My First Mod - CD Drive

This is my first ever proper mod, and i decide to put a window in my dvd drive. Any suggestions anyone has would be most welcome.

Here of some pictures of my case (A-Top xblade) before I begin

And here with UV (please forgive the blurry photos, my hands aren't steady enough).

Here is the drive opened.

Here is the dvd drive with my cuts planned, I need to leave the center circle intact. The circle will be held by the metal outlined with black.

I rethought my cuts and switched to 3 supports to take advantage of the dips in the metal which may be harder to cut.

I would like to mount the drive vertically, and cut a new slot in the top of my case. the drive fits in, but covers all other 5.25 inch bays, which is ok because i have nothing else to put in them. With the door closed, part of the disk will be seen, and with it open the whole disk will be seen.

This shows where the "front" of the drive will be

Next I need to cut, file, paint, install clear window (I don't know what material yet) and cut the hole in the top of my case. I'm wondering if there's a way to cut that hole while still leaving my computer assembled (maybe use duct tape as a shield to catch all particles from dremel)? If not, I may mount this normally again until I upgrade my pc and really change my case.

Any thoughts so far?

Lookin good. Welcome to TBCS. As far as the window, I've seen people use old CD jewel cases for it. I would take the case completely apart for cutting. You don't want to take any chances of stray pieces landing on something and shorting it out the next time you turn it on. +rep

yes i would have to agree with sgtm tak it all out, then cut. or else i would completely cover everything with a plastic bag with 2 layers and have a vacuum as i cut the case.

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Originally Posted by Spawn-Inc

yes i would have to agree with sgtm tak it all out, then cut. or else i would completely cover everything with a plastic bag with 2 layers and have a vacuum as i cut the case.

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The plastic bag sounds like a bad idea too. Combined with the vacuum cleaner you are guaranteed to produce static which is just as likely to kill your components.

The safest and really the only way is to strip down the machine. Take it from someone who has cut up a couple of cases now, that metal filing **** goes everywhere. Don't risk it.

Ok then, I'll wait to cut my case until I upgrade about one month from now. Tonight I'll finish cutting the drive.

I read somewhere that using DVD/CD drives vertically was a bad idea unless they were designed for that...not sure how much truth there is to that though....good luck with the mod though, this is something I've been wanting to try for awhile.

Hmmm... i need to research that vertical drive issue before i do it then

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Originally Posted by ishamael56

Hmmm... i need to research that vertical drive issue before i do it then

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It would work, just DO NOT accidentally tip it or bump it while a CD is in. It will get caught in the CD-Drive's drive assembly.

Thank you for that info, I'm glad vertical will work. here is an update with my rough cuts done. I will finish cutting when my dremel is charged (6+ hours). I experienced an odd problem right after I took this picture, in that cds would read fine, but dvds wouldn't read at all. My oblivion DVD even made bad grinding sounds when I put it in. However, after blowing off the laser lens with canned air, it worked again. Must have been some dust or something on the lens i would guess. I thought my drive was shot though for a few minutes though.

Well, here it is. I was amazed that my camera was able to capture the cd without any blur when it was spinning so fast.

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Originally Posted by ishamael56

Thank you for that info, I'm glad vertical will work. here is an update with my rough cuts done. I will finish cutting when my dremel is charged (6+ hours). I experienced an odd problem right after I took this picture, in that cds would read fine, but dvds wouldn't read at all. My oblivion DVD even made bad grinding sounds when I put it in. However, after blowing off the laser lens with canned air, it worked again. Must have been some dust or something on the lens i would guess. I thought my drive was shot though for a few minutes though.

Well, here it is. I was amazed that my camera was able to capture the cd without any blur when it was spinning so fast.

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Just sand it down and make it look pretty :p Add some plexiglass to prevent dust and debris from getting inside. Maybe paint it a little too.


Also, cameras can take pictures quick. I know my camera can hit higher than 2000 ISO speed (yours will get up there too :)).