Cheap Handy Travel Case For Your Parts

[mmseng]

I'm going to China in a month FOR a month, and I've been looking for good ways to pack my PV stuff securely. Primarily I was looking for a way to keep my parts neatly together, in a low profile container, protected, and keep the battery buttons from being pushed. I figure, an altoids case would work decently well, but when I went to the store to get one I saw something perhaps even better. It's a pack of Tic Tac "CHILL" mints, more specifically, the plastic case they come in.

It fits disassembled 510/901 parts perfectly, small enough to keep the parts from wiggling around or getting their buttons pushed, and just roomy enough to fit the diameter and keep the batts from getting wedged so that their buttons get pushed. Nice, smooth, and low-profile, hell, it's DESIGNED to fit in your pocket. It's just wide enough for 5 batts or attys, Unfortunately, as you can see in the picture, it's not quite big enough for my extended 510 battery, but I did discover that if you pack it right, it will hold an entire generic 510 PT (2nd pic).

It opens in three ways, 1) a little dispenser door in the top pops open, 2) that same top pops all the way off, and 3) there's a sliding door in one side. The sliding door is just slightly too small/awkwardly placed to be able to extract parts from it very well. It's semi-transparent, so you can see what inside without opening it. Propbably not as sturdy as an altoids case, but it does the job. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks like it may withstand the dishwasher. Its surface is just barely textured so it holds permanent marker perfectly, so you can label your packs of stuff.

I think they cost like $2, kinda pricey for mints, but not for a handy carrying PV carrying case ;] Now I wish I'd gotten more when I was at the store.

Edit: I bet it would make a decent box for modding into a juicebox-type mod as well.

Edited April 28, 2010 by mmseng

[mmseng]

Also, as it turns out, the altoids tin couldn't be a better fit for my extended 510 batt and my spade.

[kitsune]

I really like the altoid tin--very compact and easy to take along. I use the tin for around town spare parts.

for travel I use the case logic USB case--works great for keeping extra parts.

[miatafrank]

Also, as it turns out, the altoids tin couldn't be a better fit for my extended 510 batt and my spade.

I'd put some tape over the ends of the batteries for the spade if I were you. Altoid tins are conductive after all.

[mmseng]

Heh, yeah that crossed my mind and now I try to remember to keep them from touching the case, or just make sure their common polar ends are not touching.

So a friend and I just finished hacking together custom PCCs out of Altoids cases and the guts from our Joye 510 PCCs. I'm very pleased with how they turned out. Look forward to the pics soon!

Edited April 30, 2010 by mmseng