Pimp Your USB Drive

Step 10 Bling!

You're done! Now take that drive and staple it to your face because everyone wants to see it. I promise this will net you compliments on your skillz, your genius, and probably your breath and visage. Since i made this, people can't stop telling me how great looking I am.

probably.

Comments

[FrozenIce]

Very nice able man :) but for this work and money, i would hae designed the shell a bit better :P but the final product is very impresive :) love it

[freekofnature]

AWESOME coolest USb ever. the steps were a little confusing though.

[leadace321]

sick man im gonna go buy a block of wax and make my usb drives
thanks for the idea

[KasChartreuse]

This is WAY CRAZY! I wish I was that creative!!! Coolest USB Drive I've ever seen!

[TwinEdge]

this is a very nice job but you missed a step or something...if i'am not mistaken it's the part where you make the casting...there's a step between 5 and 6,you needed to show that,so everyone here can make the casting (the mold of you casting).....thanks

[ExtraMedium]

as he says in parts 1 and 6 he doesn't do the casting, he took it to a casting house.

[Robotrix]

actually, for this one i did end up doing it myself at school. However, for most people, and for me now that i'm out of school, taking it to a casting house is the most efficient option.

[ExtraMedium]

lol, sorry TwinEdge, I feel like a willy. So what metal did you use anyway?

[ExtraMedium]

Also Im thinking of pimping my Ipod. Seeing as its highly likely that at some point i'll need to take it out of its case for whatever reason im think that instead of riviting the halfs together I'll put grooves and rails on so that the two halfs slid into each other. The problem is im not sure if the wax will be strong enough not to snap and theres the problem of the casting process changing the dimensions to the point where its doesn't fit together as seen when you had to hammer the seams together. any ideas how to fix this or any other methods? Im thinking of simply tying the halves together with some string. now that i think about it if the metal is bendy enough then I could do that thing you see on some purses where it snaps together and locks.

[Robotrix]

I usde sterling silver. You have a couple of options for joining the sides. What you can do, if you want them to have rails that slide and actually join up, is cast the main body of the piece and add the rails afterwards. Just file the sides flush with both pieces clamped together, which will ensure the edges match up. Then design a rail system that will hold them together and solder it on (sterling silver, brass or copper soldering is really brazing). It will give much cleaner results than trying to cast something like that, but there will be moer clean up on your part. You could also do a hinge/snap closure, but hinges are a whole extra instructable in themselves. If you're really interested i can recommend The Complete Metalsmith by Tim McCreight.

[ExtraMedium]

sorry for being a bit of an r'tard but what happens in the casting process? Im guessing they make some kinda mold (or is it spelled mould?) and then pour teh hot metals over and in that. I'm just not sure what to ask them to do.

[Robotrix]

Anywhere you take it that does casting will know exactly what to do, you shouldn't have to ask him anything. FYI, what happens is this. Starting with a wax model, the model is surrounded with a plaster. Then the wax is melted out leaving a cavity that's shaped like a negative of what you're casting. Finally, hot metal is poured into the cavity and when it cools you have your finished product!

[ExtraMedium]

I figured as much on the process but i wasn't too sure about how much heat plaster can take before cracking/melting/burning/rapidly expanding so i started having radical and probably heretical ideas about polymers. Thanks for the help and great idea.

[Robotrix]

there's a special type of borosilicate plaster you can buy for this purpose called investment plaster. It's a very fine consistency so if flows into smaller details, and it withstands all the heat of casting. You can get it from any jewellery supply house / store.

[adamcakis]

that is really cool. i like how it doesnt really look like a usb any more. they all look the same and urs is really unique. nice job. have you seen these: www.blingdrives.com? they are funky too, and thank god, they dont look like usb drives.but they are!

[thekanester]

That's a beautiful piece of art you have there. I'd be proud to show that one off in public! Make more silvery things for us all to see! Gold & Platinum would also be nice. Go on, you know you want to...!