Add Grundig "quality" to a Belkin Wi-fi Dongle

This is my Lounge Hi-Fi and TV unit. In the lowest shelf I have an old laptop which serves my CD collection (as WMA files) to the HiFi.

It also serves catch-up TV server and is connected to my BT Home Hub using the Belkin USB Dongle f5d7050, which can be seen to the bottom right of the TV. This Philips 2004-vintage LED telly has a SVGA socket on it!

The main problem is that the base of the Belkin is flimsy plastic and has no "heft" - in fact the spring in the cable is enough to flip it over annoyingly when it's dusted by SWMBO.

Now cheap cameras were sold as legit a few years ago from dodgy geezers in cars, ("Psst - want a cheap camera - wink wink") and the way they were given credence as quality goods is by fitting lead weights in the casings (They are still to be found in Charity Shops!)

So how to apply the same trick to this Belkin.

This is the list of ingredients. Milliput is an essential for the Mendologists toolbox. It is a two-part epoxy based putty that was intended originally for modellers, but can repair all sorts of household goods, can be smoothed with wet hands, and will even set under water. Hands can be cleaned in water, but I use latex gloves in case of any skin reactions.

Standard Yellow-grey is the cheapest and should be available from old-fashioned hardware shops for about £3. White and Black are the most expensive. Art Shops generally sell it at about double that price. It has a shelf life and you should squeeze it through the box to make sure it is nice and squidgy like Plasticene. It can be softened before mixing by A FEW SECONDS in the microwave.

Also I have a couple of bits of scrap lead. You can use curtain weights, bits of tyre balancing weights, or in this case I cast some molten airgun pellets in a hole drilled in some wood (smokes a bit!) and cut the resultant slug in half.
Underneath the paper-thin Belkin base is the back end of a female USB-A socket. To stop any contamination from Milliput oozing into the works, the back of the socket is protected by small pieces of Duct (Duck) tape.
Twist off equal lengths of both colours .
Thoroughly mix them together by rolling and squeezing in the hands using latex gloves if you have them.

I use the trick of squeezing out flat and folding over and over, like making puff-pastry (sorry guys - look it up).

If you can still see streaks of colour like this it's not mixed!
This is what it should look like - totally blended colours.

THEN mix it some more! Any unmixed stuff will remain soft for ever.
Stick the lead pieces in with a small amount of Milliput..
...then cover over with the rest of the stuff.

You can choose to smooth it flat with a wet finger, or leave it slightly proud of the surface and sand it off. The first method is better as it's quite a tough material, and the dust gets into the works.
Final touch is a piece of self-adhesive felt. Now we have the technology of the Belkin with the pompous 1950's feel of Grundig or Telefunken build quality!

And it doesn't fall over when you dust it!


Job Done.