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dremel work while motherboard's still in case

G

goingquietly

n00b
Joined
Aug 17, 2016
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Hello. I have an issue where the cutout for access to the back of my motherboard is incompatible with my motherboard, similar to another poster from these forums:

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I was wondering if I could use my Dremel to cut my case while the motherboard was still in? What precautions would I need to take to preserve my motherboard? I've already read using masking tape over the area I'm cutting, but is there anything I could do to prevent metal flying into that small hole in back of the motherboard while I'm cutting?
 
In all honesty, terrible idea.

Pull the board, mask everything off you'll be cutting, vacuum and wipe down the case once you're finished. I know it's a hassle, but it'll be a lot easier than replacing the board if it dies due to shavings somewhere they shouldn't be.
 
That's too close. One little slip and poof goes the motherboard. Is that risk really worth avoiding 15 minutes of work? Definitely record it if you do, the YouTube views might make you back enough money to replace the Mobo once you cut into it.
 
Take it out. Metal shavings will short out your board.
 
You will probably spend less time and reduce the risk by orders of magnitude by removing the motherboard.
If you do take the risk, think of the time and money it will take to replace the affected parts. And you will have to clean it out as you should have done in the first place.
Metal dust will kill electronics and not always immediately because it can shift around.
If a problem occurs later you could spend days trying to sort it before having to conclude metal dust was the cause, but you may never know.

Remove all electronic components, work in the case somewhere that electronics will never come near.
Vacuum then wipe out all remaining metal dust before refitting.
This one is not worth risking.
 
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Everyone is correct. The best way to handle this is to strip the case, remove the motherboard and anything else of value.

Risk is reduced, time and money will be saved not trying to fix blunders.
 
Go ahead and do it.

Then, follow up with a thread asking what mainboard you should purchase to replace the current one.
 
I actually did this once. But it was on a "trial" case I had just to experiment with various custom dremel mods and stuff, not my DD. I ran the dremel, vaccumed it all out good, and it fired up just fine. It was a huge risk though (didn't bother me much since the guts weren't worth a ton). Cutting dremel with their cutting discs (basically a grinder) throws a ton of metal dust and shards everywhere. More places than you see sparks. Just not a great idea.
 
This is a common problem with a lot of cases that I've worked with. Its annoying as shit to see they made the cpu bracket cutout just half an inch or a quarter inch too small.

So if you don't give a fuck about your motherboard, go ahead and dremel it.
 
My dremel stopped working while in use.
Its just over a year old but only used 3 short times so still practically brand new.
Took it apart and one of the motor connections was bent. Inside was clean, no deposits.
Straightened the connection and still no function, fuse is ok, it must have also killed the variac.
So I'm going to get an external one and short the internal one.

Not impressed with the longevity!
ps I'm not the op, just fyi
 
Nenu said:
My dremel stopped working while in use.
Its just over a year old but only used 3 short times so still practically brand new.
Took it apart and one of the motor connections was bent. Inside was clean, no deposits.
Straightened the connection and still no function, fuse is ok, it must have also killed the variac.
So I'm going to get an external one and short the internal one.

Not impressed with the longevity!
ps I'm not the op, just fyi
Click to expand...

Update for those interested in fixing Dremel problems.

On further inspection, I found a bad connection on one of the motor windings where power enters.
The contact point on the motor for the variacs output is a clip that grips the motors copper wire, there are 4 of them.
One clip had severed its wire. It buzzed out fine the first time I checked but it failed this time, way of luck.
I pulled the clip out and removed the loose wire.

I found a similar gauge wire (slightly fatter) wound on a transformer, from an old printer PCB.
(must use the same type of solid wire because it has to be durable).
Cleaned up both wires to solder, tinned with high temp solder and linked them.
Fed the new wire through the gap and clamped the clip back on.

Bingo, works again.


Gotta say the design of the wire clamps is utter shit.
When a motor power feed wire breaks, the only way to repair is get a soldering iron in and attach an extension because its impossible to unravel more wire.
If the wire is further damaged, that motor section will need replacing.

I have no confidence that the other connections will last, its such a shoddy way of connecting them.
Such a shame because the rest of it is extremely well made (apart from a bit of a cheapy variac speed selector).


ps the wire that broke was on a different connector/clip to the first clip that was bent.
So this one had 2 faults from new!
 
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