Introduction: Secret CD-drive Stash

By monoclecat.de

This Instructable will show you how to make your own secret CD-drive stash in which you can put your important CDs,DVDs or other flat objects.

Step 1: What You Need:


To make your secret CD-drive stash you'll need:
-A CD drive (preferably one that you don't need anymore)
-A drill with a 5/32inch bit
-A screwdriver
-Soldering equipment
-Tape (preferably vinyl electrical tape)
-Clear, epoxy-like glue
-Wire (might not be necessary)
-Double-sided mounting tape
- A dremel or a saw
-A 4 AA battery holder
-4 AA batteries
-A pair of earphones (they'll act as a key to your stash)

Step 2: Opening the CD Drive

To get started, we have to open up the drive.
In my case I had to first take the front cover off (pic #2) before being able to open the drive itself.
Make sure not to break anything and to keep all screws.

Step 3: Gutting the Drive

Next up is taking out the circuit board of your drive. Put it aside for later steps.

Step 4: More Gutting

Now you'll need to take the plastic structure out of the drive and turn it over(see pic #2) to take out the CD-reading apparatus (see pics #3 & #4). The CD-reading apparatus isn't relavent for this project so it can be thrown away.

Step 5: Simple Step to Secure Your Stash

A simple but important step to secure your stash is to take out the plastic piece which is there so you can open CD drive with a paper clip (see pic #2). Since you won't use that mean of entry, you can might as well remove it. The piece should come off easy.
Insert the plastic structure back into the metal case when you're done (see pic #3).

Step 6: Making It Look Like a Real Drive

If you want your secret stash to look like a real CD drive, you should take the circuit board and cut it 1¼inch/3cm from the end where the connectors are. Make sure to have some srew holes on your cut-off piece for stability (see pic #2). After it's cut (see pic #3), put a dab of glue where the cut-off circuit board belongs (see pic #4) to give it extra stability. If you can't find a place to put glue don't worry because as long as you have screw holes, the part won't move after we put the drive back together. Now put the cut-off circuit board to its place to finish this step (see pic #1).

Step 7: Gutting the Circuit Board

To finish off the circuit board, take out your soldering equipment and desolder following parts:
- The audio plug
- The potentiometer used to regulate the audio threshold
- The switch which is pushed to open the CD-slot
Picture #2 shows the circuit board before gutting - picture #1 after gutting.

After this step, you can throw away the leftover circuit board.

Step 8: The Mean Entry

To open your stash when the project is done, you'll need to modify the audio plug.
What we want to do is put the switch behind the audio plug, with the button in it, so when we plug in our earphones, the drive will open.
Try to insert the button of the switch into the back side of the audio plug. If, like in my case, it won't fit, you'll need to take out
your drill and the 5/32inch(~4mm) bit (see pic #2) and widen the back of the audio plug
so that the button of the switch fits inside (see pic #1).

Step 9: Doing Some Glueing

Next, you'll need to glue in the front components. These are the potentiometer and the audio plug (see pic #1).
Make sure not to glue the back of the audio plug shut .
Also make sure not to use too much glue, as this will likely be seen
from the outside when the project is done.
Glue the front button too so it won't break off later (see pic #2).

Step 10: Soldering

Now you'll have a bit of soldering to do. First though strip the ends of the wires of the motor, as they might be attached to a connector (before: see pic # 2 ; after: see pic #3).

If you don't know how to solder watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_NU2ruzyc4 (thanks go to CuriousInventor).

You'll also have to check if the switch fits behind the audio plug. In my case (see pic #4) I had to snip off the metal mounting bracket to fit the switch (for finished switch, see pic #5) behing the audio plug (see pic #7).

Before soldering, make sure the wires from the battery holder are at least 6 inches long. If not, take some wire and make them longer.

Now take out your soldering equipment and solder the
blue/black (negative) wire from the motor to the blue/black (negative) wire of your 4 AA battery holder,
the red (positive)  wire from the battery holder to one side of the switch and
the red (positive) wire from the motor to the other side of the switch (see pics #1 & #6).

At last put the wired switch behind the audio plug (see pic #7) and secure it with a few dabs of glue.
Try not to put any glue around the front of the switch, as this might block the button itself.

Step 11: Mounting the Battery Pack

For the 2nd last step, take out your double-sided mounting tape, put some on the bottom side of the battery holder (see pic #2) and stick the battery holder on the metal cover you took off earlier.
Make sure that the battery holder is placed somewhere in the middle of the cover so it doesn't come in contact with other parts of the CD drive.
Also make sure the wires going from the battery pack are as close as possible to the switch & motor.

It is also highly recommended to cover the soldering joints from the previous step with some tape (preferably vinyl electrical tape) (see pic #3).

Step 12: Last Step!/Problemfixes

So, at last, all you have to do is screw the drive back together. Don't forget to insert the batteries and make sure the wires aren't hanging out o the drive. If you like, you can put a dab of glue in each screwhole to make it really thiefproof. :)
Now take out your earphones and plug them in to the drive. If your drive opens, you're done!
Have fun hiding your secret documents and other stash!

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Your drive didn't open up? No problem, here's what you should check for:
  1. The most common mistake is faulty solder connections that break easily. Check & possibly redo these.
  2. Check if the wires got stuck in any gears or other relavent parts of the drive. It might help to tape the wires together.
  3. You could've gotten the motor's polarity wrong. To solve that, just switch the wire connections of the motor or the battery holder.
  4. The switch could not be attached correctly. The button itself should be inside the audio plug so that when the earphones are plugged in, they push the button.

There's still something wrong? Just post it in the comments and I'll give my best.