Routed the vent. More gyrations as I tried to decide what to make it look like, where to put it, how big. So I let the math guide my decision. If each 140mm fan is aproximately 25" square inches and the 120mm is about 16 square inches I guesstimate that there's about 141 square inches of intake surface, so ideally I'd like that much or a little more of filtered vent surface. The filter restricts the flow somewhat, so more surface is better. I counted the holes in the bottom giving them each about 1" square in value and measured the unused top PSU grill and the little grill by the PCI backplane and decided I needed about 100 square inches of vent in the side panel.
Looking at the hardware layout I ended up laying out the vent very much as I would lay out a window...5" from the top and bottom, 5" from the back and 9" from the front, leaving me about an 8" by 12" opening. In the event that Cyrus wants a window the hole is in a good spot for one
I routed that out and layed out the holes and drilled for #6 screws.
Using some powdercoated hex mesh and more tasty black button head screws I attached the mesh with nuts, but alternated between short and long screws. I then cut a piece of the filter material slightly oversize and pushed it over the longer screws and capped them with acorn nuts. A simple removable filter. And if Cyrus wants to look inside the rig he can remove the filter and have a peek through the mesh grill.
Tools of the trade.
Backside of panel after routing.
1/2" shank makes for chatter free routing.
Ready to drill holes.
Mesh installed.
Backside of panel. Note longer screws to hold filter.
Filter installed.
Backside of panel.
Vent is far enough away from the fans to shroud the sound somewhat.
Another removable filter.
One more tiny filter held in with the same arrangement of long screws.
The filter material also dampens the fan sound so it's a good deal all around and should keep the hardware relatively dust free.
A real sleeper.
Last thing on the list is to sheath a few more cables when the sheathing arrives tomorrow. Then it's ready for pick up.