Replace the battery on a desktop gadget with USB power

Step 2 The "Battery"

Turns out a large hardwood dowel is just the right size to make up for a AAA battery, once you add a wood screw at each end as the battery terminals. I pre-drilled and screwed in a short screw all the way on the "-" side, holding down that wire. I then screwed in a longer screw on the "+" side and cut it off at about the right lenght. Final adjustments to length can be made by turning the cut-off screw in or out.

I only needed one battery for this project, but if you needed several, you could make dummy cells from a screw or nail that goes right through a dowel...