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I have 8 fans on my 400R and use a fan controller and adjusted for positive air pressure so all the little leaks go outward and my intake fans all have filters.
Jim
I have 8 fans on my 400R and use a fan controller and adjusted for positive air pressure so all the little leaks go outward and my intake fans all have filters.
Jim
Positive pressure is what I am shooting for. This case has a lot of leaks, some of them pretty big; the back panel alone is almost a sieve. The more of those leaks I seal up, the more likely I will be able to get positive pressure without having to run the case fans (there's only six of them; five 140mm and one 200mm) flat out. All the fans will be controlled by the MOBO.
I read a lot of reports that the front grill for the 200mm fan is the source of a lot of noise; most people wind up removing it so I did the same.
This is the fan grill. The tape in the middle is for marking the pivot point for the Dremel circle cutting adapter.
This shows the pivot point and starting hole layout. I was able to use existing holes in the grill.
This shows my attempt to corral the metal particles from the cutting bit. It worked (sorta).
Here is my new Dremel circle cutter attachment (the motor itself was my Daddy's). It worked reasonably well although I had to stop every 1 1/2" to reseat the bit because it was too short and I was too lazy to waddle down to the friendly neighborhood hardware store to get a longer one. I've had that attachment on my Amazon wish list for around a year but was loathe to buy it unless I actually needed it. It certainly beat cutting out the grill with cutoff wheels in the Dremel tool.
I cut the grill out in quarters so the grill would still be supported since I needed it to guide the Dremel tool. Once the entire perimeter was cut out except for four small webs, I started cutting the webs themselves. Once two were cut, I slipped a ruler under the grill to support it when I started on the next web. The final web came off easily enough.
The result was a perfect circle in spite of the raggity edge (something about some holes that get in the way). I'll have to get some rubber edge molding to cover the rough edge.
Thanks, Jim. I actually already have one of those adapters knocking about but, besides being bulky and a bit redneck looking, the stock pass through cables are just way too long (roughly twice as long as needed) and finding a place to tuck the extra length would be a bit of a chore. The swap I will be a bit more sanitary looking.
The DEMCIflex filters (actually, the filter material itself since I won't use the magnetic frames) will block a whole lot more than 15% airflow if I don't keep them clean. One reason I was attracted to this case is the ease of getting to the stock filters. The front filter pops off and on with just a gentle push on the top of it and the PSU filter is almost as easy (it just slides in and out although I will have to pull the case away from the wall to get to it). The filters for the side fans I'm going to add are a bit harder to pop off but I will clean them the same way I clean the one on the side of my present machine: just pull the whole side off and blow through the fan with a high power blower (and yes, I do keep the fan from spinning). Pulling the side panel off this new case is umpteen times easier than the old one. With more and more powerful fans I should be able to maintain positive pressure by running the intake fans faster than the exhaust fans and I'll be able to have more flexibility on how fast I can run the intakes vs. the exhaust fans and still keep them slow enough to keep noise down. Using the DEMCIflex filter material should dramatically reduce the number of times I will have to move and open up the case to give the innards a thorough cleaning; I'm getting to old for that nonsense!
sounds like a pretty nice setup you are putting together. Good luck in getting it together once you get all the parts for it etc. :)
Thanks. The worst part is prepping the case, including making up new cables, (if anyone ever makes a case that meets all my needs perfectly without modification, I will probably die of a heart attack). Once that's done, the hard part will be behind me since I'm going to move the innards of my current machine to the new case.
I was going to do a bit more work on it today but the wind is blowing something fierce and, even inside, my allergies are driving me insane(r).
We had a lot of wind today and my allergies were driving me nutz so I couldn't do any work outside today but, this afternoon, I did do some modding on the 200mm Cooler Master Megaflow fan that is replacing the stock front fan. The stock 200mm fan is only 20mm thick and is mounted behind the front panel between it and the two front HDD cages. There is room for a 25mm in there but not a 30mm fan. Unless one removes the front grill (which I have already done; more on that in a bit) and mount the fan on the front of the front panel with the body of the fan sticking through the hole where the grill used to be; this is a somewhat favorite mod with 650D owners.
Here is the fan before doing surgery on it.
I was going to use the saw in the picture to remove the back mounting ears because I didn't want to wreck a Dremel cutoff wheel but it was taking too long so I went ahead an used the cutoff wheel (and wrecked it with melted plastic even though I used a low speed and a light feed).
Here is the fan after cutting off the rear ears. Obviously, I still need to sleeve the cable and replace that hideous white connector body with a black one.
Even though this fan didn't have LEDs, it still had the little housings for them so those also had to be cut off. I couldn't see well enough to use the cutoff wheel so I resorted to the little saw to cut off the housings (there were four of them). All that's left of them is a small hole in the side of the fan body.
Now, about that aforementioned grill I removed. I goofed. I forgot to leave enough room for the body of the fan to go into. The fan just misses going into the hole by a silly little millimeter or two. I'll have to get a large diameter grinding or sanding drum to remove enough metal to allow the fan to slip in without touching the sides. Oh well.
Last edited by Lady Fitzgerald; 27 Apr 2014 at 03:03.
Great job modding your case LadyFitzgerald!:)
for protecting the 200mm fan touching the case after, this rubber edge molding are very tough and well made. It can be found in builders shops. Could get one more thin either!I cut the grill out in quarters so the grill would still be supported since I needed it to guide the Dremel tool. Once the entire perimeter was cut out except for four small webs, I started cutting the webs themselves. Once two were cut, I slipped a ruler under the grill to support it when I started on the next web. The final web came off easily enough.
The result was a perfect circle in spite of the raggity edge (something about some holes that get in the way). I'll have to get some rubber edge molding to cover the rough edge.