The ALX-Files: Acrylic Window Kit Mod Area 51 R1 Tower

I installed a clear acrylic window in my A-51 ALX. The window kit is from frozencpu.com, part# win-30/$24 shipped, & includes an 11x17 - 1/8" thick - rounded edge window, 5ft of pro grade rubber trim molding and it got here in 2 days - see link below. I'd bought a brand new ALX replacement door panel (eBay/$55/correct/Flextronics - p685r - link below); having a new spare door and nothing to lose, I decided to spruce up the original panel.

Remove the door panel to find a '12x18' dead-center sweet spot, which easily sparks interest in installing a window there. Door panels are 23" end-to-end, the workable area is about '12x18', so an 11x17 window, centered, gives 3" of reveal on either side: it centers up perfect and is about as big a window that will fit the allowable space.

Here is a basic 'how to': to prep, I protected the exterior side with a thin cardboard and placed the panel face-down on a large box as a stand. Unfastened both aluminum hand-hold braces (the braces are no longer needed), laid down 3" blue "painters tape" to box in along all 4 sides of the 12x18 work area, centered the acrylic and traced the template for the cut-out onto the tape using a magic marker and the provided "washer"...the washer is a 'pencil-guide', helping the template stay 3/16" - 1/4" oversize. The tracing, and therefor the cut-out, must be oversize to accommodate / account for the width of the finish molding.

Note: The door panel is about 23" long; in this scenario your goal is to center the 17" of acrylic relative to the 23" of door panel (and not centered within just the 12x18 "cutting space"). Stagger the window a little over to the left so that it 'centers', and amounts to 3" of door on either side of the acrylic. Use a tape measure to measure from the outside-in to maintain the 3" visual reveal. You should center the 11" up-down aspect within the 12x18 space, but use a tape to center the 17" acrylic relative to the full 23" panel.

Once staggered, your left tracing will be closer to the aluminum "hinge" side than the right tracing is to the "latching" brace side. At first glance it may seem wrong, but in the end it is correct to stage the acrylic more to the left of the 12x18 space. Simply put, it's a 23" door and a 17" window, so do what you must to position the window to maintain a 3" reveal on either side before you trace. You can apply more tape to help hold the window in place as you begin to trace its outline. (If you decide to just center the acrylic within the 12x18 space for simplicity, remember, the window will fit of course, but the final exterior reveal will be like 2" left, 4" right, due to the way Dell designed the door, and the 12x18 spot in particular, relative to the hinge and locking braces etc).

All told, the 3 longer straight cuts (top, bottom, left) will be made very close to the aluminum "braces", while the right long cut stays an inch away from the "latching" brace. Give or take, your intent is to cut almost the full 12x18 sweet spot out. The final cut-out has to be a tad larger than the acrylic window, to account for the extra 1/4" of molding trim. The template - tracing - cut-out is approx. 3/16 to 1/4" larger than the acrylic window, call it: 11.25 x 17.25. The washer, 'pencil guide', helps account for mounting the rubber trim (which is pressed into place before the window installs) and it needs this additional room.

Once the over-size outline was traced and checked for accuracy, I dremel-tooled through the aluminum panel (using reinforced cut-off wheels) attacking the cut-out from the interior side all along the tracing. (A jig-saw with a metal cutting blade would otherwise work on these panels, but may or may not work on this particular size interior cut-out, due to the gate size, proximity to corners, many factors. Perhaps those would best be employed to attack the cutting on a well protected exterior, having carefully and thoroughly transferred the template onto the outer finished side of the panel).

Whatever tool you use, Frozencpu's molding is forgiving enough so that your cutout doesn't need to be "perfectly exactly straight". There's some "wiggle-room" there, room for error; as long as your cut stays basically true to your tracing you'll be ok. The trim helps hide imperfections in the final cut. After the cut was made, I deburred the shards, sharp edges and what-not with a sanding drum tip (a file also works), blew the dust off, washed the panel off in the shower, patted dry.

