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Does anyone still make old school window kits?

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billabong132

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Remember back in the late 90s/early 2000s you had to buy a window kit and cut a hole in the sidepanel yourself? I have an old beige case I want to put a window in.

I tried ebay but these kits seem unobtanium these days. Do any mod stores still make/sell these?
 
billabong132 said:
I never actually did this mod back in the day. I was just a kid reading forums and watching tech tv. I'm assuming jigsaw is the best way to cut the window?
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its dead simple.
yes, with a good metal blade. drill out the corners and then cut.
 
Interesting, I was just going through some stuff in my basement and found ~10 year old plexiglass sheets and braided wire wraps from unstarted plans. Hadn't thought about it in years, now I see this thread. Must be a sign I need a project to do.

You can get metal shears for $45 on sale right now from harbor freight.
 
Did it to my SF-201 case, side and top, with a nibbler, 1mm thick magnesium aluminum.......
RIP, Directron, CrazyPC, TigerDirect.
 
HeavensCloud said:
Interesting, I was just going through some stuff in my basement and found ~10 year old plexiglass sheets and braided wire wraps from unstarted plans. Hadn't thought about it in years, now I see this thread. Must be a sign I need a project to do.

You can get metal shears for $45 on sale right now from harbor freight.
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Hell..I'd go a step further and grab a rotary angle grinder for $30'something and some metal cut off wheels. A steady hand and you'll have a better cut.
 
jlbenedict said:
Hell..I'd go a step further and grab a rotary angle grinder for $30'something and some metal cut off wheels. A steady hand and you'll have a better cut.
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i found my best cuts were with a good new metal blade in a jigsaw. use a piece of wood clamped to the panel as a guide fence.
 
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Make a nice circle with a compass (or you can do the trick with a stick and a screw/nail), verify the size of the circle. Tape. Cut inside the line. Sand/file to the line, carefully. Apply paint/marker.

For screw holes, draw an X (best to do this before cutting the hole), ensure the center is in the middle of the circle and that the lines cross at 90°. Mark screw locations on the lines according to your fan size (most modding sites have templates and drawings you could print out as well, just be sure they are printed at 100% scale). Using a sharp, smaller bit than needed (or a step drill bit) drill the holes where marked, then go again with the final size. Be careful if you decide to countersink the holes, it's easy to go too far in thin metal. Debur by hitting the back side quickly in reverse or with a debur tool.
 
jlbenedict said:
Hell..I'd go a step further and grab a rotary angle grinder for $30'something and some metal cut off wheels. A steady hand and you'll have a better cut.
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Oh god. A Jigsaw with a fine tooth metal blade will make a much smoother, accurate cut. This case it too thick for a nibbler or shears.
 
pendragon1 said:
its dead simple.
yes, with a good metal blade. drill out the corners and then cut.
Click to expand...
I wasn't too hard but not sure about simple. The molding was a bitch and sometimes you'd have to go back and make adjustments. I also was a teen and my sense of craftsmanship wasn't that great back then!
 
Nobu said:
Make a nice circle with a compass (or you can do the trick with a stick and a screw/nail), verify the size of the circle. Tape. Cut inside the line. Sand/file to the line, carefully. Apply paint/marker.

For screw holes, draw an X (best to do this before cutting the hole), ensure the center is in the middle of the circle and that the lines cross at 90°. Mark screw locations on the lines according to your fan size (most modding sites have templates and drawings you could print out as well, just be sure they are printed at 100% scale). Using a sharp, smaller bit than needed (or a step drill bit) drill the holes where marked, then go again with the final size. Be careful if you decide to countersink the holes, it's easy to go too far in thin metal. Debur by hitting the back side quickly in reverse or with a debur tool.
Click to expand...

What I always did was line up the fan where I wanted it to be, find a long screw that would go through to the other side of the fan through the mounting holes, then just put whiteout on the tip of the screw and touch the other side. That's how I marked a lot of things, honestly. (Or using an allen wrench in lieu of a screw)

For where the fan hole would be, I just held the fan in place and ran a pencil through the fan body to mark on the material - either a regular pencil for light surfaces or a grease pen on darker ones.

At the time, I cut holes with a Dremel, though, as it was all I had. These days I would buy a hole saw and cutting oil, or get a 120mm sheet metal punch.
 
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