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Posts Tagged ‘DIY’

Could You Build Your Own USB Flash Drive

Monday, May 16th, 2011

USB flash drives have permeated our lives and seem to be everywhere at the moment. Students use them at school and college for their homework and coursework, they’re commonly used at work to carry important files, data and presentations around and of course they are very popular in the promotional market as give-aways.

Most homes will have at least one or two USB flash drives of varying memory size and whilst some will be in regular use others will no doubt be languishing at the bottom of a drawer.

Today typical USB flash drives that you buy in the shops are at least 2GB albeit even this size is being phased out in favour of the larger 4GB size but, in the promotional sector, it’s still common for flash drives with only 64MB or 128MB of memory to be used.

There are lots of different styles, models and shapes of USB flash drives available but most are a variation of the original rectangular plastic design – to be fair the design of the USB stick has to reasonably similar to ensure that it can be pushed into a USB port on a PC whilst avoiding anything already into an adjacent USB port. It’s for this reason that some “fatter” USB flash drives are supplied with a small USB extension lead!

Build Your Own USB Stick

Build Your Own USB Stick

The core components that make up a USB flash drive (flash memory chip, controller chip, capacitor, crystal and USB connector) are available to buy on a single printed circuit board. The beauty of this is you can buy the “guts” of a USB flash drive and then build your own housing to fit around it – this is the ultimate in customisation project but opens up loads of scope to express your individuality through your USB flash drive.

Designing and building a USB flash drive is something that a number of schools have started to do as part of their Design Technology courses. Getting the design and aesthetics of the USB sticks right and thinking about little things like how you connect it to a lanyard or key ring, how the flash drive is packaged and what it looks like in the packaging are all key skills that design students must master.

The beauty of designing and building a USB flash drive in class is that the students will all have a fully functional, usable flash drive at the end of the project and as such its something that is likely to engage them and get them interested.

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Could You Build Your Own USB Flash Drive

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Build Your Own USB Flash Drive

Monday, February 21st, 2011

USB flash drives are incredibly popular at the moment and have pretty much replaced the CD and DVD as the preferred medium on which to store and carry personal data. Floppy disks, with the exception of the few die-hards that still use them, are all but extinct and there’s a whole new generation that will have never seen or used a floppy disk.

USB flash drives are popular because they’re relatively cheap, they’re easy to use, they’re small, they’re portable and you can transfer data onto them quickly and without fuss or any technical knowledge. Because pretty much every PC and Mac has a USB port when you use a USB flash drive to store and carry data around with you, you know you’re going to be able to access the data on pretty much any PC you use, whether the PC is at home, work or school.

Of course most people when they want a new USB flash drive they’ll pick one up at the local store or order one from the myriad of on-line stores that sell them.  The only downside of doing this is that most of the stores carry the same style, brand and type of flash drive and most of them are the same rectangular shape – not exciting but they work and the core design around which most are built is a tried and tested shape.

Build Your Own USB Flash Drive

Build Your Own USB Flash Drive

Many crave the opportunity to be different, to push back on the bland uniformity of everyday product design but for many part from putting a “sticker” or two on the drives there’s not much that can be done, or is there?

USB flash drives are pretty simple devices made up of 4 components; the core flash memory module, the flash memory controller chip (the brains of the unit); the PCB with integral USB connector and the “shell” that encases these parts and gives the flash drive its styling and look.

Today it’s possible to buy a USB PCB with the flash memory module and controller chip already on-board. – This effectively give you a functional USB flash drive but without a body shell. But if you buy these then you can design and make your own shell and have a truly unique flash drive that is personal to you.

Some schools are catching on to this idea and buying USB PCB’s and setting their students the task of designing and building a USB flash drive – it’s a great idea and a fantastic way to get the students engaged in product design, manufacture and packaging – who knows, they might even come up with a design to challenge the big, established brands.

USB2U is a supplier of branded USB flash drives but can also supply “build your own USB Flash Drive” kits for schools or colleges – call now for a quote or fill in the on-line

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Build Your Own USB Flash Drive

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Design Technology GCSE Results – Would a Custom USB Project Help

Friday, August 27th, 2010

As the dust starts to settle on the recently announced GCSE results schools and teachers will no doubt now start to look at how they can continue to improve upon this years results. In Design Technology (DT) where there was a wide spread of results with D’s to U’s making up over 36% of the marks awarded one of the challenges is engaging with the students and getting them to think about a product or an idea that excites them.

If you can get the students fired up and interested in a design project then it follows that they are more likely to take an interest in the wider concepts and challenges of product design, product specification, manufacturing processes, packaging and marketing. Some students will need more of a steer than others and some will no doubt prefer to work within a class project or framework that includes a group of them.

One area worthy of consideration because its meets these criteria is a project to design and build a unique custom USB flash drive. Most students will be familiar with USB flash drives with many of them using flash drives to store data, music files, media files and hopefully homework. Typical USB flash drives that are available to buy in the UK are standard rectangular shaped drives that are functional but they don’t always excite.

USB PCB

USB PCB

So, the opportunity for DT teachers is to set their students a challenge to design, build, package and develop a marketing plan for their own custom USB flash drives, perhaps a flash drive that appeals to a specific market niche or a USB flash drive that has a unique design or function. The internal components of a USB flash drive (this is a single PCB that includes the flash memory and the flash controller chips) are readily available from suppliers like USB2U. The challenge is then to design the “shell” into which the PCB sits.

The completed customised USB flash drive will work and function just like any regular flash drive.  Designs that are considered good enough could always be put forward to USB companies as potential products to take to market. The promotional sector is a big user of branded USB flash drives and is always looking for new and innovative designs.

Custom USB Ideas

Custom USB Ideas

Whilst a project to design a new design for a USB flash drive won’t in itself lift the overall pass marks for the DT GCSE it could be just the “spark” to get more students actively engaged in the subject and get involved in a “hands-on” project that they can relate to.

For information on prices for USB Flash Drive PCB’s and tips and advice on how to use them as part of a self build project get in touch with the team at USB2U.

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Design Technology GCSE Results – Would a Custom USB Project Help

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