700D Front Panel - How to take it off safely?

Hi guys,

 

I've recently finished my new build with the 700D case which I'm very happy with on the whole. Just one thing that annoyed me while building it was I had no idea how to take off the front panel in order to get the drive bay covers off. The Quick Start Guide doesn't mention it and there is no included manual with the product. So I looked online and there is no manual on the 700D product page either. So I used the 800D instructions for taking it off, I found it quite hard to do it the first time (no, I'm not a super-weakling :p:) but managed to get there in the end.

 

The past few days I've had to remove the panel a couple of times to swap around some stuff and add a fan in the front. The first time I did it, I had to use my thumb for leverage against the bottom-front feet in order to provide a force large enough to pull it off. The problem is, it doesn't just 'lift' off smoothly, it just comes up very suddenly once the force is applied. As a result, the bottom of the front panel scraped my thumb and I now have a fairly deep cut in the side of my thumb. Lesson learned I thought - don't use my thumb!

 

So anyway I went back to trying to use my hand gripped to the bottom and again, I found it very hard to lift it off. Once I pulled hard enough it came flying off, and the side of the panel hit my right in the glasses. Thankfully it is early in the morning else I would have been wearing my contacts and God knows what would have happened to my eyes had I not had the glasses on as protection!

 

The side of the panel which made contact with my glasses now has a slight chipped/scratch which I'm quite annoyed with. And my glasses also seem to have been damaged, but I'm not too worried about that as they were already in a state.

 

Anyway, tl;dr: There must be an easier way to take off the front panel without endangering my safety? Does it sound like my front panel may be too 'stiff'? Am I doing it wrong?

 

Thanks. ::pirate::

Well, I remove the front panel on my case the exact way you should do on the 800D and 700D cases, you just put your fingers (not the thumb) on the underside so you grab the panel and then for your safety, hold your head over the case and then just pull as hard as you need to, that's how it should be removed.:p:

Thanks for the tip. I've just had to remove the front panel again, and I am once more just finding it incredibly difficult to get the damn thing open. I'm holding my head over the case so that shouldn't get in the way this time, but my shoulder still feels exposed and will probably get hit when the thing comes flying off (as it stands I can't muster the strength to open it myself).

 

Does it sound like its too stiff or is this kind of strength required a normal thing?

 

If this is normal then I would say that the design is a major health and safety hazard as well as being practically far too hard to open up (especially for a case that prides itself on being easy to get into). Add to that it comes with no proper instructions either on paper or on the internet page for the product to give safe advice on how to open it. :(:

Pics are from an 800D but the method is the same.

 

Examples of tools you can use.

 

 

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4.

Thanks for that Yellowbeard. I will keep a look out for that tool!

I have removed it both ways. Personally, I like using a tool that won't scratch the finish and pry it loose a bit before pulling it off. It comes off easier that way for me.

Yeah, I think the tool option might be a better for my weak arms. :biggrin: