Tools of the trade

[Captain Crunch]

Helpful tools of the trade...

Safety:

• SAFETY GLASSES!!! I cannot stress this enough, please at least wear safety glasses or goggles when you are cutting/drilling/grinding because those little pieces of stuff fly all over the place and they don't care if they scratch your eye. It only takes one time of getting hit in the eye with something before you learn your lesson or worse, get seriously injured.
• Leather Gloves. A nice heavy-duty pair will make handling the metal you just cut a lot easier and will save your fingers from getting shredded on the edges while you are working. Even a pair of cloth gardening gloves are better than nothing when handling freshly cut metal.
• Ear muffs or ear plugs. Those dremel tools and jig saws are loud when cutting through the thick steel of a case side panel, so wear some ear protection so you don't have ringing in your head for the rest of your life.
  

Cutting:

• A Dremel or other rotary tool. These are invaluable for both cutting and grinding.
• A set of files (or grinding wheels for the Dremel). Used to take the burrs off of the metal you've just cut apart. No sense in slashing your fingers open and bleeding all over your work, right? I like to keep an assortment of small and large sized half-round and round metal bastard files; these work well on both metal as well as plastic.
• A variable-speed drill. Used to drill (and cut) holes in cases. A drill press will give the best results as the holes will be perfectly straight and there is no change for wobble. Otherwise, if you have to go with a hand-held drill, choose the coorded drill over the coordless, they are much more consistant and reliable.
• A 3" hole saw. Either buy separately or in a kit. Works wonders for cutting blowholes for 80mm fans.
• A set of drill bits that are rated for drilling through metal. You'll need at least a 3/16" bit to drill holes for case screws. The smaller ones can be used to punch holes for wires through the metal as needed.
• A jigsaw and metal-cutting blades. Excellent for long, straight cuts and/or gentle curves.
• A typical hack saw is very useful for making short cuts through metal.
• A coping saw can work very well for cutting intricate designs out of plastic materials.
• A Nibbler. The hand-held models are good for taking small areas out of thinner metal, but don't try to use it for any extended length of time without the aforementioned pair of leather gloves.
• A simple pair of scissors, you never know when you will have to cut/strip a wire. Also useful for cutting heatsrink, cable sleeving, zip-tie tails, electrical tape, etc.
• Some kind of exacto knife or razor blade for those precise cuts.
• Taps can be useful for making your own threaded screw holes in either metal or plastic. 6/32 is the standard thread size for most computer case screws as well as the thread size for the mounting screw holes in hard drives. Optical drives as well as some cases (Lian Li) use a 3mm (M3) screw thread.
  
  
  

Painting:

• A variety of wet and dry sandpaper, in several grits: 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1500 and 2000
• Dust respirator mask, don't want to be breathing in those harmful paint spray and chemicals.
• A spray can handle so as not not wear out your finder (it will get sore). I've actually gotten a blister before.
• Different spray can tips for different spray widths and effects.
• Masking tape so you can mask off only those specific areas you wish to paint.
  

Measuring:

• Metal ruler with english and metric units. The plastic ones always break and get worn down. You could also go with an engineer's scale if you know how to use one of those. If nothing else
• Sharpie markers, pencils, ink pens (or something else that will mark on your case surface). Used to mark out where the cuts/holes will be.
• Masking tape is also useful. Mask off your entire work area and make your measurements and markings on the masking tape. This layer of masking tape will also help protect the piece you are working on from scratches.
• A Template. A CD blank (or one that your burner screwed up) is a great template for a 120mm hole. You can also use a copy machine to make photo copies of your parts cut them out and tape them onto your work surface for exact hole placement and cutting edges.
• Some kind of advanced image editing or CAD software can be very useful for making models and perfectly sized models or templates to print out.
  

Fastening:

• Obviously, get yourself a small regular and phillips screw driver. Most screws you encounter in a computer will be phillips, but a small regular screw driver is still useful (for prying, poking, and prodding) even if you never see a single regular screw head.
• Hot Glue Gun; when you need it you will be glad you had one! Great for holding things in place (particularly LED's and other bare wire connections) and cost very little around $5.00
  

Other useful Tools / Instruments:

• A Multimeter. A must-have tool for anyone who does a lot of circuit-creation or for checking the rails on your power supply.
• A pencil type soldering tool and small diameter rosin core solder. Good for LEDs, wiring, and the afore mentioned circuit creation.
• Heat guns are very useful for securing heatshrink tubing and bending plastic (like acrylic and plexiglass).
• Air compressor or can of compressed air. Works great for cleaning out your case and heatsinks, as well as clearing your workbench of debris.
• Molex pin removal tools make it much easier to remove the molex connectors on fans and power supplies so you can sleeve the wires.
• A digital camera is always a nice accessory to have so you can document your work and share your project with others.
  
  
  

These are just some basic tools that you should try to accumulate before diving in to the hobby of modding. Remember, when modding anything goes, so the best tool you can use is your mind! Please add to this list if you can think of any other necessary tools for the job.

[Tyreal]

Nice list. It looks like you pretty much covered it all!

15. A pencil type soldering tool and small diameter rosin core solder .. good for LEDs, wiring, and the afore mentioned circuit creation

Rosin? or Resin?

[OCNoob]

Nice list. I noticed there wasn't any mention for painting, however, as a gas mask would come in handy for such projects.

[Tyreal]

Ahh yes. If you wanted to talk about painting, A gas mask would be useful as well as possibly one of those handle things that you attach to the aerosol can.

[Captain Crunch]

Added guys and good suggestions.

[Tyreal]

I'd like to add to the handle part. Having a handle gives you MUCH more control over the paint.

[polobunny]

It's rosin, not resin.
Nice list, I think goggles should be the first one. It's incredible how often I forget those and get something in the eye. =/

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by polobunny

It's rosin, not resin.
Nice list, I think googles should be the first one. It's incredible how often I forget those and get something in the eye. =/

Indeed. Protective eyeware, ear muffs, and leather gloves are invaluable and highly recommended for any kind of cutting job! (unless of course you don't mind loosing body parts and/or senses)

Maybe you could add in some links to those products and/or pictures? Maybe organize them into sections for easier browsing purposes (cutting, painting, etc.)

You could also add in a Coping saw (which works great for cutting intricate designs in softer materials like plastic (acrylic) and wood). Also add a heat gun, which can be very useful for making bends in plastic to fabricate your own parts and/or for use on heatshrink tubing.

Maybe also suggest a drill press over a hand held drill, although they are much more expensive and harder to find/use, you will get much better results. But hand held drills work too.

Maybe suggest some of the different and most used bits and attachments for the dremel (fiberglass reinforced cutting wheels, sanding drums, router attachment, etching bit, etc.)

[Tyreal]

Oh my god. You need a heatgun on there. Its such a pita to have to shrink heatshrink using a lighter.

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by Tyreal

Oh my god. You need a heatgun on there. Its such a pita to have to shrink heatshrink using a lighter.

What you mean there's another way? :P
Yeah lol a lighter works fine for small fixing jobs but when you have alot of wiring to do and you want to make a quality job a heatgun is the way to go.