Necrofire
12-16-2007, 07:01 AM
Conversion of a 4-port USB hub to house 2GB flash drive and a micro-SD card reader.
I started this project because having to carry my micro-sd card reader, my 2GB flash drive, a USB hub, and a very long usb cord was difficult, since my laptop bag is small and filled with crap as it was. My goal was to have the card reader and flash drive neatly tucked away inside the casing for the hub. The hub had a lot of extra space, so this wasn't a problem.
Details below...
Parts list, in picture form. Btw, these are thumbnails, click them to get full pic.:toast:
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/0.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/0.jpg)
Missing from the list is my multimeter. Also, I didn't purchase anything for this project, this just details how much the things I used on this project cost.
Here's everything in tact, minus the casing.
The Vakoss USB hub (http://members.merxmotion.com/skins/100c11t11117/motion.asp?siteid=100076&lgid=1&menuid=538&prodid=108481&cat=144) was $10 from Frys Electronics, the Datel Micro-SD card reader (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5716126) came with the Datel Games N Music for DS for $12 off ebay, and my Emprex 2GB Flash drive. (http://shop2.outpost.com/%7BHjVFA1dmP33P0lydyzDkSw**.node3%7D/product/5275287;jsessionid=HjVFA1dmP33P0lydyzDkSw**.node3? site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG) was $11 on sale at Frys Electronics.
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/1.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/1.jpg)
Starting out, I tried unsoldering the usb plugs off of the devices and hub. Lead-free solder sucks, so I was forced to pry off the plugs on everything with some trusty pliers.
Small note, I only had to pry off the, umm, "support beams" for the plug, the power and data leads came off fine with solder. For the hub's pins, I pulled the plug off, and instead of unsoldering the pins off, I simply cut them short, allowing me to solder wires to them.
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/2.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/2.jpg)
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/3.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/3.jpg)
Same thing with the USB hub
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/4.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/4.jpg)
After everything was off, I took a cut-up USB wire, and grabbed about 3 or so inches of the 4 wires inside.
I noted which pin on the devices was pin 1 (red) and proceeded to first solder (red)(white)(green)(black) wires onto the hub for the card reader.
Eying it, I could see that the 12MHz crystal oscillator on the card reader would be too tall for the hub's casing. I ended up carefully bending the oscillator to the side, and out of the way.
Also, I had to slightly move a capacitor on the hub to make some room for said oscillator.
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/5.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/5.jpg)
After finishing up some soldering and some heatshrink wrapping, I tested for shorts with my multimeter and then tested my work by plugging it in. Success.:roll:
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/6.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/6.jpg)
Now, hot glue isn't necessary, but I put it there so my crappy soldering and wrong-sized heatshrink wouldn't come undone.
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/7.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/7.jpg)
EDIT: Forgot to resize this sucker. Eh, don't feel like it.
After wiring up the second port to accommodate my flash drive, I was curious to see if the hub's controller became hot like any other processor. I was only concerned because my flash drive is cheaply built, and one of the memory chips on it would be directly touching said usb hub controller.
Instead of toughing it out and hoping it wouldn't matter, I decided to just put a make-shift heatsink in between the two chips.
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/8.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/8.jpg)
Note: Thanks go to ASRock for supplying this beautiful MCP61P Northbridge heatsink for this project. (I have to say, the heatsink did NOT do a good-enough job cooling my northbridge, so I replaced it with a larger heatsink, and put a fan on said larger heatsink:rockout:)
Now, this step was also unnecessary, but I had some AS5 laying around so I did it.
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/9.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/9.jpg)
And here's the heatsink. Right now it's held on by the AS5, but later it fell off, and so I ended up hot-gluing the heatsink on. (NOT in between heatsink and chip, that would be silly:p)
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/A.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/A.jpg)
Boring and unimportant story ahead! You can skip to next paragraph if you hate reading:toast:
I was almost done, I just needed to solder 4 more wires to my flash drive. While soldering the last wire, one of the wires came off the hub. I though "no big deal" and attempted to solder it back on. Well, as I started to solder it, a wire can undone on the flash drive end. Again, no big deal, I just didn't wet those wires well enough before hand.
Well, after that was soldered, everything was in place and I hurriedly hot-glued the wires. DONE! Well, that's waht I thought. There was too much wire and hot glue, and I couldn't fit the the flash drive with everything else in the casing.
I ended up getting kinda frustrated:banghead::banghead::banghead: (because it was 3am and I wanted to be done) so I pulled hard on the flash drive, ripped all 4 wires off, and went to sleep:shadedshu.
Resuming the project, I decided on using IDE cable wire for the flash drive. I have ~20 or so IDE cables (40- and 80-pin, as well as some floppy) so tearing up one didn't bother me.
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/B.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/B.jpg)
Note, it was A LOT EASIER to strip the cable, solder it, and make it look pretty, as well as get it out of the way. I absolutely recommend this wire for this type of job if you suck at soldering and lack a wire-stripper.
Done! Time for a quick test.
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/C.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/C.jpg)
Note how the heatsink is hot-glued on.
And there we go, everything is perfect.:roll:
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/D.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/D.jpg)
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/E.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/E.jpg)
And here it is, plugged in and working.
