Lighter USB flash Drive by killerjackalope
Lighter drive
a fun half hour project that give a pleasing result.

you'll need:

An empty lighter (I used bic mini as I had a thumbdrive for this)

A large nail (brute force is needed at times)

A saw (hacksaw's good)

a dremel or sanding block etc (smoothing edges)
 
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Step 1: Knock the ends off

DSCF1123.JPG
First take your saw and cut just on the line of the join between the body and the whit end cap, one this is cut off you may need pliers to pull bits of it out. Once the bottoms off you need a screwdriver or anything slim but strong enough the shove into the cavity and break the plastic bits of the inside off (creates more room)

After this pry off the metal part of the top and you'll see that the flint wheel is held between 2 plastic legs, push these apart to pop the wheel off and expose the flint tube, a spring and little stone like cylinder should have fallen out. Now take your nail and slide it all the way into the tube. Hit the nail with a hard blunt object, a hammer's good but not necessary. Shake out all the plastic that's now broken off.
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neozelandes says: Aug 27, 2011. 9:35 PM
just check my foto library
neozelandes says: Aug 27, 2011. 9:31 PM

i dont know how to add photo's to the comment
neozelandes says: Aug 27, 2011. 9:26 PM
i made one just like it then i put an icon on the drive so when i connect it to the computer it comes up like this
NeonLime says: Mar 13, 2008. 4:30 AM
My School Wont Allow Flash Drives, They Saw Mine And Said No No No Im Taking It Mine Now, Could Contain A Virus NOPE! But My Tech Teacher Said Its Ok In His Class :P
8bitRaven says: Oct 14, 2010. 3:34 PM
Why do you capitalise the start of every word?
Hycro says: Aug 12, 2010. 2:08 PM
The high school I went to had a similar policy, though, the teachers let you get away with it, but if the principal or vice principals caught you...you lost your drive for the day...
iamthemargerineman says: Mar 27, 2008. 9:02 PM
woah. crazy. although i think i did see a create a virus to shut down your school's system instructable a while back. still crazy though. i'm too cheap to print at home... so i save stuff to my drive and print at school. i pay them enough money, gosh.
killerjackalope (author) says: Mar 13, 2008. 7:53 AM
Thats just ridiculous...
looking4ideas says: May 14, 2008. 9:46 AM
You think thats ridiculous??? My school removed all the USB ports from the computers !!!!!!
killerjackalope (author) says: May 14, 2008. 2:37 PM
Lol thats just taking the piss... Rebel...
NeonLime says: Mar 14, 2008. 9:38 AM
Agreed Lol. I Only Used It To Play Games :( (Im Allowed To Play Games :P) But Oh Well..
Xellers says: Mar 21, 2008. 6:12 PM
Lucky! I'm allowed to have a flash drive, but there are no games allowed in my school. NO VIDEO GAMES PERIOD.
killerjackalope (author) says: Mar 14, 2008. 4:12 PM
Oh well nothing, start a digital revolution, burn their notepads and melt their markers, force them to carry seven flash drives or face lynching, put smartboards everywhere, refuse to write anything on paper...
andrew.kunk says: Dec 8, 2009. 7:39 PM
wow i did the EXACT same thing just yesterday. SAME EXACT lighter just different usb.
they look idenrtical
jo jo says: Aug 15, 2008. 5:13 AM
I feel so poor I don't even Have a screwdriver in my house and I don't Have the money to buy one
cry_wolf says: Sep 14, 2008. 2:45 PM
The dollar store is your friend bud. Trust me, all my tools are from there. I have a hammer, screwdrivers, etc that i all purchased for a dollar each and they get the job done just fine. God bless. :)
AnarchistAsian says: Nov 5, 2008. 2:51 PM
yeah, dollar stores are so helpful in these dark times...
thoraxe says: Jun 10, 2009. 2:34 PM
or try the flea market, you can get good quality tools for a dollar there as well, got some good punches and cold chisels for $1 each
AnarchistAsian says: Jun 12, 2009. 6:07 PM
yeah, too bad there aren't any near where i live...
JettyMae says: Aug 15, 2008. 7:18 PM
you could always use a butter knife instead of a screwdriver. A butter knife is a poor mans screw driver. ~Ashley
jo jo says: Aug 17, 2008. 7:08 AM
thank you I'll probably use my brother's Zombie knife that he has in his computer case.
