Should i cut the Lian???

UT-Jackal

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 2, 2004
Messages
373
I need to do some wire management in my new Lian Li (PC-65)
I am about to cut some holes in it for that purpose.
Is this a good or bad idea?
Im Scred...

-Jackal-
 
cut it, hide the mess STAT. make it look neat though get a hole saw and use a rubber grommet around the whole so the edges arent sharp
 
It's sad times cutting such a nice case, but i raped mine as well :(

I actually flipped my power supply over so the intake is coming from outside (more efficient airflow, cool/outside air in and straight out the back. I can deal with airflow from JUST inside the system that way. The wires are also against the back plate extending from the 5.25" bays. I cut a fairly large rectangle out of that and the wires just fall out the back behind the motherboard tray. Can't see ANYTHING. I put an extension for my 9800xt through a standoff hole (requires a little bit of dexterity) and it's clean.

definitely worth it.
 
I cut up my lian li as well. I cut a hole on the inside to pass teh wires from the powersupply behind the motherboard. Then I cut out all teh fan grills and put in some wire mesh so more air can pass through.
 
cut a hole like 2 inches infront of where the psu wires come out so u can put them behind the mobo
 
friends and i cut up his today, to route some PSU wires. be sure and get a good cutting bit, he had OKAY bits and it just took a while. i personally don't plan on cutting mine, but that's me.
 
sdk said:
cut a hole like 2 inches infront of where the psu wires come out so u can put them behind the mobo
exactly
I'd take pics but
a. i dont know where my digicam is
b. my case is in a state of disassembly right now.
 
Heck yeah make the cuts! Just make sure you take your time and make it look good. Can't wait to see the final product.
 
I was wondering the same thing.. I just got my pc-65b and was dissapointed to see that metal in the way of routing the PSU wires to the back of the motherboard tray.. What a dumb decision on lian li's part, but i love the case overall :) Anyway, anyone who used a hole saw, what size did you use? I want it just big enough to pass all the wires of my psu though and maybe a few other small wires....

Also, what size are the lian li case fans?
 
HotL3@D said:
Also, what size are the lian li case fans?

standard 80mm size.

by the way, we did cut a small rectangled hole. apparently he's routed it well.
 
HRslammR said:
standard 80mm size.

by the way, we did cut a small rectangled hole. apparently he's routed it well.

I think i'm gonna go out and buy a hole saw just for ease of use :) My last dremel cutting experience, well... Wasnt that good.
 
We used a dremel and cut out a rectangle, then stole some of the clear protective stuff off the lian and put it around it. It worked great and it seemed easy to cut. Took a bit of time, but it was a good job. And i gotta thank Blake my friend for cutting it, he did a great job for his first time cutting a case :) we also put in 3 holes in the front "floppy things" for rocker switches, we used a drill press and it went great!
 
I REALLY wish I had a digicam right now, cus you guys would really appreciate what I've done with the wiring in my PC60.....and you've GOTTA see the custom window/fan mount, you'd all love it. I didn't find it necessary to cut any holes to route wires to the back.....yes it was kind of irritating at first, but once you actually know how to work with/around things in the case, it was one bad ass box to wire up.
 
Get Digicam... Post Pics... Please

Anyway, how do you guys clean out the case afterwards, any advice as I am going to cut out (maybe not completely) the rear fan grill on my PC-7B, and probably cut into the Mobo tray (not removable). So what are you suggestions for cleaning out the insuing mess.

Thanks,
9311
 
good strong vacuum cleaner? Preferably a bagless one so you don't have to worry about perferations.
 
Those mods look awesome. I bought a Purple Lian-Li PC60 for my wife last year and she was kinda bummed that it didn't have a window on it. I've thought about cutting the door and putting in a window, but I don't want to butcher the thing. Besides, its a purple case that I got at FrozenCPU and now I can't find that color anywhere.. Anyone have any recommendations for an easy window kit I could buy for it? It would really really suck if I messed up cause it's going to be impossible to get another door..
 
MasterShredder said:
Those mods look awesome. I bought a Purple Lian-Li PC60 for my wife last year and she was kinda bummed that it didn't have a window on it. I've thought about cutting the door and putting in a window, but I don't want to butcher the thing. Besides, its a purple case that I got at FrozenCPU and now I can't find that color anywhere.. Anyone have any recommendations for an easy window kit I could buy for it? It would really really suck if I messed up cause it's going to be impossible to get another door..

If you're afraid of damaging things you could always take the panel somewhere to get cut and let THEM do it. Any small glass or metal shops should be willing to do it for you, and you'll have the comfort in knowing that it'll actually look nice. This is what I did with my side panel on my PC61B, and I'm glad I did.....look around and call some different places.....shouldn't be too expensive at all.
 
yeah i agree. While i dont mind cutting into my case where people cant see, unless im using a hole saw, or somethign of the sort, i would be scared to cut a window into a case as nice as a lian. but id put the window on yourself, although i bet someone could mount a window if your real lazy ;)
 
UT-Jackal said:
yeah i agree. While i dont mind cutting into my case where people cant see, unless im using a hole saw, or somethign of the sort, i would be scared to cut a window into a case as nice as a lian. but id put the window on yourself, although i bet someone could mount a window if your real lazy ;)

That is true, but it depends HOW you're doing it. My window was custom cut and then instead of using ANY kind of fastening screws or rivets I had it essentially glued onto the inside of the side panel. The tough part was that very few adheasives will hold Lexan to the Brushed Aluminum on the case.....and we went through quite a few different things before we found somethign that worked. That was something that I woudl NOT have wanted to do on my own, and I'm glad that it was my friends dad doing the work.....it turned out really great.

for all you people with black LiLi's.....I strongly urge you to get the case window cut professionally unless you're REALLY good at it.....because its worth it. The base metal on the case is actually a very nice silver, and when the window cuts are done clean enough it really looks nice next to the black brushed side panels.....considering the interior of teh case is all silver, it really does blend togethor. If you're very confident in your cutting/sanding skills then try it out, but again.....it pays to get a couple things like this done professionally when you're dealing with cases this nice.

