Introduction: Lego Figure USB Drive

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About: My name is Britt Michelsen. I am a chemical engineer from Germany especially interested in computational fluid dynamics. To balance all the theoretical work, I like to make stuff in my free time

In this tutorial I'm going to show you how to make your own Lego figure USB flash drive. I've seen people putting USB flash drives into lego figures before (e.g. here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/123smile), but never anybody using the bottom part as a cap.

I've made them for my family for Christmas 2009 and the really liked them (at least they pretended to ;-))

Check out this video:

UPDATE: Since 2011 you can buy the offical LEGO® Minifigure USB Flash Drive here. But considering the price and the looks of it, I still think it's a good idea to make them yourself.

Step 1: What You Need

This is what you need:

material:tools:
  • a box cutter
  • superglue
  • a Dremel (Felt Polishing Wheel, different grinding stones, precision drills)
  • a small slotted screwdriver (to apply the clay)
  • sandpaper (800, 1000)
  • a black permanent marker

Step 2: Modify the Flash Drive

First cut off the plastic casing of the flash drive (please don't cut into your fingers, nor any important part of the flash drive!)

Then apply the clay to secure the parts (use as little as possible), as shown in the picture. Make sure not to get any inside off the metal part.

Step 3: Modify the Lego Figure

Now we are going to drill away enough from the inside of the upper part of the body, to fit the flash drive inside of it (it's easier to do so, when you take out the arms out).

Then take the bottom part, drill a few holes into the top (remember to put something underneath it. I drilled into my desk...). Now use the grinding stones to mill away as much from the inside as possible. Use the sanding paper to grain away as much of the outside of the cap as possible.
You will have to repeat this, until the cap fits into the bottom part. It's not bad if you mess up a bit, as long as you don't drill into the front part and the rest of your bottom part is black.

Step 4: Apply the Apoxie Sculpt

As you can see in the first two pictures I messed up pretty badly. If you do, too (remember to let the Dremel cool off, to prevent it from burning ugly holes into your figure) simply fix the holes with the Apoxie® Sculpt.

Let the part dry over night and grain away the extra clay, with very fine sanding paper. Paint the clay with the permanent marker and use the Felt Polishing Wheel to smooth the colour.

To make sure, that the drive fits perfectle into the figure, put the flash drive into the bottom part and place the top part on top of it. If it closes use superglue to glue the drive into the top part.
Now use the Apoxie Sculpt to fill up the hole between the flash drive and the upper body, as shown in the third picture. Let the clay dry over night, paint it and smooth the colour.

Place your lego figure on top of the 2 by 2 black lego plate and...

HAVE FUN WITH YOUR NEW FLASH DRIVE!