Drilling a kensington lock hole on a Fractal R4

[sentur]

Just built a new Hackintosh and using a Fractal R4 redefine case. Loving the whole thing so far and the case though it doesn't have any kensington lock holes to secure it to a fixed object.

Though the case is pretty heavy anyway, does anyone know if the case could be drilled so that it would fit a Kensington Lock to it? Or has anyone seen any sort of solution for securing something like this.

The only things I'm finding online are bespoke solutions for Macbooks that involve drilling a table top in order to fit bars to it which the laptop sits under or glue pads that stick directly to the PC or whatever hardware you're trying to secure that doesn't have a kensington lock whole. Ie solutions like this:



http://www.kensington.com/kensington/en/gb/p/1391/64036/kensington-security-slot-adapter-kit.aspx

 

[DBP]

Gluing a pad like that to a laptop works because the laptop's pretty much a solid whole. You could glue it to the R4 case, but where? The top? It would still be quick and easy to take the sides off the case and take the innards. A side panel? The thief would just leave the panel behind. Cases with designed-in Kensington locks are usually set up so that when the lock is active you can't open the case.

Conceivably you could drill the hole so it went through two layers of metal and could only be fitted once the left panel was on (the right panel only exposing the cables on the back of the board). I'm not sure what the maximum depth of the hole is for the lock to grip on the other side, and you'd need to be careful so that it wasn't too close to the edge of the panel (which might constitute a weak point which could be forced). It would have to be a neat drilling job, not something you did in a hurry.

So I guess it would depend on what level of security you're after. Something to let you leave the computer alone in a room with inventive university students? Something to prevent it walking away during a busy careers fair while you're talking to someone else?

Another option might be one of the PacSafe products which are loose metal nets you could put the case inside and then bolt the net down. These are designed for securing backpacks etc during travel.

 

[BumpInTheRoad]

I've been mulling over that dilemma as I work on new desktop's for my two college kids. I also chose the Fractal R4 and the lack of any security lockdown points was one of my three disappointments with this case (the other two were lack of HDD activity indicator and motherboard speaker, both of which I already resolved).

Here is my plan for dealing with the problem.

First of all I bought one of these Kensington lock kits from Amazon:


http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-K64615US-Desktop-Computer-Peripherals/dp/B0036Z9TNU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1358652809&sr=8-2&keywords=desktop+computer+lock

This provides me with the cable and lock mechanism, two Kensington-style slot lock brackets to secure their LCD monitors (2 monitors each), and a glue-on pad to secure their printer.

Then I got one of these CPU security locks that will replace one of the thumbscrews holding the component-side of the case, so a key will be needed to get at the internal disks, memory, CPU and other components:


http://www.amazon.com/Ziotek-ZT1320380-Security-Desktop-Computer/dp/B000BSHJKA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1358652809&sr=8-3&keywords=desktop+computer+lock

I'm not so concerned with an intruder opening-up the other side of the case because you really can't get to anything except the cables routed behind the motherboard. But I think I'll be able to secure that panel as well using one of these, also from Amazon:


http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-Plate-Anchor-Cable-Computer/dp/B001Z7SKVI/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1358653550&sr=1-1&keywords=computer+lock+plate

My plan with the above plate is to run an extra-long screw through the slot normally used by the Kensington slot lock, and screw that in place of one of the thumbscrews that holds the right-side cover on. It's kind of a tight fit to get the screw through, so I'm going to drill out the slot slightly. But once this plate is screwed into the case, the locking cable will go through and prevent someone from getting to the screw to open the case.