Tips on drilling on plastic to make room for a DB-9 on a Dreamcast?

Hello everyone.

I've decided to add a PC serial port on my Dreamcast. I'm done with everything except making the leap of faith: drilling a hole on my shell. Do you guys have any tips on making a nice clean and aligned square shaped hole?

Any tools I should be using? I'm afraid of making it look horrible.

Thanks guys,

 

for square hole the best way to tackle would be first fix the template on the plastic and then using pin vise drill four small holes at each corner. Then carefully drill few more holes along the lines with little space in between - number of holes really depends on the length of line. After than using plastic sprue cutter carefully cut away between the holes. If you can get hold of high quality cutter the easier your job will be.
Now you should have the inner piece separated from the housing. Grab the fine jeweler file and trim away around the square hole. You may need to use different shapes for corners, line and etc.

If you don't have these tools see any of your friends who is building plastic model kit or train scale models. They should have all the necessary tools handy.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for the information. I unfortunately don't have any of those tools.

I'll see if I can get a hold of these tools, or find someone who does...

 

For DB9 I use a metal guide. If you have an old graphic card or PCI serial card you can dissassemble the metal plate that covers the PCI slot on the back of your computer. Trim it a little so it's not too long and therefore more maneuvrable.

You'll then have a perfect tool you can stick firmly in place where you want you hole to be and start cutting using the techniques provided earlier. The metal guide will just give you a protection around the potential hole to avoid any exceeded cuts or scratches.

Also if you plan on mounting the DB9 connector on the top lid part of the Dreamcast I suggest you give yourself a little bit of room with the wires, you don't want it to be a pain removing the top lid after your mod and have all your wires severed because they were "just long enough".