Plain USB keys look boring and commercial novelty USB keys often too expensive and don't come with enough capacity, so why not make your own? With a little work and a few inexpensive materials, you can turn your favorite trinket, toy or keychain into your new favorite USB key. There are plenty of reasons you might want to make your own custom USB key. There’s obviously the novelty appeal; who wouldn’t want their own one-of-a-kind flash drive? Nearly anything can be used to hold a flash drive, so you can really get creative. There’s also the security benefit. Everybody uses USB keys, so everybody has a pretty good idea of what to look for: a little plastic rectangle with a metal bit on one end you plug into a computer. Who would think of looking for your precious flash drive in a pack of cigarettes, or a tin of mints? Every time you pop the drive in, you can feel like James Bond, or at least Chuck Bartowski.
A custom USB key contains two main components: the flash memory and the casing. The flash memory can come from any USB key you’re not afraid to break apart. The casing is where you can get really creative. It can be anything you want, under two conditions: it has to be big enough to hold the memory module, and it has to have enough clearance that it can be plugged into a USB port.
For this guide, I’ve made three custom USB keys: an Altoids tin USB key, a Zippo lighter USB key, and a Mario Bob-omb USB key. You can make these yourself very easily. All you need is a USB flash drive, the tin/lighter/toy bomb you want to USB-ify, some double-sided mounting tape, and a hot glue gun. For the Altoids key, you also need strong shears and sandpaper or a rotary tool. For the Bob-Omb key, you need a vice or a set of “helping hands” clamps.
The process of getting the memory out of a USB key varies from brand to brand and model to model, but it boils down to cracking open the plastic and carefully removing the innards. Take a small flathead screwdriver and wiggle it into any seams on the plastic shell. Slowly pry the shell apart until the memory module, USB plug attached, just pops out. The module can come in two forms: a raw circuit board with a memory chip on it and a USB plug connected to one end, or a self-contained unit built into the USB plug. Yes, sometimes a big plastic flash drive is really just a tiny rectangle of metal and a whole lot of empty space.
You can also cheat by getting a really small USB key and basically leaving it untouched. The PNY Micro Swivel flash drive is a one-piece memory module in a small swing-out metal sheath. Just pop the sheath off and use the drive as-is, without cracking open any plastic.
Zippo Lighter USB Key
We’ll start with the Zippo lighter. Open the lighter and remove the entire lighter mechanism. It should just slide out, leaving you with the metal case. Thoroughly rinse and dry the case inside and out to make sure no lighter fluid residue remains on the metal. Now you have the casing for your Zippo USB key.
Cut a small square of double-sided mounting tape, about the same length as the memory module, not counting the USB plug. With a pen or screwdriver, affix one side of the tape to the inside of the lighter casing, near the center of the lighter. Peel the backing off of the other side of the tape and press the memory module against the tape so the USB plug sticks out of the casing.
Once the tape is nice and secure, coat the memory module and the inside of the lighter with hot glue. The hot glue is important in keeping the flash memory steady; the double-sided tape holds the memory in place, but it isn’t quite strong enough to reliably stay put when you pull laterally on it, like when pulling the drive out of a USB port. Let the glue dry, cut away any stray hot glue threads, and make sure there’s no glue on the plug. Now you have your Zippo USB key!
Bob-omb USB Key
The Bob-omb USB key is both quirky to own and surprisingly easy to make. The bomb comes from a toy made by novelty candy company Au’Some. It used to be filled with sour fruit-flavored powder and a candy stick, but now it’s just an empty piece of plastic that looks like an enemy from the Mario games. Of course, you can use any hollow plastic or metal toy you’d like, as long as you can mount the memory and access the plug.
Like with the Zippo lighter, thoroughly rinse and dry the toy before working. Obviously, you don’t want any candy to get in your USB drive. Unscrew the cap (the fuse) and turn it upside down. Hold the plastic fuse in a vice or clamp upside-down, so the inside of the cap is facing up. Fill the cap about two-thirds of the way with hot glue, careful not to cover the threading of the cap. Insert the memory module so it sticks straight out of the cap and hold it steady for a minute until the glue starts to cool. When the glue is completely cooled and hardened, just screw it back into the toy bomb. Now you have your Bob-omb USB key! (Next task: mod it into a
Giant Bomb logo)
Altoids Tin USB Key
The Altoids USB key might look simple, but it’s the most complicated of the three keys. Because the tin doesn’t have a handy place for the USB plug to stick out, it has to be modified to be useful. For the tin to offer enough room for the flash drive to plug in, you have to make the lid completely removable, and cut the bottom part in half. Like the other two, rinse out the tin and dry it thoroughly before working.
Pull the lid completely off of the tin and set it aside. With shears, snip the two tabs that made the hinge for the tin. Place the memory module inside the tin, and mark where the plug will stick out after mounting the module. Remove the module and carefully use the shears to cut through the tin. Try to bend the metal as little as possible. Once the tin has been cut, use sandpaper (or a rotary tool with a sanding/grinding wheel) to smooth off the edges you cut.
Now the tin is ready for mounting. Place double-sided mounting tape on the “floor” of the cut tin. Place the memory module on the tape, leaving the USB plug to hang past the edge. Once the module is secure, cover it and the floor of the tin with hot glue. Once the glue’s dried, place the lid back on the assembled, finished tin. It should look like a harmless Altoids tin at any casual glance, but pop off the lid and you have a flash drive. That's it!
Have any other custom USB key stories or ideas? Share them with us in the comments section below!
Edit: Fixed Bob-omb spelling.
