Home Office: Pimp your rig

I wanted to add some extra USB ports to my desktop PC, so I bought a cheap, generic 4 port USB hub. Excellent value, works perfectly, but – it’s another piece of clutter on my already busy desk.

I didn’t want to glue the hub to my PC, it felt too permanent a solution, I may want to use the hub with my laptop. Fortunately my PC has a pressed steel case- the perfect subject for magnets. I bought some rare earth magnets and super glue and set to it. As always, when working with superglue, I made sure my debonder was handy before starting out.

The magnets I used are very powerful and you need to be careful when using them to avoid them smashing together. Before getting crazy with the glue it’s worth spending a few seconds to investigate if there are any ‘hot-spots’ on the hub. These magnets are powerful and if there are magnetic components in the hub they will home onto them. If possible it’s better to go with the flow and allow the magnet to find its natural home. If it’s not possible at least you’ll know what to expect when you try to glue the magnet in place. Of course, if you’ve got a strong magnetic attraction you can maybe skip the glue entirely.

Place a tiny amount of glue on the back of the magnet, carefully place it in position, and hold for 10 seconds. If you’re feeling really conscientious you might want to remove the barcode label first – any adhesive is only as strong as its substrate. Repeat with the second magnet and you’re done.

The finished result will hold securely to any steel PC case and can be easily re-positioned as the mood takes you.

Flushed with success from my magnet success I set about upgrading a Mk1 prototype detachable USB hub which had made use of self-adhesive Velcro. The Velcro worked well and is particularly suited to laptops, printers, etc., where there may not be much in the way of available metal work, but it’s inherently slightly less secure when adding and removing USB devices. For this hub I used smaller magnets (~10mm diameter) to fit between the two strips on its base.

While the smaller magnets are perfectly strong enough to secure the hub I’d advise going for the slightly larger (~20mm diameter) magnets. The small magnets are tricky to handle, doubly so when they have superglue applied to one face – keep that debonder handy!

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