Been wanting to cut those stupid fan grills out for some time, now I'll finally be able to next week. All they do is make noise and block airflow.

I already know the supplies I need, grommets and the u-channel moulding to make it look nice. What would be the ideal cheap tool to cut the metal though? I was thinking some decently strong tin snips would do the job okay. Not really inclined to buy a Dremel, as this will likely be the only mod I'll do.

Anyone who has cut the grills out already, I'm interested to hear what kind of case temp. drop you achieved.

For those not already acquainted with the fan grills
Front:

Rear:


Should be an interesting project. I'll keep you updated as I buy the stuff, of course.

Well, for cheap you could cut it out with wirecutters and sand it smooth, moldng will not be nessesary

i'd probably go with heavy duty wire cutters, though you might look into a hack saw. they sell round blades which make circles easier but don't know if you have room to get the blade in there. hack saws tend to need a bit more room to work with. Or there are those half a hack saw thing.

Would this work okay?
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=true...e=037103136442#


Home Depot has some that look more like regular scissors, but designed to cut metal.

look into renting a 114mm holesaw from your local tool hire shop...

some old pics...





and some new pics...





lol, my new camera is like a ZILLION times better at focusing than my old camera that broke after like 2 weeks (about 50 photos)

anyway, important point, in the last picture you can see that the self-tapping fan-screws are about half-way between the original holes... now this was a pure pain in the arse because i don't have a (urg my mind's had a brainfart... the thing you hit with a hammer and it starts you off with a dent to locate the tip of the drill bit) anyway i didn't have one of those things and getting a hole in exactly the right place without that tool was a beeyatch... the point being, you'll have to drill a new set of holes... and they'll have to be in the right place...

on my old rig i use pliers on the case mesh!!! lol, i just used snipe-nose pliers and twisted the mesh and it broke haha... i think if you use pliers or any kind of snippy tool then you will bend the metal and it will look a bit rubbish imo

i don't know what the temperature benefit is since i did the mod before building this rig... the amount of air coming through the front has multiplied by about a squillion and the back is quieter...

I don't have the TT Tsunami, but I do have the Antec SLK3700AMB which is based off of the same design. Here is a pic of what I did.
[attachmentid=15561]
I just simply cut out the intake/exhaust grill with a pair of wire cutters and filed down the rough edges with a large metal file. I don't care how it looks since It's not like I am going to be staring at the back of the case all day. Hardnrg's mods are better looking, but require more time/money.

Oh ya you have it easy since you are cutting aluminum. Mine was a PITA to cut since it was steel.

I used aviator snips to cut mine (I have a super lanboy)

My plan was to use the snips to cut out the mesh and use the rubber molding to hide the ugly cuts. For the mounting holes, I wanted to use the snips to clean out that little area around the screw and slide a rubber grommet in there to help keep the vibrating down.

A bit like this guy has here:



The grommets have a slit in them so they grab the metal and stay in place.

These little guys here: http://www.mnpctech.com/Grommet.html

And the molding: http://www.mnpctech.com/UChannel.html

Basically, copy what mnpctech did, without the dremel or power tools.

Dremel cutoff disks and then a grinder attachment to smooth it out, still looks like shat because i had a few choice beverages and would rather finish them off then my mod...oh well, it's in the back, nobody will see it, increases airflow enough.

I need to get rid of those stock fan grills in my tsunami as well...I just realized the intake fan hasn't worked since the day I got this thing... wow.

not tru - once you start you can't stop.. modding is pringles



at the hardware stores they have 80mm hole saws that go into your drill if you have one.

I actually do have a cordless 14.4V drill, would that be enough to cut the 114mm hole I need? I think the drill is kind of cheap, it almost burnt out when I drilled this one hole... I'm a bit reluctant to trust it with my computer.

Snips should do the job okay, and the cut will be covered anyway.

I just ordered some stuff...

MNPCTech U-Channel Molding
http://www.mnpctech.com/UChannel.html

MNPCTech Fan Silencing Grommets
http://www.mnpctech.com/Grommet.html

call me old fashioned, but i hate cordless, wireless anything... and that includes drills... however, the aluminium was a breeze to cut through, just keep the holesaw spinning nice n fast, keep it in the right place and apply the lightest of pressure... makes a lot of noise but doesn't really require a lot of power...

if you can rent the 114mm holesaw i highly recommend it since it's SO easy and is SO much faster than ANY other method apart from maybe a grenade or some TNT lol

Just came home with these...






Now just waiting for the other supplies to arrive.

Thank you guys... I just realised I can fix my intake fan that blows over my HDD bay in my case. A good time to get that dremel at frys

Hello,

Actually I don't use any power tools to modify my Tsunamis. The perforated fan grills are removed with a Greenlee Knock-out punch

The fan mounting holes are made with a Roper Whitney Hand Punch

(different case, same intention)

Thank you, mnpctech. Everyone else pretty much insisted that I buy the power tool when I didn't need to.

Hand tools rock. Can't wait to get my order from you Tuesday.