Sigh.... I had the entire day planned. Wake up, get started on cutting two new fan holes for my case while waiting for the UPS guy to get here. I was going to be long done by now and already overclocked and everything like that and all that jazz. Well, I just woke up after going to sleep with frustration after my parts got here, because after I cut the holes in my case, nothing I could do would drill or punch a small hole in the case for the screwholes.

Drilling or anything won't work. There is no way to keep it steady enough once it hits the metal to drill a precise hole.

I'm posting here on my mom's horrid laptop, feeling kind of helpless. Do any of you have any proven methods for drilling or punching holes in metal? Or maybe some other method, such as some sort of incredibly strong adhesive that will stick a metal grill and plastic fan to a metal case with the fan running at full force. That would be kind of permanent, though, unless there was a solution I could pour on it to un-stickify it.

Please help. I can't continue building my PC until I get these fans in. That is, if it involves a tried and proven method of drilling metal. Don't want to get shards all over my components.

I don't know if this will work but couldnt you possibly cut a 2x4 to the height of your case (or if the hole is on the side cut it to the width of your case) then wedge the board in there and drill straight into the board. I am prolly just making things more complicated, but im pretty sure that will work, and before you start to drill make sure you punch a hole where you want the hole to be so it wont slide all over and scratch your case up.

you could take a small nail and hammer and make a small indentation into the case (real small) ought to help keep the bit where you want it. but id do what archerzz said

First tap a finishing nail lightly where you want the hole, then drill in that dent first with a small bit. After that then drill through the hole with the right sized bit.

I've already tried a nail and hammer (it hardly dents), and I don't have any spare lumber

a drill press would help too

Yeah, except those things are really expensive.

sounds like a steel case. get a bigger drill. if you cant afford one, find someone who can, and befriend them.

I'm looking for a fix more in the short term....

How do you guys think rubber cement would hold up? Fans are <40 CFM.

what you want is a centrepunch (or centerpunch ) ... you can get ones that don't even require a hammer... but hammer ones are good too... it's the basic nail and hammer idea, but done right...

all you need is that initial indentation and then you can drill a 1mm pilot hole, then a 2mm, then a 4mm and you should be done...

My new case is like 1mm thick hard steel in some parts, and I used the nail and hammer method - bit of a pain but you wont get anywhere trying to drill a hole without a pilot hole(or dent) first on steel

Trying to hammer holes in is too much effort for my lazy ass. My mom is an arts and crafts person and had some uber strong adhesive, so I just lined my fans with that and right now they're setting in.

I hope that works out for you but do what hardnrg said and gauge it out slowly start with a small dent where you want to drill and then slowy drill bigger.

Well, didn't really work very well. Now they're slathered in duct tape. Should hold fine.

Heh, my measurements were slightly off in that my PSU was being obstructed by one of the fans. Now it's mounted (taped, rather) to the outside. Looks really tacky, but should work fine :/

The other option is to use split point drill bits. they prevent the bit from walking on your work.

Also make SURE that you're using the right drill bit eg; Carbide-Tipped Bits or Cobalt Bits. Don't be cheap, buy plenty of these. Good Luck.

i just use HSS (high-speed steel) drill-bits... but rpgaction, dude, you need to learn how to drill at some point man... you can't just glue and duct-tape stuff all your life hehe

well... you could... you could be one of the lunatics that duct-tapes their car together...

LMAO!! nrg...ur a Riot! LOL Just to funny whether you meant to be or not..

Modding your case really isn't something that a lazy person should do. Because when that happens you just end up with all this glue and duct tape in your case.

To add my compassion; I will say that I can sympathize. He is prolly driven to get this done and wants to play, NOW.
Just breathe, slow down. Walk away if ya have to. But don't go making a serious mistake by using Duct Tape

It'll be ok, just take your time. You'll be happier when the job get's done right the first time then having to go back later. ...try to have fun during this process.

I hate to say it but Hardnrg hit it right on the nose. If you can't learn how to drill a hole in a piece of sheet metal you might as well give up any thoughts of modding.....the sheet metal used for PC cases is about as soft as it gets.....try drilling stainless steel sometime....now that's hard. The energy you're expelling trying to glue your fans to your case is a lot more than you would use drilling four holes following the advice given to you so far in this post

It's not a matter of skill when you can't afford the necessary equipment...

**Sigh** You're missing the point...Please don't take none of what ANY of us said personal. We're just trying to help. But if you're gonna get defensive........?

To drill a hole though this all you need is:

drill
masking tape

put the masking tape on the mark you want to drill mark over it and drill though the masking tape to stop slippage.




simple

Whew..I thought I was the only one who seen that episode of "Home Improvement".

I work with cars