After the success of the VFD mount, I decided to sort out the Lian Li’s power buttons. It’s the only thing that detracts from the PC60 – those fugly plastic buttons.
But I needed aluminium.
So I put a window in! That gave me lots of scrap to use. I won’t go into the details of it, as there are plenty of articles on how to put a window in. The only thing to note is I used M4 x 6 torx bolts (Maplin Part #FR79) to hold the plexi in place to match those used on the VFD display.
So, from the window scrap I cut a piece of aluminium the same size as the horrid plastic bezel, ensuring that the ‘brush’ marks on it ran in the same direction as those on the front of the case. A matching piece of plexi was also cut.
I used two anti-vandal stainless steel momentary switches (Maplin Part #MG74R). They look good, and are a lot cheaper than the illuminated ones that Maplin also carries. The switches were to be mounted on the removable front cover of the Lian, so a bit of modding was required on both the case chassis and the cover itself.
The original momentary switches where popped out of the chassis – they were just push fitted into square holes. The section holding the switches was cut away so that the new switches wouldn’t touch the aluminium and short themselves out, and the original switches were cut off and an old male Molex was soldered onto the wires in their place. Note the message to self!
The front of the Lian Li already had a hole big enough for the on / off button, but it needed a hole cutting for the reset. This was just enlarged from the hole already there for the reset button with a round file.
The plexi and aluminium had holes drilled through them to correspond with the four holes the original plastic. Once this was done, the plexi and the aluminium were bolted together temporarily.
Once this was complete, the edges of the two plates were filed to match exactly. The switch holes were then cut with a ordinary 20mm woodworking spade bit – it worked just as well on soft aluminium as it did on the plexi. Be warned though – the aluminium will get EXTREMELY HOT! Let it cool down before you touch it!!!
But I needed aluminium.
So I put a window in! That gave me lots of scrap to use. I won’t go into the details of it, as there are plenty of articles on how to put a window in. The only thing to note is I used M4 x 6 torx bolts (Maplin Part #FR79) to hold the plexi in place to match those used on the VFD display.
So, from the window scrap I cut a piece of aluminium the same size as the horrid plastic bezel, ensuring that the ‘brush’ marks on it ran in the same direction as those on the front of the case. A matching piece of plexi was also cut.
I used two anti-vandal stainless steel momentary switches (Maplin Part #MG74R). They look good, and are a lot cheaper than the illuminated ones that Maplin also carries. The switches were to be mounted on the removable front cover of the Lian, so a bit of modding was required on both the case chassis and the cover itself.
The original momentary switches where popped out of the chassis – they were just push fitted into square holes. The section holding the switches was cut away so that the new switches wouldn’t touch the aluminium and short themselves out, and the original switches were cut off and an old male Molex was soldered onto the wires in their place. Note the message to self!
The front of the Lian Li already had a hole big enough for the on / off button, but it needed a hole cutting for the reset. This was just enlarged from the hole already there for the reset button with a round file.
The plexi and aluminium had holes drilled through them to correspond with the four holes the original plastic. Once this was done, the plexi and the aluminium were bolted together temporarily.
Once this was complete, the edges of the two plates were filed to match exactly. The switch holes were then cut with a ordinary 20mm woodworking spade bit – it worked just as well on soft aluminium as it did on the plexi. Be warned though – the aluminium will get EXTREMELY HOT! Let it cool down before you touch it!!!
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October 14 2021 | 15:04
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