Functional USB Flash Drive Rubiks Cube

In this tutorial I am going to show you, how to make your own Rubik USB Flash Drive

You can see the finished product in the following video:

Step 1 What you need

material:

• a very small usb flash drive (e.g. EagleTec USB Nano Flash Drive or Delock USB Nano Memory stick)
  (e.g. from http://usb.brando.com/eagletec-usb-nano-flash-drive_p00892c041d15.html)

• a corner piece of a Rubik's Cube

• an edge piece of a Rubik's Cube

• self-hardening synthetic clay (I used “Apoxie® Sculpt”)

• a lip balm stick (I used a ”Labello“)
   

• a small screw (I got mine out of an old dvd player, it's about ~0.6 cm high)

• a washer Ø 1.2 cm

• Tiles or stickers (e.g. from cubesmith.com)

tools:

• a Dremel (Felt Polishing Wheel, different grinding stones, precision drills) (you don't have to get a very expensive one, I got mine pretty cheap on ebay)

• a small slotted screwdriver (to apply the clay)

• sandpaper (400, 800, 1000)

• a black permanent marker

• a small saw (I used one for metal)

• a box cutter

Comments

[mazingo]

This must be the best instructable I've seen yet.

You should sell these!

[fredlb]

it's the best job i can see for an usb drive !!
very very good !

[green_bean]

hi, first off, great instructable! Anyway, I was wondering if you used the cubesmith tiles or stickers in the usb that appears in your video, as I can't really tell on the website, but I like the look of your one! Thanks

[BrittLiv]

Hi, I've used the tiles, the quality is a lot better, I made it about a year ago and they still look like new.

[kaikudo]

what size of Rubiks Cube did you use?

[BrittLiv]

the pieces are from a 3x3x3 cube

[kaikudo]

thanks :D

[avr1l]

AWESOME UR AMAZING..................... I LOVE THIS IM GONNA MAKE ONE LOVE UR WORK

[applefritters]

THIS. IS. AWE. SOME.

[russm313]

Excellent work, I will be making one of these very soon.

[Cadillachearseguy]

amazingly easy to solve rubick's cube.... only 2 cubes.... much easer than the customary 27....

[sjoobbani]

 THIS IS AMAZING. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

[GorillazMiko]

Genius!! GENIUS I TELL YOU!!

 

[simfire687]

where is the flash drive part?? it looks like a usb imput with nothing on it

[Spike002]

its there, just the flash drive he used is REALLY small, most do stick out alot farther than that like quater inch his did.

[BrittLiv]

This is what you see, if you take the cube pieces apart and take a look inside of the top part. The flash drive is on the other side of this grey thing you can see in the middle of the picture.

[alexa1212]

i really dont see the flash drive is it even in there

[alexa1212]

i really dont see the flash drive is it even in there

[BrittLiv]

Hi, yes it is, check out step two. The flash drive is very, very small...

[MrL33TPenguin]

 Asking, is it possible to also make one of these if the USB drive is longer then your small one?

[madhops0620]

One of my friends had a tiny flash drive like this today, but it has a slot to put in a Micro SD card so as long as you have a Micro SD card you can use that.  I found one on DX for 4 bucks.
www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.25558

[ironsmiter]

Sure, but you'll probably need 3(or even 4) cube pieces, for longer drives.

[MrL33TPenguin]

 It would look better if it has the 3 cubes in it because it would look like the cube side, but how would I make it work?

[BrittLiv]

lol it took me forever to make the drive fit into two pieces, because if you use more then two pieces it wil not be fully functional anymore. Just glue the top and the middle pieces together and you will be able to use a longer drive. If your drive is only 3 mm or so longer it should still fit into two pieces.

[MrL33TPenguin]

Ok then, I'll try that. Hopefully it won't try out that bad..

[Applebohn]

I love it!

[Valche]

Haha! Amazingly creative, great job!

I'm also surprised that they can make USB sticks that small, crazy!

[BrittLiv]

Thanks a lot, yeah I was suprised, too. There is actually a micro SDHC card inside.

[Lance Mt.]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[cowscankill]

The best most epic flash drive ever. I want one now!

[newtonn2]

 This is the best modified USB flash drive I've ever seen! even here in instructables!! Very good job!

[Salsa766]

 does it still work?

[BrittLiv]

Yes it does

[raykholo]

 wouldnt it be cool if we could code this?
for example, if four cube pieces were used in a row, it would be possible to put some small strips of metal on a certain side of each one, so the usb's +5 connection would only be made with a certain color combination?
totally pointless but it would be cool to see that happen...

[BrittLiv]

To be honest I thought about this too. I wanted to close the contacts only when the colours are lined up in the right way, but the space was simply to small.

[gtrain]

does the actual usb work?

[BrittLiv]

Sure it does! Else it would be quite useless ;-)

[Patented]

Wow thats a great ideas! very nice work !

[brunoip]

Amazing !!!

[lukethebook333]

Absolutely amazing! very clean and ingenious method of turning the cube to make it stick out!