A practice in overkill; the USB key protective case

[drkfce]

I'm a guy that likes protection. Protection that makes you feel safe no matter how bad you suck at something. I'm the kind of guy that uses 64 character ASCII passwords just to be that extra bit secure, despite the extra work behind it. To that end, I thought I would use some of my limited creativity to protect something to the point of madness. Hence, the protective USB key case.

I was inspired by an article I saw in Popular Science, in where a guy modified an Altoids can into a 5v recharger. I thought, “Hey, this could be a fun little project; stuff the Altoids can with foam rubber, put the key inside, and see how well it could survive day to day transport.”

So, after getting the design churned through my head, all I had to do was get some supplies rounded up and start. Finding the Altoids can was easy, my Aunt kept some around the house to store her medicine when she went out. The problem was, I couldn't find any foam rubber. So after asking around, searching on google, I never really found the solution, until I looked into my closet. In there, lied two semi-empty motherboard cases that contained the treasure, two separate sheets of foam rubber, one 5mm thick, and another 7mm thick, which worked out better than I could have ever hoped for.

With the materials all ready to go, I started right away. After many efforts of trial and error (I am a budding DIY'er I guess), I came out with the best way to handle production. Trace and create templates from the USB key and Altoids container from cardboard, use them to guide my cutting, and use super glue on the top part of the case. These are my results:

First, I created the templates out of cardboard

Then, I used the templates as a guide in cutting out the shapes of the foam rubber.

Using the case template and the Key template, I created these two (each 5mm thick):

Putting a 8mm thick piece at the bottom, and securing the top piece with a two sided sticky tape, I got this:

Put all the foam together:

And Viola, you have a protective case:

But, in the end, I am the kind of guy that likes to be a bit superfluous, go over the deep end, and what have you. So, after a few weeks of enjoying my finished project, I decided to continue with a CASE for the CASE.

 

[drkfce]

Ultimately, I chose a cheap, reliable, very replaceable container, the Ziploc container. So, I set off on my quest for protection, once again.

This time, I used two 7mm pieces of foam rubber on the bottom and super glued a third one to the top:

Unfortunately, by this time, by supply of foam rubber was running short, so short, in fact, that I could not use any more to fully cover the rest of the Altoids container. Thus, I had to improvise with something that I never expected that I could use.

I remember watching WRC racing on the Speed channel, and one thing interested me. The drivers were not only secured in by their thorough seat belt system, they had some sort of elastic rope holding the back of the seat. If the vehicle were to suffer a head-on collision, the elasticity of the rope would reduce the impact on the driver and probably save a lot of lives. Well, I thought I could use a similar bungie system, where the Altoid container would be secured by multiple pieces of rubber band on the corners, acting much like the aforementioned system.

Consequently, though, If I were to glue the rubber bands to the container, It would permanently loose it's ability to be portable, since it would become a part of the Ziploc container. Sometimes I need the “smallness” of the original Ziploc container to fit into my jean's pockets, because I cannot wear my thick winter coat during the summer to carry the thing around.

As it turns out, if one were to separate another Altoid's top off and turn it upside down, it could snap in like a magazine into a gun, and still retain it's portablity. So it was settled, the design was finished.

Here is my first attempt at creating the housing for the case, which ended up in failure since I glued it wrong.

However, a second try allowed me to make a rather successful piece, and all I had to do was secure it into the Ziploc container. Unfortunately, since the Ziploc container is polypropylene (BIG thanks to grover), the super glue was practically useless to me. No matter what I tried, super glue, rubber cement, airplane glue, nothing would stick, so, I had to settle with duck tape (If you can't duck it, fuck it). Eventually the tape will fail, but at least I can fix it with a realatively short period of repair time.

Here is what it looks like empty (Yes, I know it is off center):

Here's what it looks like full:

And here is the final product:

And there you have it, my practice in overkill.
Perhaps later I can create some movies of me testing out it's durability (maybe something with a baseball bat), it depends on how much people like my project.

 

[Drunkinsquirl]

You've got a lot of free time on your hands don't you.

 

[drkfce]

You've got a lot of free time on your hands don't you.

Indeed I do...indeed I do

 

[ilkka]

I'm not sure you've analyzed the risk profile correctly.

Not knowing much about USB keys, I would suspect that ESD would be a rather significant danger to them. After all, with no moving parts physical damage is pretty rare. What physical damage does happen, I doubt shocks are one of them.

While the foam no doubt would help against a baseball bat, that's hardly a very common danger to USB keys. I suspect they are far more likely to fall on the ground and have something heavy dropped on them. Against that steel is better.

GJ though

 

[forcefed]

If thats how you protect your usb stick, how does your house look?

 

[darkmatter]

His house? pssh, what about the protection on his actual stick?
I can only imagine him showing up to work wearing 3 layers of cups, ranging from medium to XL...

 

[crazjayz]

His house? pssh, what about the protection on his actual stick?
I can only imagine him showing up to work wearing 3 layers of cups, ranging from medium to XL...

LMAO