MaximumPC 2006 09

With a little know-how and

a few common tools and

materials, you can add

a drawer to the front of

your case, and use it for

storing PC-related odds

and ends.

H

aving a built-in drawer in your case’s front bezel is pretty

handy. It’s a convenient place to keep excess screws, small

tools, spare cables, and even a flashlight. We wanted our

drawer to blend perfectly with our case, and to be big enough to hold a

fair amount of hardware.

We also wanted to accomplish this project without the need for

metalworking tools. That pretty much limited us to using a case

that’s equipped with drive rails, to act as the sliding mechanism for

the drawer—installing drawer rails is more than a little beyond our

cabinetry abilities.

After testing several different cases, we found that the ones with

metal rails work best—plastic rails tend to snag when you slide them,

making it more difficult to move the drawer in and out. It’s also better

to have a case with rails that actually protrude beyond the front bezel,

such as the Aspire X-Navigator used here (www.aspireusa.net).

Add a Drive Bay Drawer to Your PC

SEPTEMBER 2006 MA XIMUMPC 63

We found the box for our drawer at The Container Store (http://tinyurl.com/llcbw). It’s nearly

the perfect width, but it’s too long to mount flush in the case. To fix that, we cut off one

end using a jigsaw. To fit in a standard 5.25-inch bay, your drawer shouldn’t be more than

15.5cm long, without the bezel mounted.

The old carpenter’s rule applies here—measure twice, then cut. Mark 15.5cm on all

three sides, as shown in the picture. We used a sharp Dremel bit to lightly scratch the

marks into the plastic sides of the box. Once you’ve marked both edges of a side, you can

use a straight edge and your marking implement to scratch the guideline you’ll use when

cutting off the end of the box.

IMPROVING YOUR PC EXPERIENCE, ONE STEP AT A TIME how^2

BY WILL SMITH

TIMEHOURS:MINUTES

2:00

It’s important to mark the edges at exact-

ly the same distance, otherwise it will be

impossible to make a straight cut.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED 1 Measure and Mark

DRILL

HACKSAW

VARIABLE-SPEED JIGSAW

DREMEL TOOL

SAFETY GOGGLES

RUBBER GLOVE

ALL-PURPOSE ADHESIVE

CLAMPS

A DRIVE BAY-SIZE BOX

We used Container Store part no:

10025992, $15

ASSORTED HARDWARE

CABINET HANDLE

JOINING COMPOUND

Use a straight edge to mark your cut line

across the side of the box. You’ll use this

line to guide you when you cut off the

end of the box.