How to turn an empty Altoids tin into a Christmas present:
As a Christmas gift this year, I decided to make Joy's sister a cheap VoIP adapter. She's the perfect target for one: broadband, no land-line, but too-limited of a cell plan to be able to talk. Add to that, she's got a newborn, and a big family who probably wants to chat... well, wouldn't it be nice if she could plug in a phone and pay zilch to talk to family!
So, I set out to build a semi-consumer-grade device. My last model, which I eventually ported to a 2inch square card, is still caseless and kind of ugly. This build would need to be insulated, contained in a case, and, perhaps, attractive.
Here's the result:
And here's the gag (though working) shot:
(the whole set of documentary evidence can be found here)
It's another instance of this design, actually with much lower tolerances on the components, and a few more hacks, but it seems to work. Sorry, no build photos... but construction involved purple spray paint, an Altoids tin, 2 faux "Discover" cards, and about $6 (liberally) worth of parts from Radio Shack and Fry's. Unlike the last build, this one involves all acquired components - no old junk from my closet in this Christmas gift. Well, except the "Discover" cards, at least. Construction involved a soldering iron, a pocket knife, a Dremel tool, and way too many hours of pondering how to lay things out to fit them into the tin.
Sadly, it is a Christmas present, so I won't be able to gloat too much showing it to friends, since it will be halfway around the country in a few days. Hopefully, the photo set will serve as enough of a record.
Technorati Tags: voip