To match the rest of the inside of the case I decided I wanted to cover part of the front fans and the area around it with a custom fan shroud / fan grill. It’s a sin to cover the beautiful be quiet! Silent Wings 3 fans them self, so knew it had to be semi transparent and only from the inside.
After playing with some ideas on paper I knew what I wanted to create. A similar solution as the inside case wall I previously created in carbon fiber with a depth and layer in white carbon for a combined fan shroud / fan grill.
Got my new Dremel 4000 ready to help me do this mod. Would be first mod on this case that isn’t 100% done by hand in that case 🙂
First I had to put the custom case parts back together
This is the where I will be creating my inside front fan shroud. My thought was to go from the custom floor all the way to the top and into the side to my previous custom inside wall.
First, as I always do, I created a prototype in cardboard to check my idea, design flaws and find room for improvements. Felt like this idea would be awesome.
Took out my acrylic 5mm and went to work. I have ordred a Dremel Moto-Saw, but it’s delayed, so cut a demo piece up by hand saw. Just as previous mods 😀
I bought a new 130 mm drill saw and it was just perfect. The beautiful 140mm Silent Wing 3 fans measure 135mm from inside to inside on the back. Left a few overlapping mm to my advantage. After a final test it was time to do the real deal.
Cut a 150mm wide and 360mm long piece and measured and market center line and where to drill the holes.
The size of that 130mm drill saw is just huge, but with some slow drilling the acrylic hardly melted and it was easy to cut my holes without any incidents.
Not bad, not bad at all. Perfectly centered and in the right place.
When I bought the drill saw I also picked up some diamond shaped aluminum mesh. It will look awesome together with my carbon fiber. Took measurements and cut a large rectangle in 145x355mm.
After cutting a 22mm wide and 360mm long acrylic side I “glued” them together with some awesome Acrifix 116. Invisible and strong bonding – yes please.
I just had to use my new tool, so sanded down any residue from my bonding (it flows very richly) and to ensure a smooth edge. When wrapping in carbon, I always sand down the corner edge into a soft round edge. This to ensure a nice smooth transition in the carbon vinyl and take away any risk of cutting the vinyl when it’s heated and fragile.
I was very happy with the outcome. First time I used Acrifix 116, but will never use anything else for my acrylic bonding. So much stronger and better then superglue that I previously used.
A quick test fit with the mesh loose behind the fan shroud frame. Getting more and more excited the longer I work on this mod.
As the backside of the shroud will be slightly visible from the front, when the fans isn’t spinning, I painted the whole backside  black and painted the mesh black on both sides. One step closer to finish.
Wrapped the front on carbon fiber vinyl from 3M di-noc. Starting to get the hang of this now. Looks stunning if I can say so my self. Will make the amazing be quiet! Silent Wings 3 look even more beautiful and match their carbon looking wings.
I glued on the mesh with superglue and put pressure on it while setting. Finished of with some random dots of super glue in between the mesh.
VERY happy with the outcome. Even better then I imagine when I first thought of this mod. One last thing to fix. The inside white carbon edge to complete the combined fan shroud / fan grill. Just as on my inside carbon fiber wall. To create depth and contrast.
First I cut and glued (Acrifix 116) the parts together.
Then I wrapped it in white carbon fiber from 3M di-noc. Hard to get such a small piece (12mm height) perfect without any edges and complete coverage on all edges. Think I did alright.
The finished result.
