I discovered this little mod a few years ago and found it to be extremely useful and fun to make. It has since found a permanent position in my gadgets bag and goes everywhere my mobile devices go.

Looking back at my netbooks and umpcs there was always something lacking in terms of mobility. When using my devices on the go, I usually carry it in a bag along with a charger, usb dongles and other useful tools. When the time comes for me to use them productively, they don’t seem so portable. Once you plug in the wireless mouse and 3G dongle the device starts getting too awkward to hold.

As you can see, the dongles are obviously getting in the way, making it very uncomfortable to hold, let alone be productive. So from this problem, came a clever solution. A member of the eeeuser.com forums posted an ingenious and fun mod which could be used to overcome this little inconvenience.

Yes a Lego® brick, but not just any Lego® brick. Shall we take a closer look?

That’s right, it’s a usb extension cable hidden neatly inside the Lego® brick. No more dongles sticking out from the device and a much more comfortable grip.

With the Lego® block plugged in, your usb devices will sit flush with your computer making things much more neat and tidy.

To make your own Lego® usb extender all you will need is:

• a Lego® brick
• a spare usb extension cable (or you can buy the male and female usb connectors from your local electronics store)
• small pieces of wire
• hot glue
• hobby knife

Optional but recommended

• soldering iron
• solder

Step 1

The first step is to make room in the Lego® brick for the parts to fit in. You will need a sharp knife and some patience as things are very tight.

Step 2

Using your knife again, strip down the usb connector so you are left with a male and female connector being careful not to damage them in the process.

Step 3

Using hot glue and some wire, connect the male to the corresponding female connector. For a more reliable connection you can use solder to connect the parts, however a steady hand and hot glue will suffice for people who aren’t so good with the soldering iron. My first attempt was done without solder and it is still working fine almost three years later.

Step 4

Test out the cable to make sure you connected everything correctly and then carefully position the connectors inside the Lego® brick. Once you are sure everything is in the right position you can fill the gaps with hot glue. Let it dry and we’re done.

Looking back at the pictures, I noticed I had used Mega Bloks instead of Lego for this particular mod so any blocks will work. I hope you enjoyed reading this short DIY and stay tuned for reviews and other tips to make your portable devices more mobile.

For those of you who are wondering, the computer shown in the photos is my modded eeepc which can be seen here.