Introduction: USB Thumb Drive Flash Drive Holder-MAKE a BELTCLIP HOLDER
Tired of having a Usb thumb drive around your neck all the time?
Be Fashionable by making a BELTCLIP HOLDER from a sport cigarette lighter.
Step 1: A Better Way
I got tired of having my thumb drive around my neck, I keep at least one in my pocket but I also keep a lot of keys and metal stuff that can possibly damage a plastic thumb drive.
I started thinking about modifying one of my pocket knives to hold a flash drive but quickly realized that doing so would take a lot of work. I eventually found something even better.
I remembered that I had a sport lighter that clips onto a belt loop. It also had a protective fliptop.
All I had to do was take the guts out, plus a little sanding and glueing.
PARTS NEEDED
COLIBRI CX GEAR SMITTY LIGHTER
mini Screwdriver- straight edge
knife
drill
sandpaper/ or Dremmil tool grinder
super glue
epoxy glue
The COLIBRI CX SPORT LIGHTER can be bought at Fry's Electronics store. And also Ebay.
There are many websites that sell these lighters.
Prices vary from $17.99 to $29.99.
http://www.wannalight.com/colibri-lighters---cx-gear.html
http://www.ryocigarette.com/lig-col-cxs-rls.html
Step 2: Disassemble the Lighter
Unscrew the bottom of the lighter and remove the guts from the casing. There is only one screw. it will take the bottom black plastic off. Then the guts will just fall out. it all comes out as one piece. you can save the Lighter parts for another project. (the spark pieso button should work nicely for your next Spud Gun project, etc.
Ps. Don't feel bad about ruining the lighter, it has the smallest weakest flame I have ever seen.
They call it a sport lighter because it clips onto your beltloop but if you ever need a real sport lighter it had better have a nice wind resistant torch-flame.
Step 3: Measure If It Will Fit
Check the size of your thumb drive; and see if it will fit. Most will be too chubby to fit inside. If so, you can take the cover off the thumb drive and make a thinner one from epoxy resin.
you can sand down the green feet at the end. Just be careful not to sand past that. Ground yourself first before doing anything.
The EMPREX thumb drives are thin and will fit; but are a little longer. If you need more room for the EMPREX, you will have to do some more mod, to make more room inside the case. The following steps will modify the Lighter Case, to take an EMPREX without taking the thumb drive apart.
Step 4: Make Room Inside the Case
Inside the fliptop lid of the lighter there is a flat piece of metal. Remove it by drilling holes in it and/or prying it out, leaving more room inside the cap. Now the thumb drive almmmmost fit. Lastly use a Dremmil Tool and carefully ground some plastic off the inside of the bottom case if needed.
(Be careful not to grind too hard or too fast). I got the plastic too hot. The drill bit went right thru melted plastic. It left a little hole where I didn't want.
Step 5: Putting It Back Together
You must glue the two halves together. Now you are almost done. Again, make sure first; that the thumb drive will fit inside. I found that SuperGlue is not strong enough on it's own to hold the plastic and metal together well. so you will need to epoxy the two together. first,
1) Carefully sandpaper the inside and bottom edge of the plastic bottom piece and the inside of the metal frame.
2) SuperGlue the two pieces together. Or use a vice.
3) Now use a thin layer of epoxy on the inside, the epoxy will stick to the sanded surfaces.
Ps. I first tried using a vice to hold the parts together while the epoxy dried but it bent the thin metal. I then thought of just superglueing it again and that worked; holding it together long enough for the epoxy to harden. I consider this step a major point. I plan to use SuperGlue on many projects where epoxy resin is needed, but a vice is impractical
