I've been meaning to update on the removal of the metal protective "cage" of my F3 to make it more low-profile. I did this last fall after taking advantage of a $200 Zoom F3 BH Photo deal and having 2 F3's.
I used a dremel saw kit (similar to the link below) to make the cuts.
https://www.amazon.com/Blades-Cutting-Plastic-Aluminum-Screwdriver/dp/B0BLSM8Y6Y/ref=sr_1_3_sspa?crid=1A1G1RLJ3JZBN&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.u5Iwkp0qD9SdlmWog31fExVNmjXU1OdGnGE9Vv-81J1TaB8riA3fao9UJPRM7bpiw8LEOA1n2MRj8RB54idEudopuOloLIt23Mm663KpWLsWUyOLZJ6tljlJomPn88io15IoAAOIhhLNiZIwIrIpIUppoMjWTCGe_tHWJMWPr4eic58AFiNoXatl7bIjnUmbW37QD37xLb7e69_0gM7_seTpW2hLMJVEX7zSS-n_pHu88BV0_FYlLZ6i6QIpn5tAZk2JoEWBRSF5v78C_tc1G58zNpE2LUo6NUx6oS_0KR8.M2gCbZpcNZNGOr0m0QcqPBHZoMMMFC6WQ9-uhBL4YsA&dib_tag=se&keywords=dremel+saw+kit&qid=1749174908&sprefix=dremel+saw+kit%2Caps%2C173&sr=8-3-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1I made my initial cuts as indicated with the red lines in the first pic below.
So the "gun-metal grey" part of the F3, where I made the cuts, is actually metal (I thought it was plastic). The black part of the F3 is plastic. I've used these little dremel saws before and knew that (depending on what you're cutting) it's not as straight forward and easy as you think: the saw teeth can catch and jerk around pretty easily. Holding the F3 with one hand and sawing with the other is doable but not ideal.
I ended up carefully clamping down the F3 using a clamp with rubber feet, BUT there's no great place to clamp the F3 down as I didn't want to put a bunch of force on the screen/buttons. So I settled on (akwardly) clamping down on the gun-metal grey parts I was cutting into and the screen itself, but as gently as possible. This allowed me to hold the dremel with 2 hands and secure it so it wasn't jerking around when the teeth catch while grinding into the metal.
I STARTED the cuts with the saw blade cutting into the metal the "smooth" way; in other words the sharp teeth of the blade were not directly biting into the metal, as it was catching too much when I did it the "sharp" way. This allowed me to get a decent groove/cut going, then I switched positions to make the majority of the cut the "sharp" way. Haha I hope this makes sense, please comment if this is confusing and I will attempt to clarify. I think a drill with faster speeds would probably allow less catching, but I only have a huge akward electric drill and I preferred the control of the smaller dremel.
You have to cut pretty deep to get the metal arms separated. I definitely cut down into the black plastic that's underneath the metal arms. Once I made all the cuts, I was hoping the connected arms would just slide off downward pretty easily, but it took a little finagling and prying, fortunately it wasn't terribly difficult. It's possible you could make the cuts a little lower down (indicated by the YELLOW line in the first pic) and they'll slide off a little easier, BUT you'll be left with a little more bulk at the top. You could just sand it down tho, keep in mind it's metal and not plastic.
Then once I finagled the arms off (see pics of them below), I just used a dremel grinding wheel to smooth everything over. Doesn't look great up close, but it's much slimmer and it's always in a bag or my pocket anyway.
While performing this "operation", I was concerned about all the vibrations I was creating from cutting and grinding into the metal. You have to apply some force to make the cuts, and it certainly was rattling the unit. Clamping down on it (to hold it in place), partially on the screen (!) was also concerning and I was definitely holding my breath when I turned it on for the first time. But lo and behold, I have taped a good 30+ shows with this unit since, and no problems!
Sorry for the detailed descriptions, but I know many are interested in this mod for stealthing purposes and I wanted to document the process. Hopefully people can take this and perhaps improve the method even further. Thanks to eman for being the first (I think) to try this and posting here (I believe his posts and pics are somewhere in this thread).
After stealthing with these pre and post mod, I definitely feel like it was worth it. Please proceed with caution though, it was not as cut and dry as I thought it was going to be.
I also got a TINY shoulder strap bag from Walmart (like 6 x 8 inches, see pics below) that I use for open taping when I don't wanna lug a bunch of crap around. I've clamped to some great FOB spots, strapped this tiny bag to the clamp/post and made some killer recordings this way. The battery in the pics is Miady 5000mAh I got off Amazon. Great batts, I've gotten 10+ hours so far with room to go.
