RETRO USB Thumb Drive in a Pager

Intro: RETRO USB Thumb Drive in a Pager

I use USB jump drives all the time and when I came across this old pager in a box of stuff I was cleaning out of the basement I thought it would be great to put them together.

STEP 1: Step 1 Gather Materials

USB Jump drive-  (any size will do but go for a larger capacity if you want to store an operating system like I do).

Old Pager-   If you are old enough you probably have one stashed in a drawer somewhere if not check thrift stores or flea markets. They can usually be acquired for next to nothing.

USB Extension cable

Screwdriver, Dremel or some other cutting/grinding tools

Glue, Hot Glue, foam mounting tape.

STEP 2: Step 2 Disassembly

Relatively straightforward-my old Motorola pager came apart with 2 screws .
After that, gutting was pretty easy, be careful of the buttons as you will need to put them back in later just for show/realism. There are a few parts inside you may want to save for later use. Unfortunately I destroyed the on'off switch while trying to remove it from the board (more on that later).
You can take the case off the drive if you want to (again, it depends on how much room you have or need). I cut part of the casing off to let the LED shine as brightly as possible.

STEP 3: Step 3 Prepping the Case

I used a sanding drum on the Dremel to remove the excess plastic on the inside to make room for the jump drive.How much you need to remove depends on the pager and the drive you are using.
 I also cut the opening in the bottom larger to acomodate the USB plug. I can still use the battery cover to keep dirt out. I didn't want the USB connector to show so a USB extension cable will be needed to connect to the computer.

I used Loctite Stik N Seal adhesive instead of Krazy Glue to glue the buttons in place because it is much thicker and I didn't want it to drip out through the cracks.
Like I said before, I destroyed the on/off switch so I cut up  a black LEGO and glued it in place.(go ahead and laugh, I know you have a few laying around)

You can use a clear address label over the original display but I wanted the LED to shine through so I used a translucent business card with a number printed on it. I did a search for LCD Digital Font and found a pretty accurate representation.

STEP 4: Step 4 Putting It All Together

Using a couple of pieces of foam mounting tape on both the top and bottom provided support and the correct position of the drive in the case. Install the 2 screws and plug it in. The LED on the drive gives off a nice blue glow. The phone number adds another Retro 80's touch.
I now have a 4 Gig drive that I can carry on my belt, soon to be loaded with Ubuntu.
The only thing left to do is shorten the extension cable,. It's now 6 ft and a bit too bulky to carry in my pocket