killerjackalope (author) says: Aug 15, 2008. 6:00 AM
Know how you feel, lately been living on the edge of bankruptcy, it sucks, granted all the times we moved house over the years has left us with impessive tool kits... Find something to lower a cost if you really want something, a set of tools may cost $30 for the basic little things, not super quality but at least alright, maybe no pizza for a month or something, that's what I do, when times are bad I quit smoking to get what I want...
daniel.b says: Apr 6, 2009. 1:25 AM
does the flash drive come out the end
habrrr says: Mar 16, 2009. 8:41 AM
I made mine like this(sry for the bad pic)
Fotk0063.jpg
AnarchistAsian says: Nov 5, 2008. 2:52 PM
oooohh, i've never seen this ible before, until that subscriiption thing... nice job
Redgerr says: Jul 16, 2008. 11:47 AM
well, i didnt know where to reply below... so ill do it here... hot glue is fine for hd's because they are often running at 115F. Heat is not a problem because they allways like heat, and too much cold is bad for them. im sorry to hear aobut your harddrive and i hope it works out again :) welp, have fun ~Redgerr BTW: Great instuctable :P
FixedHDD says: May 8, 2008. 1:25 PM
very good but i added something: you remember these bic lighters? theres is a smaller one an a larger one. i cut the larger one and make a cap out of this. So i can keep my usb thumb drive clean! and out of dust Greetz (sorry - i am german;-)
killerjackalope (author) says: May 8, 2008. 2:01 PM
Thankyou Yeah, I got another lighter and added a cap aswell... Your english is good.
FixedHDD says: May 12, 2008. 7:55 AM
oh no! my USB drive crashed! I wanted to glue this in place because it was a bit loose. i had nothing but wooden glue! but i this this is better than hot glue i thought hot glue would destroy these chips because its hot. i glued and then i read the writings in the bottle: waterbased. oh dear.... but it doesn't matter.. i thought it could be broken after this. so i used a giveaway for this and i saved nothing important on this. And what do we learn? do not use waterbased glue, only use a stick where nothing important is saved, do not use your best USB drive,... Greetz.
powercamg4 says: Jul 7, 2008. 8:47 AM
i did that too
killerjackalope (author) says: May 12, 2008. 11:02 AM
Woah that's a suprise, I've dropped them in pints by accident and they've been fine, the hot glue isn't hot enough to damage them by the way... That was a good idea, not using your best drive, I did but was lucky...
FixedHDD says: May 12, 2008. 11:49 AM
yeah? not too hot? that's really interesting.... so I will learn from that mistake and will use hot glue instead of waterbased glue in the future.. but what am i going to do with my f***ed up USB drive? i let the glue dry and try after a week again Greets Justus
killerjackalope (author) says: May 12, 2008. 11:53 AM
yeah sometimes they survive and you can reformat them...
FixedHDD says: May 12, 2008. 1:23 PM
yeah of course. but I don't think this will work anymore. i plugged this already and found out that is not in a working condition. but the 5V from the USB port goes through that thing and killed it for sure....
killerjackalope (author) says: May 12, 2008. 1:41 PM
Oh right, yeah I had one that went wrong and got really hot, melting itself...
FixedHDD says: May 13, 2008. 7:51 AM
that must be some fun! but I plugged this an nothing came. not even a sign "hardware detection failed" or so. the LED on my USB controller didn't light up. anyway....i will try this later. but then i will use hot glue!
punkatsub says: May 16, 2008. 5:38 AM
Mine has a black spot, and it still works
FixedHDD says: Jul 1, 2008. 12:59 PM
Uahhh!!!

it works! I put this thing away because i thougt it was dead.
anyway. i was bored so i decided to check instr.com. i looked around and then i came here and i remember my broken USB-Drive. i think i will give it a try.

and it makes "ding dong" and that Drive was listed under my computer!

pretty nice that thing
IMG_5321.jpg
bikerguy7 says: Dec 6, 2007. 3:58 PM
1 time accidentally brought a hammer on a plane omg lol
Tobita says: Feb 14, 2008. 11:52 PM
i brought a 12 cm jackknife in the plane by accident in my carry-on, even worse i was going to Canada from Saudi Arabia O__O
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