Well, I got my new drill bits to tear into the side panels, but before I did that, I took one last hard look at my rad frame, and decided it had some fundamental design errors.
I enlisted Sketchup to help me sort out a solution. Here's a "rough" mockup of the case:
With the trim panels removed so you can see the new parts I need to fabricate:
Here they are isolated. You'll notice the top fan that was attached to the hard drive caddy is being relocated to what I am calling the "pump tray":
And here's the solution to the previous design issue:
As you can see, the central section is now easily removable. Before, not so much. Previously, access to the the side slung front rads for sevice or even the intial installation was going to be a real pain in the arse.
The other thing I addressed was the mounting method for the side rads. Before, I had the mounting surface sandwiched between the rad and the fans. With my vibration dampening grommets, this meant a poor seal between the rad and the fans. The new system goes panel > fan > rad, which should make for more efficient airflow through the rads.
Overall, this is a much simpler design with fewer pieces, and it should work out much better for me in the long run. So, without further thought, I started cutting into The Charm's side panels, as I was fresh out of scrap material. Everything thus forward will be 2mm 3003 alloy aluminum.
One of the things I wasn't happy with before was the slightly irregular shape of the rad holes. I remedied that with a hole saw this time around. Four overlapping holes from a 3 inch hole saw makes for a nicely shaped fan hole, that is also a little more in the "spirit" of the factory lian li fan holes:
Eight holes later and some real quick work with a jigsaw, and I have this:
Kinda fugly, but its nothing a file won't clean right up.
That's all for now. If anyone can blow any holes in my reworked design, now would be the time to do it. I'm going to have to tear into a replacement side panel for this case that I had in reserve as a spare. I'm going to need it to make the new trim panels.
I'm all ears for any suggestions before I seal the deal on that one.