DIY NFC Tag Cover "The Mandalorian"-Helmet

Hello and welcome to this Instructable.

The built-in battery of my old smartphone got weak so I bought a new mobilephone recently. This phone has NFC on board and I decided to invest into some sticky NFC tags to figure out what this (new) feature offers.

While testing and trying out I thought about to cover the NFC tags and "This is the way!".

Please take all necessary safety precautions while working with heat, sharp objects, electricity, vapors or resulting gases, bright light, hot water or steam and whatever could endanger your health.

Supplies

NFC Tags
3D Printer
PLA-Filament (black and silver)
Cutter/Scissors
Caliper
Glue
Smartphone with NFC
Software:
Tinkercad
idea maker
NFC Tag reader and writer

Step 1: The Design in Tinkercad

I'm a fan of "The Mandalorian" and I'm a fan of helmets.

I've learned when making a pattern it comes in handy to create only the half part of it, duplicate and mirror it and then combine it completely.

So I made the basic layout and added some features afterward.

In summary the model consists of three layers.

To be honest, in the very first place my ideas were quite simple: Just a hard cover to protect the thin tag and see if this works out and the tag is legible. So I went for a coin-like shape and it totally works and I can clip it to my key chain. But then I realized: How boring is that.

Step 2: The NFC Tags and App

NFC Tags come in different sizes and styles. I went for this and it works fine:

NFC Tag Sticker (10 Stück) selbstklebend | NTAG216 Chip Tags Aufkleber | 888 Byte Speicher | read & write | kompatibel mit allen NFC bzw. RFID Lesegeräten & Android Smartphone Apps

Your NFC-smartphone is able to read NFC tags but if you want to create your own tasks you have to install an app. I use this free version: NFC Tools and NFC Tasks

Please note:

I am not related to any of this companys. I am a paying consumer and won't receive any benefits by adding the links to this products.

Step 3: The 3D Printing

I'm using a single extruder 3D Printer, the Ender 2, for two years now. In this case I wanted to 3D print with two colors to create some contrast and instantly receive a good recognition value.

I've used this little parking-stop-pause-script *

;script: Parking Stop Pause

G1 X10.000 Y150.000; parking position

M17; turn on steppers

M1; user stop

M105; return to current temp

and placed it at the exact layer hight within the gcode. While the 3D printer has been stoped, I changed the filament spool from black to silver. Before restarting the print I cleaned the nozzle.

The models were printed with 0.2 mm layer height.

I've printed the helmet first and measured the the circular recess.

Then I scaled the lid in ideamaker to fit in.**

* I didn't use idea makers "Pause at Height"-function, because the last time I've tried this the Ender 2 ignored it (I don't know why).

** To be honest, I don't have the patience to figure out the press-fit tolerance of every filament I use. So I'm totally fine to use some glue to make things hold and fit.

Step 4: The Implementing

The models were printed with support material which had to be removed for further assembly.

To assemble the NFC tag I sticked the NFC tag within the circular recess and glued on a lid. After some drying time I opened the NFC smartphone app and saved two tasks onto the tag.