A simple Etcher 6 slot SD card jig

{"author":{"bio":"Daniel Chote, the Code Monkey, Cat Herder, Maker, H4x0r, uav pilot, sim racer, bullshit artist and dad. Made in Hastings, New Zealand... Now living in the USA!","imageUrl":"https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/7f04e14567c4ec6ea9c28826cc9e3e12?s=250\u0026d=mm\u0026r=x","location":"State College, PA","name":"Daniel Chote","postCount":152,"slug":"daniel","website":"http://chote.com"},"cover":"/content/images/2016/08/IMG_7487.jpg","hero":"/content/images/2018/11/IMG_6734.jpg","kind":"post","logo":"/content/images/2016/08/projectable-me-4.png","nav":[{"id":"62e854d471683dea63488bcbca5c6188","label":"Home","url":"/","sortOrder":0},{"id":"1bc84fb15620acd635df7735a0b8ddd8","label":"Raspberry Pi","url":"/tag/raspberry-pi/","sortOrder":1},{"id":"3207e2fec51d66d2a5b3d8d04feb9dd8","label":"Sim Racing","url":"/tag/sim-racing/","sortOrder":2},{"id":"59115afd52e59a74faa4b386e00ae3fa","label":"About","url":"/about-me/","sortOrder":3}],"post":{"id":"901f2fab2646e83671fe8f6e5500c117","siteId":"projectable","slug":"a-simple-etcher-6-slot-sd-card-jig","title":"A simple Etcher 6 slot SD card jig","markdown":"I've been working with Kubernetes a lot lately, I am using Kubernetes at [Filament](https://filament.com) as a way to manage sandbox blockchain environments, so naturally I wanted to try and replicate this environment using Raspberry Pis. This is actually easier said than done, even though the 3B/3B+ has 1GB of RAM, once you start bringing in persistent storage layers it becomes apparent that it just isn't enough memory to run anything but the simplest of kubernetes containers.\n\n![](/content/images/2018/11/IMG_6776.jpg)\n\nThroughout the testing and validation of Kubernetes on my 6 node 3B cluster I was constantly re-imaging the SD cards. I tested Raspbian and Ubuntu 18 64bit, with various full resets along the way. The process of imaging 6 cards with only 1 SD reader is a bit monotonous, so I set out to find out what options there were for multiple card writing systems. I was very quickly overwhelmed by the $1500+ SD card duplication systems out there and I realized I would have to cobble something together myself.\n\n####Doing the jig\n\nA quick search on Amazon and I found a [USB 3.0 dual SD/Micro SD card reader](http://a.co/d/fkdFMf3), I figured I could get 3 of these and plug them in to a hub to give me the 6 card slots I needed. I was then pleasantly surprised to find the manufacturer of the card readers also had a [4 port USB 3.0 hub](http://a.co/d/bhqes7W) that was the same size! Once I got all the hardware in hand I could see that the hub was almost exactly the same base dimensions as the 3 dual card readers stacked next to each other!\n\n![](/content/images/2018/11/IMG_6730.jpg)\n![](/content/images/2018/11/IMG_6731.jpg)\n\nI designed a simple 3D printable enclosure in Fusion360 and then printed it using Proto-Pasta Metallic Blue HTPLA. It is held together using M3 hardware.\n\n![](/content/images/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-19-at-12-50-13-PM.png)\n\nThe finished enclosure keeps everything together, and doesn't look half bad!\n\n![](/content/images/2018/11/IMG_6733.jpg)\n![](/content/images/2018/11/IMG_6735.jpg)\n\nThis setup gives you 6 usable SD/Micro SD card slots with 1 USB 3.0 cable, and a spare USB 3.0 port to daisy-chain more of these jigs if needed! [Etcher](https://www.balena.io/etcher/) can write to all of the SD cards at the same time, cutting the burn time significantly!\n\n![](/content/images/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-13-at-7-58-50-AM.png)\n\nA big thanks to [Balena](https://www.balena.io) (previously Resin.io) for releasing [Etcher](https://www.balena.io/etcher/) to the world, its a fantastic tool that scales well!\n\n####Go make one yourself!\nAll of the STLs and the BOM can be found on Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3217069\n\n\n","html":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026#39;ve been working with Kubernetes a lot lately, I am using Kubernetes at \u003ca href=\"https://filament.com\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eFilament\u003c/a\u003e as a way to manage sandbox blockchain environments, so naturally I wanted to try and replicate this environment using Raspberry Pis. This is actually easier said than done, even though the 3B/3B+ has 1GB of RAM, once you start bringing in persistent storage layers it becomes apparent that it just isn\u0026#39;t enough memory to run anything but the simplest of kubernetes containers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2018/11/IMG_6776.jpg\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThroughout the testing and validation of Kubernetes on my 6 node 3B cluster I was constantly re-imaging the SD cards. I tested Raspbian and Ubuntu 18 64bit, with various full resets along the way. The process of imaging 6 cards with only 1 SD reader is a bit monotonous, so I set out to find out what options there were for multiple card writing systems. I was very quickly overwhelmed by the $1500+ SD card duplication systems out there and I realized I would have to cobble something together myself.