can make your own table out of scrap wood. If you use cheap bits on aluminum, expect to replace them after every other job :)
- Heat gun is good for melting heatshrink, bending acrylic/plex. Also useful for creating tighter bends in water tubing without kinking.
- Corded drill.. most people swear by cordless, but they never seem to be charged when I want them to be, and for the most part a cheap corded will have as much torque as a fairly expensive cordless. Spend the rest of the money on some decent drill bits.
- Random orbital sander, yeah you can get away with just wrapping sandpaper around a block of wood, but @ 19 bucks, why bother?
- J-B Quick (4 minute JB Weld) This stuff is awesome
- An inexpensive Jigsaw - add a scroll saw if you have the funds

These are the things I couldn't get by without. Things like routers and heatguns may seem like a luxury, but once you use them, you'll be hooked too :)
 
common sense is good.
and
the old rule of measure twice, cut once.
 
Dremels are awesome. If you need to cut holes for the watercooling tubes you can use like a 3/4" hole saw like here

Everyone else listed all the other basic tools to use. Another good tool is the nibbler.
 
Also keep in mind that Dremel is the kleenex of rotary tools.

I personaly use a Black and Decker RTX-6 and it works like a beauty and was significantly cheaper than a Dremel brand rotary tool. Plus it can use pretty much all of Dremel's accessories so that's really nice. It suposedly has more torque than Dremels too, so while that can attribute to busting some cut off discs, it also makes cutting a whoooole lot easier if you take her easy.
 
The most important tool you'll need for modding is ... imagination. And after that, careful planning. As for cutting/shaping tools, probably most were listed here... I think it really depends on your budget. You can do almost every type of mod with just a decent dremel, but other tools help as well... jigsaw, hacksaw, different sizes of hole-saws, a file set... a decent set of sandpapers from 200-2000grit for painting-prep.
 
i've watched as worklog after worklog people botch their beautiful ideas trying to cut the right sized holes symetrically or missed a mark by not center punching the metal. I have use a carbide step bit for a ton of holes (fan grill designs, hiding wires using grommets, installing switches, etc). They're expensive in comparisson to a normal bit, but they replace a pile of crap you have to get to do the same variety of jobs.
they look like this:
B0002SNDA4.01-A1787XOD7Q2I4M._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg
 
boostdemon said:
i've watched as worklog after worklog people botch their beautiful ideas trying to cut the right sized holes symetrically or missed a mark by not center punching the metal. I have use a carbide step bit for a ton of holes (fan grill designs, hiding wires using grommets, installing switches, etc). They're expensive in comparisson to a normal bit, but they replace a pile of crap you have to get to do the same variety of jobs.
they look like this:
B0002SNDA4.01-A1787XOD7Q2I4M._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg
Click to expand...
Nice tip, I didn't know about those.

You'll also want safety googles (a must for everybody who requires binocular vision and depth perception), a small metal file because dremels leave little bits on the back side of the cuts, patience, imagination, and a nice significant other who does not get too mad when they haven't seen you for a month worth of weekends.

I'd advise learning to paint and wet sand if you have the time because in my two major mods that I've done, those were shortcomings and while my mods are nice and functional they just don't look that great. Something to keep in mind if you want to have a beautiful case mod and not a mod that fits in the Ghetto Mods thread.
 
I'm gald to see that someone finally metnioend patience, so many beginning mods turn out 10x better if you just give them time.
 
nibbler, heat gun, soldering iron, drill and dremel are all you SHOULD need for most mods.
 
Dremel is a pretty good all in one tool, there are more specialized things but for a jack of all trades master of none tool a dremel is great
 
JinxyBoi said:
Also keep in mind that Dremel is the kleenex of rotary tools.

I personaly use a Black and Decker RTX-6 and it works like a beauty and was significantly cheaper than a Dremel brand rotary tool. Plus it can use pretty much all of Dremel's accessories so that's really nice. It suposedly has more torque than Dremels too, so while that can attribute to busting some cut off discs, it also makes cutting a whoooole lot easier if you take her easy.
Click to expand...


Or you can go with Proxxon:

http://www.proxxon.com/us/

They've got all the attachments you'd want to do almost anything with a rotary tool. I've got the multimot ib/e, it is pretty nice.
 
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