Altoid Can Wallet

It had to be done... an Altoid Can Wallet was imminent. Use an old Altoids Can as your wallet, outfitting it with a bank style coin inserter and a useful LED light.

Items needed for this project:
~Altoids Can
~Magnets
~Dremel/cutting utility
~LED
~Button/Switch
~Button cell batteries

Step 1 Get It, Eat it, Magnet

Get your can, eat the mints, and grab some magnets. The top portion will be used to magnet paper bills to the top, whereas the bottom will be reserved for the LED light, change, cards, and whatever other wallet stuffs you feel like putting in.

Simply get a magnet or two and put them on your folded bills. The magnets stick to the metal can and the money looks really cool as if it's hanging there.

Next step: Coin Slot

Comments

[mattlovesdrums]

dude you need to be careful, magnets can mess with credit, gift, or atm cards.

[Wareagle]

 it is true they can wipe magnetic strips, but it has to be a BIG magnet.  these little ones won't do any damage.

[jimbo333]

not true, mythbusters did it and so have many other people, its just a common misconception.

[mattlovesdrums]

link?

[jimbo333]

too lazy to find one, just take a gift card, check how much is left, rub amagnet on the black strip, check again it WILL read the same.

[mattlovesdrums]

 meh, i wouldnt trust it with all the devices out there today and all the money and hassle involved with bank cards, etc. 

[TheAmazingQuackinator]

what happens when the change goes up and hits the top of the tin?

[ninja of darkness]

nothing coins aren't magnetic

[TheAmazingQuackinator]

oops my bad

[dinzel85]

My cards were rooted after i put strong magnets inside my wallet and stuck it to the ceiling of my uni workshop. Yeah it was a stupid experiment..

[sharlston]

do the coins rattle?

[EbolaRobyn]

Pretty cool design, much better than I expected from an altoid can! Aren't you a little worried about having magnets so close to your cards?

[iKill]

Watch myth busters they denounced that myth in an earlier episode they tried as hard as using an electromagnet.... nothing.. so ya magnets are fine

[daltonjcw]

They totally shot a ton of my cards, although i made the wallet my self....

[curlyfry562]

no when they dragged the card across the magnet it did wipe it, although these magnets are very small I doubt it would damage anything.

[technick29]

Currently, I was just using junk lying around. That's an old hotel key in one of the pics, and I don't usually carry around magnetic stripe cards, but good call! Any idea on the proximity of the magnets to the card for it to mess with the data?

[EbolaRobyn]

After checking wikipedia I found the following: "High coercivity stripes are resistant to damage from most magnets likely to be owned by consumers. Low coercivity stripes are easily damaged by even a brief contact with a magnetic purse strap or fastener. Because of this, virtually all bank cards today are encoded on high coercivity stripes despite a slightly higher per-unit cost." But that doesn't say anything about very strong magnets, and sadly I'm not up on the exact strength needed to wipe your average magnetic strip. Could be a useful experiment I guess!

[SKYNET 2.0]

checking WIKIPEDIA.

[technick29]

Okay, cool! You learn something new every day. Thanks a lot!

[timntek]

i also bet keeping (if for any reason you decide to carry a card) a card under the coins will keep the card from coming into contact with the magnets if you are worried, but i wouldnt sweat it too bad. I plan on making this but im 12 and dont carry any cards yet so i am not concerned. great instructable, its now on my favorites.
cheers, tim

[ferroucious]

If anyone watches the Mythbusters you may want to put an electric eel in your altoids can! XD Sorry I can't help with the coercivity but I thought that would be funny.

[He did it]

It works fine (the classic is usually the best) but why do you need a LED light?

[kwilh]

I wouldn't trust a card of any sort that close to a magnet

[kwilh]

oh I see thanks

[sgphillips451]

Magnets don't really affect credit cards. It's kind of an urban legend. Your cards should be fine, G.

[daltonjcw]

Not mine.

[Masteroffencing]

actually it is true my uncle's card shot craps when my cousin and i held a magnet to it to test that theory

[LilJay0131]

mythbusters, they needed a super magnet to wipe a credit card, those small ones wouldnt do it

[daltonjcw]

Only the newer cards>

[Masteroffencing]

electromagnets would

[treedomfighter]

darn man, that looks like it would make quite the racket!

[xxshinyxsue]

=] you can put some altoids in there too!

[bubba77]

lol i wouldnt do that, money is filthy

[bubba77]

unless there was an altoids hatch : D

[schimmi]

that'd be a sweet idea $2.50? ok, btw would you like an altoid?

[persianpride65]

(removed by author or community request)

[flove101]

go away.

[technick29]

Thanks for your comment! Unfortunately, you may missed this warning when posting your response:
"We have a "be nice" comment policy. Please be positive and constructive with your comments or risk being banned from our site."

Thanks!

[kiteboarder92]

I made this but I put my mp3 player in the bottom and I drilled a hole in the side for the ear buds.

[technick29]

Cool.