Making screw holes?

glassvial · Post by **glassvial** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 11:36 pm

Anyone know what the best way to make a couple of screw holes is? Just use a drill with a certain size drill bit? If so, what size drill bit for a standard case fan screw? If not a drill, what's the best way?

glassvial · Post by **glassvial** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 7:54 am

3/16 is what I was figuring too. Not bad for an amateur

And I intend to remove everything from the case (even the PSU). Now the big question is what's the best way to brace this thing, on some soft carpet or on some hard 2x4 wood? It's a desktop-style case and the holes I need to drill are on the back (so this is going to be a little tricky)

fmah · Post by **fmah** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 8:53 am

The best thing is to have some resistance against the back of the surface you are drilling. So using wood is good since you can drill into wood without problems. Perhaps you can use bricks or something to raise the wood and push it against the surface.

The best way to make precise holes is to use a precision center punch to mark an indention into the surface first. Similar to the middle picture in the link below, which shows a bunch of different sizes (black cylinder with pointed tip)

http://www.flexbar.com/PDF/330.pdf

Use a hammer to hit the backside and make the indention into the material. This allows you to start the drilling and minimize the drill from moving.

I also like to use center drills to start a pilot hole

http://www.sherline.com/images/3021pic.jpg

glassvial · Post by **glassvial** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 9:11 am

Thanks for the info. Never seen anything like those flexbar's or that type of drill bit. Would something like that be available at say, home depot? Also, should I go out and pick up a metal-specific 3/16 drill bit or will a new general purpose (plastic/wood/metal) drill bit be ok?

fmah · Post by **fmah** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 9:24 am

I think that center punches and center drills could be found at home depot. I haven't looked for them there though.

I don't think you need any specific type of drill, unless you are really doing a lot of drilling. Typical types are HSS (high speed steel) and carbide. General purpose are porbably HSS. The carbide are stronger than the HSS but more expensive. For doing steel, don't go to fast with the RPM and use some lubricant.

Another thing is to use shorter drills, instead of longer ones, since the drill might flex as you push it into the part. The longer ones will flex more and could break.

glassvial · Post by **glassvial** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 10:00 am

Ok I'll swing by HD and check it out.

I'm only going to be making 4 screw holes (for now) possibly more if I decide to replace this front plastic mount with holes instead, so I can mount gasket material to help with vibration.

Shorter drills, you mean short drill bits? All the bits around here are a fairly standard length (the ones I could find, anyway) but when I go back to HD I can look around for shorter drill bits.

Also, lubricant, do I just put a few drops of oil on the bit itself when I'm ready to drill? Or do I put some on a cloth and wipe the bit down?

fmah · Post by **fmah** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 10:08 am

Yeah, short drill bits, although if you're not doing that many holes it probably doesn't matter.

If you use WD-40, then the cleanest way is to wipe it on the bit and the area to be drilled. If you have a liquid dropper then you can just put it on the hole area you are drilling.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 11:16 am

You're going to need to deburr the holes when you're finished drilling them. You can do that with a small rattail file, a countersink, a larger size drill bit, a Dremel grinder with a stone on it, or a deburriring tool.

For the oil, just putting a drop or two on the center-punched hole is fine.

Don't forget to cleanup all the chips and oil residue when you're finished

glassvial · Post by **glassvial** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 5:27 pm

Ok, one broken drill bit and 2 broken dremel bits later (dremel=junk!) I now have 2 screw holes in the back that'll work just fine for mounting those fans. Below is a view of the stock back of the case. Link may not work because geocities is retarded, just hit enter it should come up. The rear grills seem a bit restrictive, don't they? I'm thinking about snipping those out, is there a way to do so with keeping them round? Just get some Wiss tin snips, do those work well for round applications? Then I'd plan on getting some finger guard style fan grills, much less restrictive.

http://www.geocities.com/glassvial/caseback.jpg

tay · Post by **tay** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 10:54 pm

GET
RID
OF
GRILLS
NOW

Those are terribly restrictive, and I cant see a reason you would need to keep them around. It shouldnt change the structural integrity of your case. I dont think the increased EMI is a problem for 99.99% of the people either.

glassvial · Post by **glassvial** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 11:04 pm

Hehe I figured that would be the sort of response I'd get. Yeah those things really suck on the back, I'll take em out tmrw with my Wiss tin snips and hopefully I won't break yet another damn Dremel bit when I fine tune the grinding. I still don't see any easy way to mod the front grill though, due to the way the fan mounts in a plastic housing in the front. Here's a pic, notice how the holes for the plastic housing are pretty much where one would need to drill holes to hold the fan in place, I don't see an easy way around this.

http://www.geocities.com/glassvial/front.jpg

Gooserider · Post by **Gooserider** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 8:05 am

An item that I find much easier for putting holes in sheet metal, non brittle plastics, rubber, leather, and other such material is a 'Power Punch' tool. You can get them from places like Harbor Freight and other good tool places. It is sort of like a paper punch on steroids. You have a big frame with an operating lever and a bunch of interchangeable punch and die sets in different diameters from around 1/16" to about 3/8". The punch has the limitation that the hole must be within the reach of it's jaws (about 2" max from the edge) and there can't be much of a lip or bend that would keep the material from going in between the jaws. Thickness is also limited (how much depends on the material, but a heavy steel PC case is OK though close to the limit) but that shouldn't be a problem.

However I think it is much better in cases where you can use it. The holes you get are exactly the right size, clean, round, and will need little or no deburring. Better yet, all the metal removed is in one peice, which often stays in the die. I wouldn't use the punch on a running machine, but IMHO it would be perfectly safe to use on an assembled box as long as one took care of accounting for all the hole punchouts.

Cost for the tool is also quite reasonable, IIRC, well under $20 for the set. I find it is limited in application, but where it can be used it's my first choice.

Gooserider

AZBrandon · Post by **AZBrandon** » Mon Apr 12, 2004 8:32 pm

Gooserider wrote:An item that I find much easier for putting holes in sheet metal, non brittle plastics, rubber, leather, and other such material is a 'Power Punch' tool. You can get them from places like Harbor Freight and other good tool places. It is sort of like a paper punch on steroids. You have a big frame with an operating lever and a bunch of interchangeable punch and die sets in different diameters from around 1/16" to about 3/8". The punch has the limitation that the hole must be within the reach of it's jaws (about 2" max from the edge)

Ok, so I found this thread while doing searches to try to find a way to create holes in my case without the total mess that drill bits seem to leave behind where I drilled. I need the holes about 4-6 inches in from the edge though, so this particular device will not work for me. Dremeling down the back takes forever; does anyone have any better ideas for punching a number of holes in a case cleanly?

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 5:58 am

Well you can use an automatic center punch. They look like a regular center punch (little pointed tool)....but they have an internal spring mechanism. You just push hard on the tool by hand. It then "snaps", and easily punches a small hole in an aluminum panel. With a steel case you may have to do this several times. Put a piece of wood behind the hole you're punching so the whole panel won't dent in.

Available at hardware stores or auto supply stores...cheap.

The good part about this tool.....doesn't make chips or filings. Make a few practice punches before the real thing, to check the size of the hole. You can then enlarge the hole with an ice pick or something similar.