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Friend's gift request: (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by Apytele@sh.itjust.works to c/diy@slrpnk.net

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Star shaped wand with the ability to make contactless payments.

Apparently there are 3d prints with an insertable card slot but they appear large and tbh ugly imo. My thought is I could buy a $10 reloadable prepaid card and extract the chip then give her the #s in writing as a backup if the chip alone stops working? This way I could construct it out of balsa and stain it which would be classier. I could even maybe give it an interchangeable NFC chip if she wants smarthome control of some kind.

Question I came here to ask: Would the chip still function if removed from the card?

Edit: now appears the better plan would be to buy a separate chip and clone the card? Would I want to put the chip at the top or bottom of the handle for best results tapping the card?

Edit#2: Am circling back to dissolving a card in acetone.

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[–] thr0w4w4y2@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Yeah you can use acetone to get the chip and antenna out of the card and then resin or cast it into a wand.

But really wouldn’t it be cleaner just to make a plaster cast of an apple watch, and then cast a vinyl or rubber star with the ability to insert said watch later, to make contactless payments with?

edit: apparently this is so common there are etsy shops for them https://www.etsy.com/market/credit_card_wand

[–] Apytele@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Yes the etsy shops are why she wants one but I feel like I could make one that's much more elegant. She does not have an apple watch or the means to purchase one but I felt like if I could just Frankenstein the visible part of a card chip into a much smaller balsa wood sandwich or into a pocket drilled into something like this for $20 and most of that being the card. How does one get the antenna out too (a subsequent google search indicates that I would still need the surface area of a card which makes this less doable, which is why I asked in the first place, ty).

Although now I'm wondering how hard it would be to buy an RFID chip that's more appropriately shaped and clone the gift card.

[–] thr0w4w4y2@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

yeah the chip on the card itself is not the component that will make the connection with the payment terminal. luckily for you, you don’t have to have the antenna be that same shape, it can fit into different shapes and still be effective, like the tip of a magic wand. try it with low value cards first and don’t break the antenna. good luck!

[–] Apytele@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

I'm seeing now that there are standalone RFID chips that are already loose. How hard would it be to clone the card to one of those and do I need a chip with a specific length of antenna or other specific quality?

[–] merde@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago

this may help you with RFID ☞ https://f-droid.org/packages/de.syss.MifareClassicTool/

This is a low-level tool for reading, writing and analyzing MIFARE Classic RFID tags.
It is designed for users who have at least basic familiarity with the MIFARE Classic technology.
It provides several features to interact with (and only with) MIFARE Classic RFID-Tags.

[–] thr0w4w4y2@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

bank cards include encryption/hardening against cloning for obvious reasons. I’m not sure if the same would apply to a “pay as you go” card but I would expect so.

[–] Apytele@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

I do seem to be circling back to dissolving a card in acetone, yeah.