Modders Toolkit: Everything You Need to Make Kick-Ass Custom Case Mods

Posted 06/27/2012 at 2:13pm | by Brad Chacos

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Before You Mod: Planning Out Your Build

Most modders recommend formally planning out your build in some way, especially if it requires a lot of precision work. Even a simple drawing on the back of a napkin provides a solid guideline to a basic build. Our Modderati experts go for more intricate planning, however.

"A computer program like Adobe Illustrator or SketchUp is great for R&D to get your ideas on a visual scope before to hit the workbench," Ron says.

Sander takes a different approach. "I like to build my computers like the Russians built their spacecraft: Trial and error. Try something: if it works, continue, and if it doesn't, go back to the drawing board and start again. That's why I always build a mockup of the object first from MDF or EPS foam to visualize the work I need to do and get paper design impossibilities out of the way."

Finally, if you're going to be building anything from scratch -- be it a case window or snakes slithering out of a hard drive bay -- decide which materials you'll want to use for the job, as some materials require special tooling. Sander the scratch modder started out using MDF on his wholly custom builds, but has since converted to aluminum, while Ron prefers using ABS styrene plastic for his home-made accents to premade cases.

"It's rigid, durable and it'll stand up to much abuse," he explains. "You can sand, drill, shape and mold it to most any shape, and all ranges of paint -- from water based to urethanes -- will adhere to the surface."

Acrylic or Plexiglas is another very popular modding material. It's a bit finicky, though; if your saw blade is too coarse or moving too fast, Plexi cracks and melts like nobody's business. Check out this insanely in-depth article about working with acrylics if there's a new window in your case mod's future.

Basic Tools Do Most Of The Work

"I don't want to discourage up-and-coming modders into thinking that they need a shop full of high end tools and machines to mod," Ron says. "Ninety percent of the Iron Man and Biohazard builds were made from a straight edge, an X-Acto blade and the Dremel multi-tool."

Rotary tools are widely considered the most-used tool of the modding trade; they're relatively inexpensive, with swappable accessories that are perfect for drilling, sanding, cutting, polishing and a whole, whole lot more. Most modders love their trusty Dremel -- in fact, "Dremel" is pretty much a verb when it comes to modding -- but it isn't the only rotary tool out there.

"Don't be predictable and list Dremel!" Bill Owen says. "Black & Decker's RTX Rotary Tool is equally as good as Dremel -- for less money -- and it accepts all Dremel brand attachments, including Dremel's #225-01 Flex Shaft Attachment." Don't bother buying a cordless rotary tool, either; Bill says they aren't worth the money.

Whether or not your power drill -- another must-have case modding tool, perfect for making small, clean holes in computer cases and other things -- needs a cord is up for debate. Some people prefer the consistent, hassle free oomph a cord provides, while others like the flexibility of a battery-powered cordless model. Sander van der Velden falls firmly in the former camp.

"(With cordless drills) I always run out of power when I need it and forget to unplug the charging battery, causing it to go lazy," he says. "So I use a wired power tool/screwdriver. Always enough power at your service." Either way, don't forget to buy bits!

Here are some other basic, fairly low-cost tools that belong in a modder's toolkit:

Squares, straight edges, measuring tape, markers and pencils - Squares and straight edges are a must-have for lining up straight cuts, while measuring tape and writing utensils to mark measurements off with help with that whole "cutting once" thing.

Basic varieties of all of the above will do, but Mnpctech offers an interesting little straight edge called the "PC Modder Ruler." It includes thickness gauges, template locations for both 2.5, 3.5 and 5.25-inch drives, and references and templates for common fan sizes, screw threads, vandal switches, and water cooling barbs and tubes. There's a tap and drill size chart as well as a list of common fraction/metric/inches conversions, too. The ruler's available in either aluminum or an eye-catching copper, though the copper version costs twice as much.

Bill sent us one to play around with and we have to say, this handy tool could save modders some time and measurement-related headaches. The amount of information on the 12-inch body is kind of amazing, actually. Plus, it's hefty enough to deter would-be robbers if you swing it at them.

Center punch - Punches a guiding dent into metal so that your drill bit doesn't jerk around crazily like your Grandma doing the chicken dance.

Hand files - Good for quickly deburring the edges of said cut when you don't want to bust out your rotary tool's sanding attachment, especially in small areas.

Hobby knives with miter box - For fine detail work, nothing beats the precision of small hobby knives. The miter boxes found in many hobby knife sets have carved channels for 45-degree and 90-degree cuts.

Glues, hot glue gun, epoxy - For, um, gluing two things into one thing. Hot glue should be good enough for most things, while Gorilla Glue ensures a more permanent bond. Epoxy is good for gluing plastic to metal. Acrylic glue actually fuses separate pieces of acrylic (like Plexiglas) into a single piece.

Table clamps and vises - These allow you to secure materials to your workbench, ensuring things won't go screwy at the last second when you're making a critical cut.

Pliers, screwdrivers, Allen wrenches, normal wrenches, tweezers, etc. - All the tools you'll need to fiddle around with cases, drive bays and the like. A set of precision screwdrivers is a worthwhile investment as many cases use smaller screws.

Wire strippers and cutters and a soldering iron - Plan on installing LED lights or any other electrical work? You'll almost definitely need these tools. Some Molex tools probably couldn't hurt, either.

Image credit via mignonette-game.com

Tin snips and a nibbler - Rotary tools are wondrous things, but their rapidly spinning heads cause metal to heat up and possibly warp if you're not careful. Tin snips and nibblers also make solid cuts, only without the thermal effects. Tin snips work as expected; nibblers (both manual and powered version are available) take small, circular bites out of metal and require a starting hole. Both leave cuts that often need to be filed down for smoothness.

Now on to bigger tools that make bigger cuts!