The hole-saws (one 60mm and the other 4-1/4" in diameter) work off of a central arbor. The saw component screws onto the arbor which locks in the bimetallic blade and guides the saw in the right direction as the hole is being drilled. Depending on the material you are trying to drill through, the bi-metal blades will slice through in a matter of seconds or after of a few minutes of drilling. Our drill got pretty damn hot when trying to drill the 4-1/4" hole! We used plenty of lubricant to keep it cutting as clean as possible.

The first part of the Fatty Case to get all drilled up was the main side panel. On the underside of this panel a 120mm, 120Volt fan would be bolted. Its job was to blow cool air right onto the slot cards. After carefully measuring where to drill (so the fan wouldn't interfere with a CD-ROM in the drive bay for example) we marked our spot with a nail. A vice held the panel with a piece of plywood behind it for support nice and steady.

The arbors' bit drilled through in a matter of seconds and then the saw blade began working its way through the thick steel. To keep the hole-saw from erupting in blast of flames, we sprayed the cutting area with WD-40 every few minutes. The operation put a surprising amount of strain on the drill itself, and we had to let it rest a few minutes because it had gotten really hot.

About to drill the first hole into the Fatty Case

The end result was well worth all the strain and heat imposed on the drill. The perfectly round hole was cut after about five minutes of work. If we had tried to cut the hole by hand it would have taken much, much longer and been fairly ragged. T he edge of the cut in the panel was a bit rough so the next step was to lightly file the edges. The filing smoothed over the burrs from the cutting.