Poker Chip Flash Drive

by Niemanator in Circuits > USB

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Poker Chip Flash Drive

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Difficulty: easy

In this instructable, I'll show you how to mod your boring flash drives into a fun, poker chip flash drive. Your co-workers will love it!

Materials

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You will need:
Flash drive
3-4 poker chips, color is up to you
super glue, epoxy, JB Weld, or other plastic bonding adhesive
band saw, jig saw, hack saw or other small hand held or electric saw
Dremel or some sort of plastic file

What I used:
I got my flash drive from Wal-mart. Its a 1Gb Lexar, 3 for $15
My poker chips were from a cheap set, unweighted plastic. If you have an expensive set, they are likely weighted with a metal disc in the middle and will not work. You can get cheap ones at dollar stores.
I used JB Weld, an all purpose two-part adhesive.
A small table mounted jig saw works best, and maybe a Dremel.

Trace Flash Drive

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Pop open your flash drive. My drive was just pressure fit around the outside and popped open with a little encouragement from my finger nail. Lay the flash drive on what will be the middle poker chip and trace it with a pen. If your poker chips are thinner than the flash drive's guts, you may need to use two.
After you have it traced on the poker chip, use the saw of your choice to cut out the pattern. The more snug the cut, the better the flash drive will stay in.

Layer Chips and Check Fit

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Dry fit the chips to make sure everything is snug. My flash drive is slightly thicker than the chip at the plug and at one of the resistor things. Use a Dremel with a carving bit or a file to carve out the proper area.

Assembly

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Prepare the adhesive. Glue the middle chip to the bottom, uncut chip. Allow to set for a few minutes. Apply adhesive to un-electrical parts of the flash drive and set into middle chip. I put a little on the back of the flash board, and a little on the top and bottom of the plug. Finally apply adhesive to the top of the middle chip and fit last chip on top. Weight with books and heavy stuff and let set overnight or as long as adhesive instructions say.

*Careful with the adhesive, applying to much to conducting parts may short circuit the drive*

Pop it into your computer, at the office or at home, and let the digital storage begin!