An insane question.

Commercial electronics are usually specified for 70C. Sorry to say, the Fimo (a polymer clay) has a minimum curing temp of 129C. Sorry -- won't work. Not even close.

Try doing what they did with the original plastic shell for the thumb drive -- cure your case first, then put in the electronics.

Good luck Chris

Silicon's typically fine for 150C 'storage'. It may just be be possible.

Graham

Just do it and let the group know.

Yes just try it with a cheap low capacity drive off ebay

Specs aren't reality. Most electronics will survive temps like that just fine.

John

You're right, Mr. Larkin. The IC would survive 129C for 10 minutes.

I was more concerned about the inside of the USB connector (thermoplastic, I believe), the integrity of the board, and oxidation on the connector surfaces. Oxidation might be a lot more of a concern if there's any outgassing of the plastic clay while it's curing.

But as another post suggested, the OP could do worse than just firing up the oven and trying it, especially if he uses something to protect the connector.

I still like the idea of making an impression in the Fimo with the electronics, curing it, and then attaching the thumb drive innards with a touch of hot melt epoxy. AFAIK, Fimo retains its shape well during curing. If the OP can arrange to make his "insane" little thumb drive sculpture in two pieces to fit together like a clamshell, that would definitely be safer.

Come to think of it, the whole idea of outrageous thumb drive sculptures kind of sounds like a good small marketing "Fuzzy Dice" opportunity, and one that could be started on a very limited basis through eBay and ramped up to volume quickly. You could easily get a $15 to $20 bump with the "added value" of a humorous/ribald thumb drive, at least until everybody has one. And the OP might be able to arrange to get delivery of the thumb drives in moderate volumes (1000s) without the plastic outer shells.

I would be concerned to minimize the weight of the sculpture, though. The weight of a piece of rock hanging from a USB port could cause problems for customers.

The OP should be congratulated on his creativity.

Cheers Chris

I'd say you shouldn't use the products of any company that puts shockwave flash crap on their home page.

Try Sculpey:

Good Luck! Rich

Yup. One idea I liked:

The connector was my primary concern as well. I think it is just polyethylene. Connector surfaces can be dealt with just by pushing it in and pulling it out a few times. What I'm also worried about is the various glues and resins and the different expansion coefficients of the various materials causing fissures.

Such as? I can't see a heat sink being any good since it would be in the same oven.

But there would be a seam.

The time involved doing one-offs doesn't make that price bump worth it. When it comes to making thousands at a time, that's best left to the Chinese.

Is it more significant than the weight of a bunch of keys?

I'm just a malcontent who tries to make things the way I want them.

"Hot melt epoxy"?

Oops. Hot melt OR epoxy.

Thanks for the spot.

Chris

Or that offers "compleat listings".. ouch.

FWIW, Shockwave and Flash are separate products/players. In this instance, it's done in Flash.

I did it on one and it seems to work. The only downside is that I covered the LED so now I have to just wait for what I hope is long enough for it to unmount before pulling it.

next time leave a hole to the led and install a light-pipe (like a piece of perspex rod) after baking it (superglue works excellent on perspex)

otoh persepx may be ale to withstand the curing temperature of fimo, I forget what temperature causes damage to perspex

Jasen

Perspex is a brand name but for what? I was considering using glass beads.

In this case it doesn't matter. The LED is lit whenever the drive has power instead of when it is being accessed.

if you're really into this kind of thing i had good success casting silver using a tuna can, one of those little orange juice cans, a small handheld torch, and a propane burner. here's the web page that has the process i used, whoever this guy is, he sure was clever to think all this up lol. go here and click on the part that says "steam casting", lessons 1 through 6. it actually works, i'm here to tell you. :)

"acrylic" polymethylmethacrylate or polymethyl(2-methyl propanoate)

on second thought polyester resin (used with glass fibre bor making boats, surfboards, etc) is pourable and might suit better

glass beads should work too but the hole isn't really needed.

Bye. Jasen

On Sun, 04 Jun 2006 04:36:48 GMT, Mark Healey wrote: ...