File Saw
If you need to put a hole through a plastic part of your PC??™s case, one possible tool is a
file saw (see Figure 11-2). This is an inexpensive tool with a drill-like tip and serrated
shaft that you can use to cut holes. The results are rough, but you can tidy them up
afterward with other tools as needed.
Figure 11-1
A rotary tool can
perform a wide variety
of case-modification
tasks with the right
attachments.
Figure 11-2
You can use a file saw
to cut holes in a plastic
case.
caution
caution
Project 11: Modify Your PC??™s Case 119
Tapered Reamer
If you need to put things through your PC??™s case in ways the case??™s maker didn??™t
intend, you probably need to create some holes and enlarge others. Where there??™s
an existing hole, you can drill with a larger bit to make it bigger, but what??™s usually
easier and neater is to use a tapered reamer, a spike that tapers from a narrow point
to a thicker haft, and which has cutting blades along the taper. You push the reamer
through an existing hole, and then turn it while pushing it in to enlarge the hole to
exactly the right size. Figure 11-3 shows a tapered reamer.
Most reamers are designed to work in one direction only??”for example, clockwise. Even though
this may appear to be a tool where you don??™t need to read the two lines of instructions on the
packaging, do just that.
Metal Cutters
Metal cutters, also called tin snips, tend to look like a particularly macho pair of kitchen
shears (see Figure 11-4).
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