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Replacing the Housing on Your Flash Drive?
TheFarmerInTheDell asks: "I managed to wash my USB flash drive this past weekend (note to self: check your pockets better before doing laundry) and to my surprise, it still works. The problem is that the clothes dryer managed to beat up the plastic housing, and it no longer holds the innards in place as it should. Trying to plug the drive into a USB port is a difficult proposition since the whole mechanism slides into the plastic housing, instead of sliding into the USB port. Rather than using a super glue or an epoxy solution to hold the electronics in place, I was thinking that a custom body would be a cool way to go. I can cast it in resin and have whatever shape I want for the drive, but I am not sure that it will be a good thing to do. Has anyone done anything like this, and if so were there any problems? Are there any issues about not having an air space to help dissipate the heat that the chip generates? Aside from the obvious concerns about allowing the drive to fit into the USB port of a computer, is there any reason that the drive cannot be housed in any shape that I want?"
Just let me tell you one thing. I tried this and on the table was an open container of turpentine. Apparently the fumes are very damaging, and destroyed my drive when it was open.
Having seen the various odd casings that USB drives are sold in -- tempura, sushi, ducks, a cut-off thumb, dim sum -- as long as you didn't have anything shorting the actual circuitry, and could still slot the drive into a USB port, what you wrap around the electronics is entirely up to you (I recall the pictures of the person who fit the circuitry into the neck of a Barbie doll, so that when you took off the head of the doll, the connector was exposed).
If you want to make your own custom case, I would recommend using the innards from a new device. Otherwise, you may go to a lot of trouble making something really cool only to discover that the spin cycle actually did do some damage to the flash memory.
Apparently not.
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
In Soviet Russia, Flash Drive housing replaces YOU.
Washed mine twice so far, still works fine. I'm surprised about the melted case in the dryer though, I wouldn't have guessed that it would survive the heat! As for what to do... hmm, buy a new one anyway? They are really cheap now-days. Or you could attack it with duct tape, for a real low tech solution :-)
You could keep all your pr0n on it!
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
I've seen flash drives that are just a plastic-coated PC board. The heat generated won't be a problem (the USB spec limits the power you can draw to fairly negligible levels).
Oh, and -- don't trust the washed USB drive with critical data, there may be corrosion that takes a while to manifest itself.
"My strength is as the strength of ten men, for I am wired to the eyeballs on espresso."
the casing on one of my flash/thumb/pen/whatever drives was just stupidly big for no good reason, so I took it off. To protect it I just got some clear 5 minute epoxy and layered it on there and just kept turning the the drive while it cured.
You can also put a lanyard hole in a dead space on the board or epoxy something in there and hang it on your keychange. It's working quite well for me.
In Bob we trust.
I got some liquid latex from Home Depot for a similar problem. They talk about using it to coat tool handles, but it works great for coating bare electronics too.
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
Look up "electronics potting problems" in Google and you'll get all the fun info.
The short and sweet of it is that there are two basic issues: During casting/potting, the epoxy generates a LOT of heat. It can be surprising, and damaging. Check the type of epoxy/resin/casting compound you are using. For such a small amount it probably won't be a problem.
The second issue is the composition of the epoxy and suitability to its purpose. If it has a low resistivity or creates significant capacitance between conductors, then it'll cause problems. If it's not suitable for electronics (ie, degrades over time into other components, is corrosive, etc) then it will cause problems over time.
In short, chances are good you'll be fine for this particular application with hobby grade casting compound. But be prepared for possible data loss if you don't fully understand the subject and act accordingly.
-Adam
When the cheap plastic case on my USB memory stick gave way I just mixed up some two-part epoxy (Araldite) and gave it a good healthy coating. After it set (24 hours or so) I crazed the surface up with my Dremel. Now when the read light flashes the whole thing lights up. Looks pretty cool and is nigh on indestructable.
Without question, this is the only way to go:
;-)
Lego USB flash drive... that will give you near-infinite geek points (which can now be exchanged for frequent flier miles!)
Just like driving a car:
(D) to go forward
(R) to go backward
points for duct tape solution. Negative points for suggesting someone not waste a lot of time on tech mod on /.
correct answer is skip work for a few days, spend a ton of time working on some really cool device mod that will make most people say "that guy has waaaay too much free time," post pictures and a step by step of how you did it, let us slash the hell out of your server for a few hours
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I once made a solid epoxy flash drive, it was great: it was hard and durable, very compact, and I made the end (opposite the port) a little longer and drilled a small hole through it... voila, a keychain connection. Highly recommend it. I used an old plastic case from older RAM to keep the perfect rectangular shape, then used the good ol' Dremel to fix up the edges a little.
If you're worried about getting epoxy over parts where it might get in the way of plugging in, then just mask off the plug part..
Just mask off the plug itself with masking tape, then wrap that in putty. If you don't like the idea of getting putty on the end of the epoxy, then get a piece of stiff plastic and cut a hole the size of the plug, and slide that up the plug, then continue as above. When you're done, you can usually just peel the plastic off the epoxy. If in doubt, add a thin layer of petroleum jelly (Vaseline) to the plastic.
Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
While working on my own case mod, I discovered I was allergic to epoxy. BE SURE TO WASH YOUR HANDS ******BEFORE******!!!!!! repeat ******BEFORE******!!!!! using the rest room. my little buddy was the color of an apple and twice as large around. The scariest part was that it didn't hurt at all, even grossly deformed.
So Remember, wash BEFORE, and after, using the restroom.
You forgot to insert the obligatory missing step...
3. Spread the article over the course of six pages requiring people to click Next in order to read the next paragraph.
4. Attach Google ads to your article (all six pages).
5. Profit!
I love all of the ideas and suggestions - especially the lego and hardwood solutions. If I could get my wife to understand what a flash drive is, maybe SHE could do something with it...or maybe I should just find a girlfriend who can do it for me!
I did get a new drive the day after I found the old one in the dryer, and after a week or so the old one is still working so I guess that the corrosion is not happening very fast (if at all). I will post before / during / after pics as I get the old one rehoused - and it looks like I might have to make a trip to my local hobby store to find some interesting ways to dress up the drive.
Thanks for all of the help!