I need some advice regarding a case I'm building out of plexiglass for my computer - I'm planning on building a drive cage out of plexiglass (for the 5.25" drive bays), and would prefer it to be completely enclosed for easy connectivity (sliding the drives in the front, and having the connections set in the back of the cage to connect there). However, my concern is this - it is going to be used for a DVD-ROM drive and a CDRW drive, and I'm worried that the heat from the drives might become problematic. Would cutting holes for ventilation suffice, or will I need to find some other way to solve this problem? Would appreciate any advice that can be sent my way.

Well, I would say that having it enclosed would create a good amount of heat build up... "breathing holes" would help some, but you'd probably be better off adding a fan or two .. even if it's just a 40mm fan or two...

Or you could get an aluminum HD cooler and place one at the top and one at the bottom of the drive bay...

Yeah I would try hdd coolers designed to 5 1/4" bays. Those should cool well. Also vent holes will be good and maybe you can make ducts from case fans leading to the CD drives.

I appreciate the advice on this one - I actually came up with another idea while trying to put together a design that threw an 80mm fan on top - there is actually no point with a design like I intend to have any sides to the drive cage - the front of the case will hold the drives steady enough while I slide them back, and snapping them onto the connectors will keep them from moving around inside the case, so I'll just leave the sides open, and that should do the trick of keeping it cool, especially with a nearby 80mm fan on the case.

Yeah that would work but maybe you would liek to run a duct from the case fan to blow more directly on the cd drives

yeah plexiglass can be a mother sometimes. When i was dremeling the plexiglass chips are red hot when they meet yur skin.

I cut my plexi glass with a sharp knife. 50 cuts is enough so you can break it off. it's very smooth and less expencive then those tools.

what if you would build a whole case out of plexi glass? whouls you need more fans, of doesn't it matter much because it's to far from the hotter parts?

I just say you should create a blowhole on top and an intake on the bottom...two 80 MM blowing on each drive should work...

i need some help...
im also planning to make a all pexti gass case do you think it can hild itself up or do i need to reinforce it woth metal bars or something

it should hold, just dont really get it too thick. check out a review.
http://www.overclockersclub.com/plexicompu...ercasehowto.php

thnx

whould you need to place extra fans because plexiglass conducts less heat then metal, or isn't there a big difference??