Gah, you guys REALLY need to see my side panel....maybe I can get my friend with his shitty 1.2MP camera to come over.....heck, anything is better then nothing.
 
Do you guys really find the cutting that difficult? I recently cut my first window in an old case. It's all done with a dremel, reinforced cutting wheels. I admit it's not perfect, but I think considering that I did it ALL with a Dremel, and it was my first time EVER using a dremel, I did pretty good job. Plus when I put a little bit of edge molding on there, it'll probably look perfectly straight. Well here's a pic so you can see the work:

computer03.jpg



I now notice the bottom right corner is not fully rounded. But that will take maybe a minute to fix. There is a suface scratch on the bottom, but other than that the job turned out great. I'm painting the case too so any minor damage is no biggie.
 
DudeItsMe, looks good, and that corner is no biggie.....the molding will fix it right up. Personally I'm not a fan on most molding, but it often does complete a "look" someone is going for so all the power too ya. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that cuts like that are hard.....I'm just saying that some people may be more comfortable having the "dirty work" done professionally. I'm not using molding on my panel and I'm glad I had it done in a shop.....cus the look i wanted I wouldnt have been able to produce.

Again, good job on the panel for a first timer.
 
Yeah, I understand getting it done professionally and all. I guess I'm the type that gets a kick out of doing it myself. I probably spent five hours cutting that (took a few big breaks) and I didn't really care that it was taking a while because I was having fun.

I might go professionally if I had the money, but it's cheaper to do it myself. I just wanted anyone scared to do it to know that it is NOT that hard to do, if you follow the right guides and such. Had I not read guides, that would have been one ugly cut.
 
DudeItsMe said:
I might go professionally if I had the money, but it's cheaper to do it myself.

Honestly, where I got it done was my buddy's dad's glass shop....turned out VERY nice. Normally he would have chaged me less then teh cost of a handfull of discs for your dremel but it was free (along with the sheet of Lexan) cus he owed me. ;) I just wanted you and everyone else knew that I wasn't talking about autobody shops or bigger places like that, cus a lot of those places ARE way too expensive. If you're interested in having work done its a very good idea to search the yellow pages for any kind of shop/store that would have to do any kind of cuttin, metal or otherwise.....cus you never know what you'll find.

Kudos at the same time to all those who get it done themselves. I know exactly how that sense of satisfaction feels after spending 3 days ripping apart my buddies car with him to install his subs and then putting everything back togethor.....rock on. :cool:
 
I know that I can't match the jobs that those shops do, but I can come close enough to make me happy. If you got it done for free, then awesome. I would probably still do the job myself, just for the satisfaction. Plus I like to see what I can do to a hunk of beige metal with a dremel and some paint.

And another plus: When I started this project, my whole family was saying, "You don't know what you're doing," or "This won't turn out the way you think it will," or "This is going to end up really ugly." They got a lot quiter after I finished cutting the hole for that window and I think they'll shut up when I shoot my last coat of clear over my mirror finish paintjob. So basically, I'm modding to prove to my parents that I DO know what I'm doing :p
 
DudeItsMe said:
I know that I can't match the jobs that those shops do, but I can come close enough to make me happy. If you got it done for free, then awesome. I would probably still do the job myself, just for the satisfaction. Plus I like to see what I can do to a hunk of beige metal with a dremel and some paint.

And another plus: When I started this project, my whole family was saying, "You don't know what you're doing," or "This won't turn out the way you think it will," or "This is going to end up really ugly." They got a lot quiter after I finished cutting the hole for that window and I think they'll shut up when I shoot my last coat of clear over my mirror finish paintjob. So basically, I'm modding to prove to my parents that I DO know what I'm doing :p

I completely agree with you on both points dude, that stuff's important.....but i wanted the nice look. I'd do the cuts myself on another "normal" case.....but not my LiLi. ;)
 
i'm afraid to cut my lian just because i don't know yet if i want a big fan grill in the middle of smooth black.
 
HRslammR said:
i'm afraid to cut my lian just because i don't know yet if i want a big fan grill in the middle of smooth black.

I did a little bit of both....I've got my 120mm aluminum fan on side panel, but i had it epoxied on the inside of the panel. It is more of a permanent thing, but it looks VERY nice. Maybe something to think about for ya. ;)
 
Cut the Lian Li this weekend and didnt feel the least bit bad about doing it.. Put a 2 1/8" hole for wire routing and that helped out immensely! I used a hole saw and was done in about 5 minutes. :)
Now, I think i may put a hole in the side of the case for a fan directly over the cpu right there in the window.
 
heh, just thought I should post up a few pics of my case....seeing as I got my horrible webcam back. :p

Here's an exterior angle shot so you can get a good look at the clean finish on the window cut and my overly expensive Hardcano12:

case.jpg


Here's a shot of the inside of the side panel....so you can see how I've got the window and fan kind of "glued" onto the panel. I think it was actually a kind of urathane that we found that worked:

PICT0001.JPG


And, a single interior shot showing a bit more of the wiring....even though I've still got a few things to fix up:

PICT0002.JPG


EDIT: That sticker has since been taken off the side panel...so try and ignore it if you can. ;)

EDIT: I'll be sure to get pics up when I finally get around to the other half dozen smaller mods I've got planned for this baby...it's gonna be fricken pimp'd. :cool:
 
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