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eDoing the jig\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA quick search on Amazon and I found a \u003ca href=\"http://a.co/d/fkdFMf3\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eUSB 3.0 dual SD/Micro SD card reader\u003c/a\u003e, I figured I could get 3 of these and plug them in to a hub to give me the 6 card slots I needed. I was then pleasantly surprised to find the manufacturer of the card readers also had a \u003ca href=\"http://a.co/d/bhqes7W\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e4 port USB 3.0 hub\u003c/a\u003e that was the same size! Once I got all the hardware in hand I could see that the hub was almost exactly the same base dimensions as the 3 dual card readers stacked next to each other!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2018/11/IMG_6730.jpg\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2018/11/IMG_6731.jpg\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI designed a simple 3D printable enclosure in Fusion360 and then printed it using Proto-Pasta Metallic Blue HTPLA. It is held together using M3 hardware.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-19-at-12-50-13-PM.png\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe finished enclosure keeps everything together, and doesn\u0026#39;t look half bad!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2018/11/IMG_6733.jpg\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2018/11/IMG_6735.jpg\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis setup gives you 6 usable SD/Micro SD card slots with 1 USB 3.0 cable, and a spare USB 3.0 port to daisy-chain more of these jigs if needed! \u003ca href=\"https://www.balena.io/etcher/\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eEtcher\u003c/a\u003e can write to all of the SD cards at the same time, cutting the burn time significantly!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-13-at-7-58-50-AM.png\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA big thanks to \u003ca href=\"https://www.balena.io\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eBalena\u003c/a\u003e (previously Resin.io) for releasing \u003ca href=\"https://www.balena.io/etcher/\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eEtcher\u003c/a\u003e to the world, its a fantastic tool that scales well!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eGo make one yourself!\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll of the STLs and the BOM can be found on Thingiverse: \u003ca href=\"https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3217069\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003ehttps://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3217069\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","excerpt":"","metaTitle":"","metaDescription":"","status":"published","featured":false,"publishedAt":"2018-11-19T17:53:22Z","authorId":"190160de54f2192bd5b8734ec8808086","authorName":"Daniel Chote","authorSlug":"daniel","heroMediaId":"453a5a37a265940047559741a496164e","projectId":"","tags":[{"id":"b529314e428273696b02c474dcf56132","name":"Raspberry Pi","slug":"raspberry-pi"},{"id":"1e4c1c80a23c5c7fa3f6f43985fffb50","name":"Kubernetes","slug":"kubernetes"},{"id":"41dfeb58d853ede0e7f6fb6f9e24536c","name":"Etcher","slug":"etcher"},{"id":"e58b4788e99c9f53befd1e47b8073250","name":"3D Printing","slug":"3d-printing"}],"createdAt":"2026-10-18T13:16:27Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-18T13:16:27Z"},"preview":false,"related":[{"id":"94b2de371382ec793a64ed49343c14c6","image":"/content/images/2017/11/IMG_3194.JPG","slug":"talkiepi-nov2017-updates","title":"talkiepi Updates (November 2017)"},{"id":"72b96875d26f256ca5a8e7bea23a0319","image":"/content/images/2017/07/logo.png","slug":"raspberry-pi-touchscreen-octoprint-controller","title":"Raspberry Pi Touchscreen Octoprint Controller"},{"id":"3b428344cc73fc1bff50ed42b01a17ca","image":"/content/images/2016/09/IMG_8992.JPG","slug":"optimize-my-pi-wi-fi","title":"Optimize my pi wi fi"}],"site":{"id":"projectable","theme":"projectable","title":"Daniel Chote's Project Blog","description":"Software Development, Hardware Hacking, Sim Racing, Multirotors and Robots!","timezone":"America/New_York","postsPerPage":10,"logoMediaId":"21557257b3f2ecc4b3fa875b808097a7","coverMediaId":"25f1417193daeb2af73861aaa0dd17fd","copyright":"© Daniel Chote","twitterUrl":"https://twitter.com/dchote","linkedinUrl":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/dchote","googleTagId":"G-07GJBQVM38","hosts":[{"host":"new.projectable.me","canonical":false},{"host":"projectable.me","canonical":true},{"host":"www.projectable.me","canonical":false}]}}