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/F.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/F.jpg)
I have to mention that the hub can easily take 4 devices without external power, since most devices don't need >100mA from USB for power. My phone works fine for accessing the card, the power is plugged into the hub just so that I could confirm that it would charge.:D
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/FF.png (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/FF.png)
I started this project because having to carry my micro-sd card reader, my 2GB flash drive, a USB hub, and a very long usb cord was difficult, since my laptop bag is small and filled with crap as it was. My goal was to have the card reader and flash drive neatly tucked away inside the casing for the hub. The hub had a lot of extra space, so this wasn't a problem.
Details below...
Parts list, in picture form. Btw, these are thumbnails, click them to get full pic.:toast:
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/0.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/0.jpg)
Missing from the list is my multimeter. Also, I didn't purchase anything for this project, this just details how much the things I used on this project cost.
Here's everything in tact, minus the casing.
The Vakoss USB hub (http://members.merxmotion.com/skins/100c11t11117/motion.asp?siteid=100076&lgid=1&menuid=538&prodid=108481&cat=144) was $10 from Frys Electronics, the Datel Micro-SD card reader (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5716126) came with the Datel Games N Music for DS for $12 off ebay, and my Emprex 2GB Flash drive. (http://shop2.outpost.com/%7BHjVFA1dmP33P0lydyzDkSw**.node3%7D/product/5275287;jsessionid=HjVFA1dmP33P0lydyzDkSw**.node3? site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG) was $11 on sale at Frys Electronics.
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/1.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/1.jpg)
Starting out, I tried unsoldering the usb plugs off of the devices and hub. Lead-free solder sucks, so I was forced to pry off the plugs on everything with some trusty pliers.
Small note, I only had to pry off the, umm, "support beams" for the plug, the power and data leads came off fine with solder. For the hub's pins, I pulled the plug off, and instead of unsoldering the pins off, I simply cut them short, allowing me to solder wires to them.
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/2.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/2.jpg)
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/3.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/3.jpg)
Same thing with the USB hub
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/4.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/4.jpg)
After everything was off, I took a cut-up USB wire, and grabbed about 3 or so inches of the 4 wires inside.
I noted which pin on the devices was pin 1 (red) and proceeded to first solder (red)(white)(green)(black) wires onto the hub for the card reader.
Eying it, I could see that the 12MHz crystal oscillator on the card reader would be too tall for the hub's casing. I ended up carefully bending the oscillator to the side, and out of the way.
Also, I had to slightly move a capacitor on the hub to make some room for said oscillator.
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/5.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/5.jpg)
After finishing up some soldering and some heatshrink wrapping, I tested for shorts with my multimeter and then tested my work by plugging it in. Success.:roll:
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/6.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/6.jpg)
Now, hot glue isn't necessary, but I put it there so my crappy soldering and wrong-sized heatshrink wouldn't come undone.
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/7.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/7.jpg)
EDIT: Forgot to resize this sucker. Eh, don't feel like it.
After wiring up the second port to accommodate my flash drive, I was curious to see if the hub's controller became hot like any other processor. I was only concerned because my flash drive is cheaply built, and one of the memory chips on it would be directly touching said usb hub controller.
Instead of toughing it out and hoping it wouldn't matter, I decided to just put a make-shift heatsink in between the two chips.
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/8.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/8.jpg)
Note: Thanks go to ASRock for supplying this beautiful MCP61P Northbridge heatsink for this project. (I have to say, the heatsink did NOT do a good-enough job cooling my northbridge, so I replaced it with a larger heatsink, and put a fan on said larger heatsink:rockout:)
Now, this step was also unnecessary, but I had some AS5 laying around so I did it.
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/9.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/9.jpg)
And here's the heatsink. Right now it's held on by the AS5, but later it fell off, and so I ended up hot-gluing the heatsink on. (NOT in between heatsink and chip, that would be silly:p)
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/A.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/A.jpg)
Boring and unimportant story ahead! You can skip to next paragraph if you hate reading:toast:
I was almost done, I just needed to solder 4 more wires to my flash drive. While soldering the last wire, one of the wires came off the hub. I though "no big deal" and attempted to solder it back on. Well, as I started to solder it, a wire can undone on the flash drive end. Again, no big deal, I just didn't wet those wires well enough before hand.
Well, after that was soldered, everything was in place and I hurriedly hot-glued the wires. DONE! Well, that's waht I thought. There was too much wire and hot glue, and I couldn't fit the the flash drive with everything else in the casing.
I ended up getting kinda frustrated:banghead::banghead::banghead: (because it was 3am and I wanted to be done) so I pulled hard on the flash drive, ripped all 4 wires off, and went to sleep:shadedshu.
Resuming the project, I decided on using IDE cable wire for the flash drive. I have ~20 or so IDE cables (40- and 80-pin, as well as some floppy) so tearing up one didn't bother me.
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/B.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/B.jpg)
Note, it was A LOT EASIER to strip the cable, solder it, and make it look pretty, as well as get it out of the way. I absolutely recommend this wire for this type of job if you suck at soldering and lack a wire-stripper.
Done! Time for a quick test.
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/C.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/C.jpg)
Note how the heatsink is hot-glued on.
And there we go, everything is perfect.:roll:
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/D.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/D.jpg)
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/E.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/E.jpg)
And here it is, plugged in and working.
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/F.jpg (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/F.jpg)
I have to mention that the hub can easily take 4 devices without external power, since most devices don't need >100mA from USB for power. My phone works fine for accessing the card, the power is plugged into the hub just so that I could confirm that it would charge.:D
http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/Thumbs/FF.png (http://necrofire.hmmburger.com/USB_Hub/FF.png)