Racing USB Flash Drive

Sorry about the speakers this week. The order hasn't been delivered yet. However, I received a flash drive for winning some contest or something, and it came in a case that had advertising on it. Since I had nothing to lose, I cracked open the shell to find the inner parts. I researched the internet and saw some peculiar ideas for flash drive enhancement. One particular idea I saw was the Clear USB drive that had the stick encased in resin. I also saw one that was a hotwheels car. I forged the two ideas together to come up with this neat flash drive.

Supplies:
Hotwheels car of choice: 97 cents
Resin mix (I got the syringe kind): $1.75
USB Flash stick: Free, or any price you can get one.

Step one: Getting things started.
After realizing that hot wheeels cars didn't have screws, but annoying rivets, I almost stopped making this project. I smashed, cursed, and pondered for hours. I finally took a small screwdriver and pryed the bottom ends off. breaking the back and front parts off. (it worked out for the better!) I took everything apart and sorted it out. I had the bottom plastic container, the interior, the "glass" and the chassis. since the rivets and their casings were attached to the metal car, I abandon the idea of replacing the chassis.









Step two: Configuration
After the parts were sorted, I put the guts of the flash drive in the plastic bottom to see if it fit. perfect. I got everything aligned how I wanted it.

Step three: a good reason to resin
Since the wheels have a metal axel, I didn't want the flash to short circuit when they touched so I applied a thin layer of resin to the bottom of the plastic. before it dried, I put the stick on top of the semi-hardened resin layer. after the stick was in place, I coated the hardware many times, with thin layers.





Step four: Drying
I let the resin dry for about an hour before using. the resin hardend in 7 minutes and I could pick it up, but the optimum hardness only comes with time.

That's it! now when people look at the car shooting out of the computer, you can say that you made a really neato flash drive and they don't have one...unless they build one too.



Next Week: Hopefully the speakers will come in!!!

Orbit iPod Case

So I saw this guy's site and he made an Orbit® box iPod holder. What he didn't do was make it good.
I'll teach you how to turn your trash into cool looking trash.

Materials:

• Orbit® Gum box
  
• iPod® Nano
• Lint-free fabric (can vary)
• Glue stick
• Scissors or an Xacto® Knife

Step 1: Preparing the box
Remove all of the contents from the Orbit® box, (this includes that awful tin-foil thing).





Step 2: Cutting the fabric.
Place your iPod® Nano on the fabric. the fabric should wrap around the iPod® snugly and exact. Trim the top and bottom to where only the iPod® is. Trim the sides as well.




Step 3: The Earbud Jack
Using the Xacto® knife or sharp object, cut a 5mm diameter hole on the ingredients side of the box. The hole's center should be 5mm from the bottom of the box as well. This will provide and easy port for the headphones or speaker adapter to plug in.





Step 4: Lining the box with Fabric
Place the fabric over the iPod® and slide it in the box with the headphones port matching up with the jack. At this point, carefully slide the iPod® out without moving the fabric. Next, take glue and lightly put a small amount under the fabric at the edges. this will keep the majority of the fabric in place.








Step 5: Finishing Touches
After the glue has dried, you may now put the iPod® in. plug in the headphones from the outside.

Congratulations! despite the inconvenience of not being able to see the screen, you can disguise your iPod® in a gum box so that a teacher and/or friends will not know what's inside!

Next Week: How to Build an Orbit® Gum box speaker system for your portable media device.
*this blog has no affiliation with Apple®, Wrigley®, or Xacto®.