USB. Most of us use it now, for some almost exclusively. If you have ever cursed at having to root around the rats nest of cables behind your machine to plug in a peripheral, this article is for you. There is no shortage of suitable products on the market, but most of them are beige monstrosities, and/or extremely expensive. For the last few weeks I have had a USB A-A extension cable taped to my desk. Whilst this may work just fine, I had an urge for front mounted usb ports on the blanking plate below my floppy drive.

Basic Theory

My USB extension cables had a nice square plastic part, and all of the connecter stuck out beyond this. The idea was to cut a pair of holes in my blanking plate and glue the connector into the hole, leaving the metal part sticking out the front. This would hopefully hide all the beige part of the connecter, and give a unique look to this mod.

Measuring and marking

I measured up the blanking plate, and measured the connecter. The hole needs to be big enough to push the metal part of the connecter through the plastic, and mine had a small lip on the edge of the metal, so I measured across that, and rounded it up to the nearest millimetre. I used Vernier Callipers and a scalpel to measure and mark up.

Cutting and gluing

I used the scalpel to make the holes, rotating the blade in the soft plastic to break through it, and then carving the hole to shape. It turned out my measurements were too small, and I had to cut the holes a little wider to fit. I used ordinary brand X superglue, and achieved a very strong joint due to there being a decent surface area to stick.

Cabling

In my case, I had a pair of extra USB ports on a blanking plate that I was going to use. I removed the blanking plate beneath and pulled the wires through the hole. One day I may mod a blanking plate so the hole is not so gaping. I coiled up all the slack and held it together with tiewraps.

Conclusion

 Luckily the beige part of the connecter does not show at all, and the protruding metal parts give the look I wanted. This mod looks very sleek, and really is useful, especially for those with painted cases or those that <like myself> think Front X panels are really ugly.

Prerequisites

USB ports on the back to re-route

USB extension cables: must have a flat on the plastic part, or flat enough to carve down.

Preferably a spare blanking plate so it’s not the end of the world if you bugger it all up.