You may remember before how I mentioned that fibreglass was the invention of the devil and should burn in hell for all eternity. Well, it turns out I need to use it again.


I’m fitting a 2×120 radiator into the roof of the case (it’s a bit of a tight squeeze but I think it will be fine), which required cutting a large hole for the fans.


My case is emo.


The cutting wasn’t too much of an issue, however as you can see there was a grill already in the top of the case. Some of it will be covered up by a fan guard I am putting on top, but other parts stick out beyond that. So they need filled in. Joy.


Aargh. Arrrrgh. Hate. Aaaargh.


I am not good at this. What a mess. It will all just be sanded off again anyway.


Eventually, after a lot of sanding, the holes are filled in and flat, and the fan guard fits fine. Although it’s sitting on the wrong side of the panel here…

Alright, first thing to mention is that I’ve ordered some more acrylic, so I’ll have to start over with that. The stuff I had ordered turned out to be really pale, which I was just going to go with until I found that Hindleys had fluorescent blue acrylic. That’s what I’d had in mind for the project from the start, but had been unable to find, so I figured it was worth the sacrifice and extra effort in order to get this case looking the best I can.

Whilst I’m waiting on that arriving, I’ve been working on the front of the case.

First, using a hole saw (designed for wood/plastic but it still cut through the aluminium and I wont tell if you don’t) to cut a space for a fan duct. I couldn’t get a saw blade of the right diameter so this will have to be filed out to be a little bigger. Which is lucky I guess because despite all my measurement and careful placement the hole ended up being squint.

There goes my lovely Lian Li badge.

Next, time to fill in those holes – time to break out the glass fibre and resin. I’m also moving the power switch and LEDs so those holes will have to be filled in too.

Made a bit of a mess really, and now most of it needs sanded back off.

Which even with a sander was going to take a really. Long. Time.
I also cut through the hole again with the drill to keep things neat and make it easier to sand.

And finally, a few hours later, the whole thing is flat and smooth, although the back will still need tidied up.

Now the circle just needs widened, you can sort of see the line I’m filing it out to in this picture. The self-etching primer I ordered still hasn’t arrived so I’m not in a big hurry here.