advice on new mod

Bwog

only have this vague idea in my head and I'm looking for any advice. The plan is to take a retractable USB cable and install in a gutted 3.5 floppy frame. Some type of double wall installed to hold the retractable part in place while allowing the cable ends to run free. One end spliced to a motherboard header, the other left as is (mini usb for cameras, phones, etc) The faceplate would be cut and some type of hinge installed to stealth it. I'm thinking something from an eyeglass case would be about right. The result would be a hinged 3.5 bay hiding a handy mini usb cable that could be pulled out and retracted. Pretty straightforward really but any tips or tricks offered would be appreciated.

ugzkmk

ok so a retractable usb cable mounted in side a 3.5 bay. im not sure how easy splicing in to mobo headers would be, but one thing i have done in the past, was take an old case and remove the front usb connection that already has the header connection. thall make it easier on your part. connect the header, then connect the retractable usb to the usb end of the header.

as for the actual housing, maybe gut an old floppy, fill it with bondo and set the usb retrackable thing in the bondo. smooth out the front end and maybe add a clip to the mini usb end so it doesnt go in to far and end up out of reach.

good luck, sounds cool, and its a new one to me.

Bwog

yes, I have a header cable i'll be splicing into for the mobo connection, hopefully there's some kind of industry standard to the cable color but I with a little poking around I can probably figure it out. I like the bondo idea, that would keep it nice and snug. I'm imagining some kind of faceplate behind the faceplate, installed inside the floppy case. A slot cut in the middle would allow the cable to be slipped in before install holding the usb end in a convienient location up front but recessed enough for the front faceplate to close. I've already seached and nobody is making this kind of thing commercially, which just means I want to do it all the more now. In theory it sounds pretty easy.

Bwog

now that I think about it, using the entire external usb as suggested is a much more elegant solution. Simple is always better. Dont know why i was trying to over-engineer things.