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A bit of background and research

A project log for Business Card Gamepad

Bussines Card with PC interface via Micro USB Type B PCB connector that acts like a gamepad. USB connectors for FREE!!!

juan-jesusjuan jesus 12/20/2017 at 22:132 Comments

Before I started this project I searched how other people made his own PCB business cards to find ideas and possible problems that they encountered to help me make my card.

With a fast search on google you find a lot of projects with PCB business cards, some of them are just business cards with no other purpose than that. But the vast majority of these projects have another use for the cards. Those are some examples:

Because I wanted to connect my card to a PC I searched for business cards that had PC connectivity. Those are some examples.

The problem with all those cards is that they used the old fashioned USB type A connector. In order to use this connector you need a PCB thickness of 2.4 mm for a good connection. There is not a simple way to achieve this, some uses extra solder on the USB connector pads, some use tape on the back of the connector, and my favorite one (The Mathieu Stephen business card), uses a 2 PCB stack (1.6 + 0.8) to achieve the exact thickness. But with this thickness the card is not usable for a normal wallet. it is very rigid and fat to be inserted into the wallet.

With this information i had 3 or 4 ideas of what i wanted for my card, but finally I decided to do a gamepad business card, because it was something I didn't see and i like to play old video games.

Later I found that someone had the same idea before me, but I don't know if he really finishes the project.

Discussions

ActualDragon wrote 12/21/2017 at 14:11 point

yeah, +1, your's is like, way better. when you start adding bulky parts, it defeats the purpose of it being shaped "like a credit card". The only "credit card" type thing is the pcb. I like how your's stays flat, and can actually fit in a wallet

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deʃhipu wrote 12/21/2017 at 11:53 point

This is a great summary of business card projects, and very useful on its own. Thank you!

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