Spy pens are portable flash drive that are mostly used for recording audio and video. They are often made of metal and come with a stylus. Spy pens look like regular pens but they can be used covertly to record audio and video. It’s easy to make a spy pen at home. All you need to do is buy a metal pen, spy pen camera and write protect, cable cover and chip cover. Now let’s talk more about how to make a spy pen at home.
Spy pens are one of the most preferred gadgets among businessmen and professionals. However, it is not possible for every person to purchase this device due to its high prices. Some people are successful in their ventures and can afford a spy pen but they occur an unfortunate incident, leading them to lose the valuable pen gadget. This loss can be prevented by making one’s own spy pen at home.
Table of Contents
Step1: Gathering the materials
For this project, you will need a pen that has a hollowed out back end. You can use any pen and remove the top end with a drill or scissors. This video shows how to do it with scissors. If you use a pair of scissors, be careful not to break the pen into two pieces.
You will also need a switch and battery, which can be found at your local home improvement store or ordered online from Amazon.
Tools needed:
- Hot Glue Gun
- Soldering Iron
- Solder Wire
Step2: Drilling the hole
Take the pen and switch out the ink cartridge for a longer one. This will increase the diameter of the hole you need to drill.
With a small drill bit, make a hole in the top of the pen. If you have an electric screwdriver, it’ll make this process easier. If not, or if you want to be more precise, use a hand-held drill. Make sure that you don’t drill too far into the pen — just enough so that you can fit the camera into it.
You also need to drill a hole in the side of the pen for the USB port. Place your camera next to the pen, and mark where this should be drilled.
Remove any ink components inside the pen.
Drill a hole in the front of your pen. This will allow you to see what’s being recorded by using your phone with an external screen (optional).
Step3: Wiring and soldering the wires
Wiring and soldering the wires. The wires are connected to each other and soldered.
The wires are wrapped around 2 parts of the pen’s wire with copper tape.
The copper tapes wrap around the pen’s spring, so that when you press the button, it will hold the wires in place.
Step4: Inserting the camera in the hole
There are many ways to make a spy pen and the easiest one is using the web camera. There is no need to buy an expensive and complicated pen with a pinhole camera, as you can use your old pen and simply insert a web camera in it. You can do this at home without any special tools as follows:
Take an old or new pen and cut off its top part with a sharp knife. Try to cut off as much of the top part as possible, so you have enough space for inserting the camera.
Insert the web camera in the hole of the pen, so that its lens is directed forward. Make sure that it is not too loose, but also not too tight in there, as you need to be able to adjust its position when you are finished.
Now take some paper glue and spread it around the hole of the pen. Make sure that there is enough glue so that you can press the camera firmly into it. Insert the camera into the hole again and leave it for about 10 minutes until the glue dries completely.
If you want to be able to recharge your spy pen battery easily, then leave some extra wires hanging out of one end of your pen after inserting it in there. You can now connect these wires with a USB
Step5: Making a structure for the camera
First of all, you need a structure for your camera. You can use different materials for it but the best one is cardboard or foam board. You can print a structure design and cut it out to make the shape you want or you can sketch it on a piece of paper and cut it out. But if you want to create your design then I suggest that you do some research first to find out how your camera will fit in the pen.
Step6: Soldering the battery with the power switch
After you have removed the ink, clean the pen with a wet towel. Take out your small screwdriver and remove the top part of the pen. Next, take out the motor by using a plier. Now take out the battery from the motor by using a solder iron.
Next, we will be soldering wires to connect the camera with the power switch and battery holder. You can use any color of wire you want as it does not matter in this step. Just make sure you know which wire is connected where because you will need to solder them back on when it’s done being assembled.
After soldering all of your wires, take your camera and position it at an angle that you like and then hot glue it down to the pen so it doesn’t move around. Place a piece of electrical tape over where the camera is located so that no light gets in while recording footage.
Step7: Assembling all parts of pen camera
1. The pen camera is a self-contained unit and works on batteries. So, while assembling the pen camera, please ensure that you do it carefully as you cannot open it later.
2. First of all take a look at the pen camera and its parts. You will find the main body of the pen along with a separate small part for the camera lens. The pen comes with an attachment to hold a memory card and also a metallic clip to attach it to your shirt or blouse pocket.
3. The first thing that you need to do is to insert the miniature battery into the small end of the camera lens part. It may require some effort as there is no space for you to hold on to the battery while inserting it into its slot inside the lens unit.
4. Once you have inserted the battery into its slot, you can attach the lens unit onto the main body of the pen through two small screws provided in that area.
5. Next, carefully insert one end of the USB cable provided along with the camera into one side of its slot in the pen body and connect another end of USB cable into its slot on the other side of pen body.
6. Carefully put back the two covers over each end of USB cable slots
Step8: Placing the camera inside pen from top
Take a paper clip and straighten it out. Now insert the paper clip into the hole at the top of the pen and push it down until you hear a click, this should release the ink cartridge. Pull the ink cartridge out, then pull the pen apart at the hole where the ink cartridge was
Now you have to take your spy camera apart, so pull off the black rubber ring to reveal a screw. Remove this screw and take off both pieces of casing. The PCB board is now exposed. Remove any screws that are covering any components.
Last words
A spy pen or a spy camera pen is a very good means of surveillance. You surely won’t go unnoticed with the spy pen in your hand. It is the best surveillance equipment with which you can carry out secret surveillance without anyone getting any idea about it. A spy camera pen can be used for different purposes.
