Pimp Your USB Drive

Step 8 Case Closed

BEFORE YOU RIVET THE CASE SHUT: make sure you coat the board in something non-conductive, because if your components short on the silver drive, your board is toast and it's going to be a messy job getting another one in there. I coated my board in hot glue.

Like me, you may have been unable to get your seams to match up perfectly. It's ok, it happens to everyone, and you don't need to feel ashamed. You're not alone.

There's a simple and elegant solution to this. Once your case is riveted shut, take your punch or chasing tools and use them to close the seam! The process is dead simple, though a little hard to describe. What the punch is doing, essentially, is just massaging the metal into a different location. Using little taps of the hammer, just push the seams closer together. This was really useful in closing up the gaps around the usb plug. Take your time and make it as perfect as possible, because when people can't find the seam they really can't figure out how you've built this.

Comments

[adam 101]

what kind of metal is this? could i use a soldering iron to fix the seems?

[Robotrix]

This metal is silver - a soldering iron isn't hot enough. You need a general, not a local, method of heating it because solder won't flow until the whole piece is at temperature. This type of soldering is actually brazing.