The plastic housing on one of my USB drives got bent, rendering it hard to use. So I tore it apart and got to work. The thing that appealed to me about this one was that the critical component didn’t have the metal sleeve around it so it started out super tiny.
Instructable you can see the size of the drive I’m using, sans metal housing. But the steps will be the same no matter how big or small the drive component itself.
The USB drive as it is, in its bare state, is too thin to make contact with the USB port. So you have to glue a shim onto the bottom of the drive in order for it to make contact with the port.
So clamp up a piece of wood and then use your saw to slice off a thin piece for your shim. I use Japanese saws myself, love ’em!, but use whatever works for you. I cut my piece way too thick as you can see in the second picture, so I sanded away, testing in the USB port from time to time until the USB drive + shim fit well.
Prepare the wooden housing for your USB drive. Let’s start with the most delicate part first, the recess for the USB drive. In the other wooden USB drive Instructable, you drill into a wooden block and fit the USB drive into the slot you created from drilling. In this Instructable, you will chisel out a recess in one piece of wood and then glue a second piece on top of it. This will create a tighter, more seamless fit if done correctly.Take your chisel and score your lines for the recess (with hand pressure or a light mallet tap). Be sure you are leaving enough of the USB drive sticking out so that it will go all the way into the computer! Always err on the side of not going far enough out – you can always expand your slot outwards later if it’s not big enough. When checking for depth, try to get the USB drive perfectly flush WITH the shim in place.
Instructable you can see the size of the drive I’m using, sans metal housing. But the steps will be the same no matter how big or small the drive component itself.
- a saw (the smaller and finer, the better)
- a chisel (if it’s not sharp, check out my Instructable on sharpening.
- sandpaper
- drill (optional) – for the keyring hole
The USB drive as it is, in its bare state, is too thin to make contact with the USB port. So you have to glue a shim onto the bottom of the drive in order for it to make contact with the port.
So clamp up a piece of wood and then use your saw to slice off a thin piece for your shim. I use Japanese saws myself, love ’em!, but use whatever works for you. I cut my piece way too thick as you can see in the second picture, so I sanded away, testing in the USB port from time to time until the USB drive + shim fit well.
Prepare the wooden housing for your USB drive. Let’s start with the most delicate part first, the recess for the USB drive. In the other wooden USB drive Instructable, you drill into a wooden block and fit the USB drive into the slot you created from drilling. In this Instructable, you will chisel out a recess in one piece of wood and then glue a second piece on top of it. This will create a tighter, more seamless fit if done correctly.Take your chisel and score your lines for the recess (with hand pressure or a light mallet tap). Be sure you are leaving enough of the USB drive sticking out so that it will go all the way into the computer! Always err on the side of not going far enough out – you can always expand your slot outwards later if it’s not big enough. When checking for depth, try to get the USB drive perfectly flush WITH the shim in place.
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