I carry a lot of stuff in my pockets. This is the contents of my left front pocket. I am tired of sounding like a coffee can full of nuts and bolts rattling around every time I take a step. My keys rattle against each other, the little Altoids tin, the pill canister, my knife, etc. I took to carrying the Altoids Smalls tin as a catch-all box due to it’s small size. I’ve had in my pocket for probably 4 months now, so it’s getting pretty tired looking.
I drilled a couple of holes in each corner of the lid of the tin. I picked the lid as the keys will cover the embossed Altoids name. Space the holes as near as you can to the outside but leaving a space for the base to fit inside of the lid and not hit the nuts. I used a couple of 1/2″ #6-32 machine screws and nuts to bolt the keys to the lid. I would probably use some of those Chicago Screws as they are called if I had them. I faced the teeth of the keys in, so they didn’t snag in my packet. I use the keys in a specific order, so they are ordered outside in in the order of use. I thought about using thin plastic spacers, but it doesn’t seem to be needed for now. I just rotate the keys out that I need. There is enough clearance around the keys that they are easily usable.
You can see that the small tin, with 8 keys bolted to the top isn’t any thicker then my Victornox Cybertool pocket knife. Granted, that’s a rather large knife to carry every day.
I didn’t want the keys falling off my tin. I super glued the nuts to the bolts and to the tin as I don’t have any lock-tight. A Dremel will take the head of the bolt off if I can’t break the glue with a screwdriver & a wrench.
I put my headphones adapter for my cell phone in the tin. I also carry a 1 gig USB memory stick in it that I made a custom, waterproof housing using some casting resin.
I am going to put a small bit of cloth in the bottom and lid to quite the rattle down. I will also put in a cotton ball to fill the space and help silence the contents of the tin as well.
I am going to see how long this tin key-chain lasts.
You've got a lot of stuff in your one pocket. Should call you McGuyver. I'm not sure if I want to know how much is in your other pocket. Good idea making a keychain for all your keys.
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/07/mint-tin_key_carrier.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890
I Know you geeks love the tin, but honestly, this is just stupid. Use a damn key ring. Keep the tin for your drugs or something. This is stupidest use of the tin I have ever seen.
Don't you realize that your personal projects may put huge burdens on other people? Now matt is going to have a horrible week because all he can think about is about how much time you spent on this personal project experimenting with organizing your pocket contents using an Altoid tin. His idea was way better and you should have consulted him first. He's got a website: yourideaisstupid.com.
😉
love this… I just see that why Mike did the tin idea was to quiet the noise…and well key rings just don't do that.
This is a pretty cool idea. I guess my only question would be: are you a prison guard? Why so many keys?? 🙂