Well this was my first attempt at putting a window into a case and I would like to say that it was VERY successful!

 

The rubber I used was kindly donated by Nik B from the Bit-Tech forums. It has a flat bottom and a curved top with a width of 10mm. The connecting section is about 1mm wide. The rubber in the right I used for the Blowhole Trim.

As you can see from the pictures below, I had already put blowholes in the side and top of the case. Therefore, the next step was to add a window!

I thought that I would go for a round window and thought it would look cool if it cut through the side blowhole.

Well I started by cutting a 25mm diameter circle out of a 3mm thick piece of acrylic that I bought from B&Q. I then used loads and loads of masking tape over the panel surface. Next I used a medium permanent OHP pen and drew around the acrylic circle to make my cut line.

I then clamped the panel to my work bench, with a bit of hard board underneath, attached a grinding wheel to the flexible connector of my trusty Dremel-a-like.

Going very slowly, and using the outer edge of the line a a guide, I made a start cut the whole way around.

I then put the grinding wheel straight into the grinder to maximize the sparkage (and increase the cutting). It took about 40 minutes to finished the cutting.

I had to check to make sure the window fitted 8 )

One last alteration that I had to do before moving on was to flatten the back of the breather holes (in the canter of the picture). I did this by cutting and bashing the metal flat.

Next came the point of no return. Nik had given me some instructions and suggest cutting the rubber a little short and gluing the ends together. This would ensure a tight fit around the window. However, as you an see, my window has a whole in its edge. Therefore I used super glue in the grove at various point around the window stretching the rubber slightly. I used the super glue that is more gel like and you squeeze the sides for it to pump out. Worked grate 8 ).

Next I lay the window on the floor and then placed the panel face down on top, using the fan grill to line the blowhole up. Nik' instructions said to use a spoon to lever the rubber in but I was having problems with this.

The method I used was to twist the window in using the blowhole as a start point. I had to use a little washing-up liquid but it only took me about 10 minutes this way 8 ).

Next I fitted the blowhole rubber, mounted the fan/filter and voilà!

		Those wires are a bit messy!

Some people thought that the rubber would be a bit flimsy in the original post A Solution to the Window Rubber Lockstrip Blues but I have found that my window is in rock solid

Next project

Light up Thy Case