I then removed the top, bottom and left aluminum "braces" (the hinge and guides, not the latching brace) in order to get at and remove the thin bone colored "felt" strips Dell applied, (all 3 strips had to go). I then installed the molding, custom cut it to fit, then slowly began pressing and easing the window in while wearing latex gloves. Then pressed the molding's "locking strip" in.  Reinstalled the top, bottom, left braces...

...et voilà...a 2 hour job...not too shabby...

The result here in person, to me looks bad ***, speaks for itself, and I love it to death. The designers of the A-51 did a bang up job inside to make sure it's snazzy enough in there to deserve a see-through window; now, all of their handi-work, and mine, is right there on full display. Having an inexpensive new spare replacement alx door panel helped to make sure this mod to the original panel was a no-brainer.

Acrylic comes in all shapes sizes styles and colors, and there are multiple mounting kits and methods, be it 2 channel rubber trim like this, bolt-on window kits, or the easy c-channel/3M 4010 dbl-side tape method like MNPCTech endorses. And there are many outlets for windows and window kits online to search after.

I'm vouching for the 11x17 from frozencpu; it's a perfect size and fit on this door and is impressionably large enough to help dish out the wow factor. Down the road I'll be on the look-out for a smoked acrylic 11x17, but until then I'm thoroughly satisfied with the results. I wish you luck no matter what shape or size you decide to go with. If you prefer to take your door over to a pro and have it done in a shop, you can go that route also.

Whether you have an a-51, an alx or a lunar shadow door, this mod works in your cut-able 12x18 spot. Because new replacement doors are hard to get direct from Dell, I've posted links to exact oem replacement doors on eBay from the same vendor mine was purchased from (while they last), in case you feel the need for a new spare as your backup/safety net after moddiing a window panel in your original. What they sold me was new and flawless; I wish you the same luck with them, and hope they can offer you the same.

AlienAndy's tried his hand at a window also; see his alien here

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FrozenCpu windows by ModSmart: 11 x 17 Kit >< window kit assortments

PrimoChill by ModSmart: 11 x 17 >< windows assorted

• PrimoChill offers a two-piece window gasket
• slightly thinner than the one-piece from Frozen 

Airene and I are using the 1-piece Frozen, Andrew's using the PrimoChill 2-piece (see pics below)

Search eBay for new doors, or use bing / goole or see examples below

ALX matte / satin Space Black door (eBay) P685R or example SPlusDirect

non-ALX semi-gloss Cosmic Black door X493R >< SPlus

non-ALX semi-gloss Lunar Shadow / silver door U561R >< SPlus

Dremel used a large thick reinforced carbon type wheel for the 4 straight edges, the rounded edges I transferred a smaller-thinner 'heavy-duty' cut-off wheel to do the radius' (radii, lol) we'll call it. When done, air pump blows shards & dust away, sanding drum deburs & smoothes out the rough edges & sharpens the corners. Blow out residual dust-shards, remove paper carefully, take panel inside, wash off good w/shower head, towel-dry ... (= 

Airene's Window'd Door Panel

- A HeatGun to Restore the Look of Black Rubber -

you might be sent 'old oxidized' rubber & silicone-based products like ArmorAll won't help; I've used a heatgun to heat the rubber & bake off the top dry crusty layer (a hair dryer set on high heat may work also); heat the rubber for about 5minutes per foot, afterwards wipe it down with 'ArmorAll' to remove the gook then work on the next section til you're done treating the 5foot rubber they've sent; above is a before & after heat treatment followed by Meguiar's Supreme Shine

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All said & done I've cut 6 door panels. You saw my ALX earlier above:

here, my polished A-51 GLX & Lunar-51 GLX

below, as a one time favor for good friends, here are the doors I cut for them:

for Andrew, Down Under

for Airene: she sweet talked me into a cut & hand-polish for two doors (one's a spare)

Area-51 Pegasus Window Kit  (link)

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good luck with your door project