AlienALX
Well-known member
I wasn't sure where to put this as the forums do not have a tutorials area, so here will do. OK. Today we are going to make custom parts using basic tools. IE - tools that are available to every one and not just the rich, so there will be no lazer cutting or water jetting going on here...
Tools needed.
Basic drill. (£20?)
Hole cutter (around £6 on Ebay)
Sand paper (£2)
Tape measure (£1 or so)
Pen.. come on now !
Work bench. Mine was £17 inc from Amazon.
Heat gun. About £13 or so IIRC.
Rotary tool. I use a B&D Firestorm because I like the chuck lock, but Silverline do a goodun for about £20.
Materials needed
Just a sheet of A3 acrylic. I used 3mm here but 5 mil is available. About £6 inc.
OK. So today I am going to build a L shaped plate to hold a 120mm fan right at the back of my Titan Blacks. Right now I only have two, but soon I will have three in there. So first of all I measure up what I need the part to be in size and then plot it down onto the acrylic.

Cut out the hole.

Cut design.

Sand all edges on a flat surface pushing down.

Place in work bench, locking the bench along the marked bend line.

OK, now slowly heat the acrylic using the heat gun along the bend line. It takes about 3-5 mins for it to become flexible enough. Then bend it and when it's in place use a damp cloth along the bend line to re-set the acrylic.

Et voila.

And.

You can also do other designs using the same method. Here I wanted to build a GPU duct to hide an ugly Radeon 290.

And a fan aiming right at the GPU itself.

Tools needed.
Basic drill. (£20?)
Hole cutter (around £6 on Ebay)
Sand paper (£2)
Tape measure (£1 or so)
Pen.. come on now !
Work bench. Mine was £17 inc from Amazon.
Heat gun. About £13 or so IIRC.
Rotary tool. I use a B&D Firestorm because I like the chuck lock, but Silverline do a goodun for about £20.
Materials needed
Just a sheet of A3 acrylic. I used 3mm here but 5 mil is available. About £6 inc.
OK. So today I am going to build a L shaped plate to hold a 120mm fan right at the back of my Titan Blacks. Right now I only have two, but soon I will have three in there. So first of all I measure up what I need the part to be in size and then plot it down onto the acrylic.

Cut out the hole.

Cut design.

Sand all edges on a flat surface pushing down.

Place in work bench, locking the bench along the marked bend line.

OK, now slowly heat the acrylic using the heat gun along the bend line. It takes about 3-5 mins for it to become flexible enough. Then bend it and when it's in place use a damp cloth along the bend line to re-set the acrylic.

Et voila.

And.

You can also do other designs using the same method. Here I wanted to build a GPU duct to hide an ugly Radeon 290.

And a fan aiming right at the GPU itself.
