How to Make a Hardwood Flash Drive Case

I love all things electronic!! As well as being functional, I want them to look and feel beautiful, too. I'll show you how to transform a plain, ordinary flash drive into a custom USB drive with a hardwood case.

Supplies and Equipment

• Length of hardwood 3½" x 5/8" x 1/8"
• Liquid wood adhesive
• Paste wax or finishing oil
• USB flash drive
• Bench Drill Press TBM
• Machine Vice MS 4
• Brad Point Drill Bits 
• Proxxon Disc Sander TSG 250/E

Instructions

1. Careful open an existing USB flash drive. Once it is exposed, handle only by the USB end, avoiding the delicate electronic connections.
   
2. Position the blank length of hardwood in the machine vice. Use a square to ensure that it is perpendicular in the vice.
   
3. Load the drill press with a 5/64" bit. Drill a row of holes centered in the end of the hardwood blank. Stop frequently to expel accumulated dust and shavings from the hole being drilled. Do not remove the blank from the machine vice, just slide the vice from the drill press with the blank still in it. Repeat with successively larger drill bits—3/32" → 1/8" → 9/64"—occasionally gently checking the fit of the USB flash drive.
   
4. Shape one end of the casing on the disc sander. Optionally, you can drill a hole in this shaped end for a key chain.
   
5. Sand surfaces and knock down the hard edges using the Delta sander with progressively finer grits of sandpaper—80 grit → 150 grit → 240 grit.
6. Glue the USB drive into the casing using liquid wood adhesive.
   
7. Polish with paste wax or finishing oil.
   
8. Now, go and back up your files!!
   

Carole