Introduction: Personal Chargercase.

About: I'm an amature engineer, love to build things that use lights, lasers, LED's.. you name it. Other from that, i run a Photography business, and i L0V3 taking pics :D

As I'm a guy who's always on my feet, moving around, driving to different places and always in need of my electrical gadgets working.
I have to drag my chargers with me, powerstrippers and know-what.

First I put them all in a bag. Worked for one use, then it got all tangled up and I gave up before I started.

Then i made a prototype chargerbag, still nothing more than the chargers and powerstripper in a bag, it worked somewhat, but after a few bumps, and thrown around, things got misplaced and got -- tangled up .. again. (and also the cat thought it was a nice litterbox)

NOW - It's time for a more permanent case.
This one i'm showing holds everything i need in charging way.
Even a backupbattery that spews 10Ah.  YES; Ten AmpereHours. (10'000mAh) and capable of charging my iphone 5 and iPad 3 at the same time + one additional gadget at 12 or 9V.

Since i'm a photographer I need a charger for my camera, for my flash, the iphone, ipad, etc etc..

And now i have a hardcase for it :)

Enjoy!

Step 1: What Do You Need?

Well, as the topic states, what do you really need to have with you?

I know that I need :

Charger for camerabatteries.
Charger for AA & AAA batteries.
Iphone & Ipad Charger.
18650-Battery charger.
Additional Usb-charger, capable of 2,5A in both ports.

And a battery-backup, in case i'm somewhere there is no poweroutlet.

Then you also need : 
  1. Hardcase bag.
  2. MDF-board
  3. Round wooden stick
  4. Extra cords with a ready plug, and stripped other end.
  5. Extra socket outlet -- if you wish to have one.
  6. Dampening foam (for the lid)
  7. Paint and brushes.
  8. Cable-connectors that fit your male-sockets (explained later)
  9. And some powersplitters.
Apart from the list above, you will need to have some electrical skill and a bunch of tools required.
And patience.

Step 2: The Basic Base.

Start off by measuring the mdf-board so it fits the inside of your case.
Cut it so it's just a few mm's too small. (you want to be able to lift it out if something is broken, or gets dislodged)

Next up, you cut your round-wooden stick into 4 equal sized pieces.
Put your freshly cut mdf-board inside to see if it fits, and is lined up with the edges.

Third : Screw the legs onto the board, and voila. You've made a table :^)


Step 3: Cutting, Carving and Filing.

Now you grab you sweet homemade table and put it on the floor with all your gadgets on it.
Arrange them as you wish, and think of the best possible placement for them.

This took me a while but after thinking of where the cables go from each device I finally came up with a final placement.

When you feel you have the spot, draw outlines on the board, and be sure to leave a little room later on for when the paint goes on.

And do not forget where you want to have the hole of the cable (that powers the whole thing) to stick out.


Step 4: Cutting, Carving and Filing Some More.

Start creating!

Cut the outlines to make holes in your board.

The way I did it was by drilling holes in the corners of each thing I wanted to place.
Then using a sticksaw to cut the rest.

Use a file to get smoother edges, maybe even sandpaper.

Test the holes to make sure everything fits.
As I expected, not everything fit from the start, so I had to file some more.
Also used a Dremel with a cutting tool to make room for the chargercable to the battery. ( not visible on picture )

Now I wanted to have some of my chargers a bit down inside the case, so I used a few wooden scraps for making distance, and the leftovers from the holes of the mdf-board to make a support.


Step 5: Paint!

Well, there's not much to explain here ..

Dump the primer over the board first.

Let it dry for 6h+.
Then paint it awesome.


Yes, the basecoating was white.

Step 6: Assembly!

Time for the fun part!

Time to make it all fit, and stick to the board permanently, or almost. You choose.

When the paint has dried, pray to the gods everything still fits.
Mine did, but just barerly.

Here you can also see I have the extra socket outlet put in.

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I put some hot glue on some of the chargers to make them stick harder to the board.
Since if I pull on the usb-cords from the other side, the chargers pop out or in.

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Now you grab your cable-connectors, cables, and crimper (?)

Connect it all to individual cables. Make sure NOTHING IS EXPOSED.

Then all of a sudden, you are done with this part :)

Step 7: Put It in a Box.

Grab your cablestrippers!

Put them in the case.

Figure out where to put what cable.
Then gently put the whole table back inside the case, making sure nothing is crushed.
--

Add some foam inside the lid, to make sure nothing comes loose and bounces around and gets damaged inside the case.

Step 8: And There You Go.

Tadaaa!

It's done!

...




If you worry about heat building up, you can always add fans to the box to ventilate it!

Epilog Challenge V

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Epilog Challenge V