Making a case window from scratch Mod Date: August 24, 2002 Reviewed by: Dwayne Sessom Sponsored by: Absolutely nobody These days, if your PC isn't tricked out and have a window in it, then it just isn't cool. OK it might still be cool, but it looks even better with a window in it right? There are more and more pre-fab windows kits on the market and cases with windows already in them, but if you want to make your own window, it can be done pretty inexpensively. I am going to start with a crappy old beige case that I have had lying around just begging to be modified. 0000 As you can see, this is your basic beige box. Not a damned thing fancy on it. Its as square and ugly as it can be. 0000 I first gave it a paint job, although normally you want to wait to do that last. But, I painted it before I decided to put a window in it. I was careful to remove the buttons so they could be painted a different color. I decided on black for the case and charcoal gray for the buttons. 0000 At first, I just wanted to stencil a big "X" on each side which looked OK but didn't really have that much appeal. I wanted something brighter and flashier, so that is when it is time to make a window. 0000 You need a few tools to get this mod done. My personal tool of choice is the Dremel Multipro. It gets just about everything done that you will need done. You will need a sheet of acrylic or plexiglass, and 12 by 18 inches is big enough for most case windows. You will also need 10-12 bolts with nuts to attach the acrylic to the sheet metal. 0000 0000 The plexiglass sheet costed $2.59, and the bolts and nuts were about $4.00USD from a local hardware store. I chose the black hex-head bolts because they will look nice with the black and gray paint job that is on the PC already, and they have an industrial look that I like. The first thing you need to do is to decide on the placement of the window. Once you know where you want it to go, just lay the plexiglass down on the side panel and mark it off. Next, draw the design you want on the backside on the panel. One major mistake I made at this point, is that your design is a mirror image of what you will see on the finished product since you are drawing on the opposite side of what will be showing. It is best to draw on the outside, so you don't run into that problem as I did. DOH!!! 000000

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