I’ve had an accident—argh!

[Bismark]

Yesterday I was cleaning my beloved 3XS rig (which requires disconnecting everything and carrying it across the room to a table where I have proper access to the machine) when I noticed something odd about the (non-windowed) side panel of my Silverstone FT-01B-W.

<<A bit of background first:

There had been some annoying vibration issues with both side panels at the back end of last year, but thanks to some sage advice from our very own TakTak among others, I was able to stop it cold with small blobs of Blu-Tack (and later some Sharkoon rubber vibration-dampening pads) applied to strategic places.

However, when the weather turned warmer a month or so back the vibration started on the non-windowed side again, so I put up with it for a bit and decided to have a closer look when the next cleaning cycle was due.>>

I had a look at the panel and things looked OK, but it seemed awfully easy to remove and it would keep springing out of the top clips if the bottom ones were in, and bouncing out of the bottom groove when the top clips were holding fast. The answer was—the panel had warped slightly and was a bit concave. Nevertheless, I tried to fit the panel back on, and everything looked OK—until it sprang out quite impressively and fell through the air while I was trying to fit the thumbscrews. Since my right hand was holding the back clip and a thumbscrew I tried to catch it with my left hand (I did not think it would take kindly to landing on my dumbbells which are stored on the floor next to the table, since the Fortress FT-01’s side panels are a tad flimsy compared with the rest of this otherwise brilliant enclosure).

Unfortunately, my reflex action trapped the panel between my left arm and my left thigh/knee. Net result: I now have a convexly-warped (in both horizontal and vertical axes as well) side panel. [Yes, I know, I managed to be clumsy by trying to be too careful. ]

The good news: it actually fitted back in the slot well enough (much better than it had before) that I was able to secure it with the screws and lay the machine flat on the table with that panel at the bottom while I did the internal cleaning. The machine otherwise works perfectly and temps/noise are fine on the whole

The bad news: it it still quite markedly warped (ugly) and I have to use gaffer tape (yuk! more ugly!) to hold it closely enough to stop a little low-level (but still annoyingly audible) vibration.

Waah!

My question is: is it possible to get another side panel (non-windowed side/mobo side) for this case at a less-than-extortionate price? If so, I may pick one up.

This is a deeply embarrassing accident as that machine of mine (being the fastest and most impressive rig I have ever owned) gets coddled—I was surprised by how little dust there was in the front filter when I removed it (great design by Silverstone here, btw—and the PSU filter is easy to get at with the dustbuster as well).

[leepen@scan]

Bismark,

I'll have to contact Silverstone for you in the morning. Apologies I didn't see this sooner. Please can you PM me with your contact details?

[Bismark]

I have sent a PM, but the system does not appear to have registered it in my Sent Items (I have made enough posts for the PM function to work, so that is a bit odd); if you do not receive the PM, post a reply and I will email you off-list with the information you need.

Thanks!

[leepen@scan]

PM received

I've sent across a message for you now and shall give you a direct email once I have a confirmed price/lead time.

All the best