Hi all, After the gut-wrenching fear of finding my beloved USB key in the washing machine, post-wash, I am now in something of a quandary. The plastic case was ****e and has melted and fallen ot bits, but the cool circuit board middle works fine! I now need to find a cool mod idea for it, to make use of it... I want something that should be safe(ish) to carry, and will look good with my Black Lian-Li case. I have a spare panel, and could fashion something out of that, but I want to see what you guys can come up with! Javen
get a lump of plexi/whatever, bigger than the cuircuit, not including the USB connector. Bore out a hole in the plexi so that the circuit fits. hot glue it in. make the plexi whatever shape you want before you insert the circuit. you could sand it to frost it or whatever. You could make a lid. also as usb has 5v u can use this to have LED's to light the plexi. random idea. i was thinking of a sort of egg shape? sortof.
Cool idea! Its actually got a teeny,weeny orange LED on there already, which works out well, so I would love to do something with plexi... Is it difficult to work with? Am i biting off more than I can chew by using this material? Current ideas I have knocking around are to use a cigarette lighter with the innards ripped out, and seat the key in there... but before you say it, I've already tried my Zippo and it doesn't work! I've also considered stealkthing it inside a fluorescent highlighter, but am not sure... want something cool to match the PC! Javen
You can use super-scuplty or Polymer Clay It is a easy oven bake clay. You can get it at most craft stores, or online (Search google for Polymer Clay) Just don't bake it with the circuit inside
i think it would be pretty cool to just put a clear laquer or enamel over the whole thing, so you just heve the circuit board (mind you that depends if the circuit board looks cool or not)
It looks wicked! I an ideal world, I'd have a kind of hybrid of my PC, with windows and black alu surround. I'm gonna head down to my old chaps and get him involved, as hes the toolpusher, not me! Zap, I like the idea of the sculpty clay... that would give me a way to hold it together! Taking your idea a step further I thought of creating something a little alien like the throwing stars in Jeepers Creepers 2... As for selaing the whol; thing in any kind of material... am I gonna be susceptible to heat? Will the board need to breathe at all? Javen
Revision: With all the cool ideas that have been bandied around, I have spent a fair amount of time pondering this. In looking for alternative housings which will match my case, I am currently looking at a black Maglite. Alhtough I don't have one to hand, I am thinking of stripping out the guts and re-building it so its a little shorter, either that, or find something else cool to store in the other end. This would give me a solid housing to work with, ather than fabricating one from the black alu... Mind you, does anyone know how easy it is to work with alu? Does it bend OK? On the leccy side of things, how difficult would it be to re-wire the torch to use one battery, instead of two... Javen
I'd take the thing to a local Jewellery designer and see what they can design for you in silver and wood, or semiprecious gemstone. Otherwise look at some modern minimalist jewellery for inspiration...
Yikes! That would be a very cool solution, but probably a little out of my price range... still I might speak to arty types I know, and see if they might know of someone who could do it... Any other ideas? This has turned out to be a very interesting thread! Javen
my idea would have to be find someone that knows how to work with alu, and get them to make a black alu case to match your lian li. I rekon that would look sweet as, but could end up costing a fair bit.
ok.. heres an idea. You can buy liquid setting acrylic. Die it red, put in a white LED (or just leave the old one in), and suspend the guts of the drive into the acrylic whilst it is in a cup (or something similar). then get our ur dremel, and whittle baby! make anything u like. The whole thing should glow bright red. U could carve, a bug, someones face, i am sick, so personaly it would be a finger, ladies out there could even do a penis... ohh err!! a 128mb glowing red penis!
I was going to say clear casting resin like what was said above. I would include small plastic beads in it so light is refracted off of them and it it will look cool. Instead of using a cup and then carving way, make a mold out of clay and use a release agent on it so you can get it out.
OK, settle down now, dude... before you start making modding suggestions for the USB port... But yes, the mods are endless. You could of course integrate the device in another object: Zippo lighter, torch, pen, mobile phone, subcutaneous implant? OK, maybe not subcutaneous implant...
Good idea about the subcutaneous implant... I mentioned it to my little brother and he was all set to take the Dremel to my hand... I really like the idea of that liquid acrylic stuff... it could be exactly what I need, and I'm sure if I set it up right, I could use that to integrate the black alu into the design as well! I should be getting started soon, so will be back with pics! Javen
I'm sat here lookning at a highlighter pen (the short flat ones) it's about the same size as my usb stick.... Am thinking about using the dremmel to cut a window and add a small piece of plexi, paint the pen black... modded USB stick... and it comes with a protective lid
And if you're lucky, a little clip on the lid too! Alas, my highlighter is a little small, and I have been hankering for something futuristic and funky to match the case. I am going to be working with a combination of lquid acrylic (probably) and the leftover black alu... now I need to come up with some designs for what it could look like! Thanks to everyone and everything that has helped! Keep the ideas rolling in... I have had so many that I am gonna make a couple more for relatives, friends etc. Javen
