Payment card wearable conversion?

I haven’t pulled it apart yet, but I think it is a two layer laminate, with the bottom being the thickest (providing the heft) is metal, and I think the top thin layer is possibly a plastic or composite

if it’s uninterrupted metal then it blocks the contactless. They might be advertising that the metal card has “contactless” because of the tokenization option available in the companion app, while the card itself does not.

1 Like

I’m not sure what’s going on inside.
I’ll upload pics when I get one apart.

I know It works on payment terminals and my phone, but you HAVE to have the plastic/composite side to the reader.
It doesn’t read face down.
So Graphic up.

Correction to my laminate layer
Metal top layer, plastic/composite bottom

It’s probably 75% thickness is metal 25% other visually but in the photo it looks closer to Maybe 67%

Window in top layer exposing the Infineon chip

2 Likes

That’s a hell of a stake, do you think the rewards are worth the stake?

I think the simplest answer here is probably the right one, looking at mine I’d say that the top layer is metal with a window for the chip, as you said, and under the plastic laminate back (which I suspect is plastic so that the magnetic layer can be easily magnetised during manufacture and adhered to the metal) is covering a milled out slot for the chip coil antenna, which is why contactless only works with the laminate side facing the reader. Presenting the card to the reader the other way would put the metal between the coil and the reader.

I suspect there’s a milled slot because you cannot feel the coil through the laminate layer and if you peeled the layers apart (or melted with a solvent) you’d find the chip and coil adhered to the metal of the card, although with what and how easy it would be to remove remains to be seen.

1 Like

For me personally, Yeah I do.

I agree with your deduction…but I just don’t KNOW.

I have a bit of stuff on tomorrow, but I am going to try to give it some attention, I have a couple of ideas. Then I am away for a week, so If I don’t get it done tomorrow, I should have some time when I get back.

1 Like

Ah, not knowing… the bane of my existence.

I don’t have a spare card or I’d have my acetone and scalpel out already. I look forward to your experimentation and updates whenever they may come.

1 Like

See, this is why I don’t look in these threads right away sometimes. Now I’m left hanging. I mean,

30 min ago. :racehorse: :poop:

2 Likes

Like going back to a weekly release schedule after binge watching entire seasons on streaming… It’s torture I say!

1 Like

That is the order I am doing it.
I am going to try and throw one in Acetone tomorrow, If that doesn’t work I’ll break out the scalpel.
I did take a blade to it, and it started to peel, but not super tidy, I want to keep the antenna intact, so hence why I’m going Acetone first.

Ha, that’s why I don’t usually say anything until I actually have something to say…

2 Likes

Soon (Insert small TM here)

1 Like

deleted Insert, small, & here

1 Like

I still don’t really have anything to say, but before I went away, I squeezed in a quick attempt.

I soaked the card in Acetone, and found it actually has 3 layers.

The top layer that dissolved
I assume it was something like a thin PVC

then the middle metal layer

My guess is the bottom layer is Polyethylene, the acetone softened the adhesive but still required some force to peel it off.
The layer itself softened slightly but kept a very strong integrity.

As I was in a hurry, I wiped the top layer off and peeled the bottom layer slowly-ish and was able to push the chip through with it as I peeled it away.

Ideally, I would like to dissolve the bottom layer just exposing the chip and antenna, but it may be successful the way I did it, but needs to be done more carefully.

you can see in the photos below the antenna layout

View of top of metal acetone cleaned

View of bottom with softened adhesive remenants

Antenna layout

2 Likes

Interesting. Not what I expected to see at all, I was way off.

Where do you go from here? Stronger/different solvent or antenna removal and replacement? Is that even possible on those chips? I imagine not given the minicard vs normal card custom payment issue with the antenna connection.

1 Like

If I am correct and the bottom layer is Polyethylene, i will grab an “ene-y” solvent like Xylene or Toluene.
If not, I will work my way through some other solvents targeting some other possibilities

:man_shrugging:
That’s outside my wheelhouse.
I will be asking Amal and Satur9 that same question

143735327-ce3055c0-9ca9-498d-b98d-660cdde2e2eb

Here’s hoping :crossed_fingers:

2 Likes

:crossed_fingers: indeed.

Yeah that last picture was what I saw in my head when I pictured the inside of these cards, something that shape/size anyway. I really thought there’d be some sort of recessing given the metal layer. Sure you can embed an antenna into a plastic card but I really figured you’d feel it if it wasn’t recessed with these metal cards.

In my three minutes studying at Google university I learned that acetone should have made short work of polyethylene, perhaps it could be polypropylene… or some other sort of fermented dinosaur wizardry… Either way I think Xylene or Toluene is a good next step… Do you keep some of each handy in the back shed?

No finer brains to pick on the subject, can’t wait for their four cents. Watch this space ay?

1 Like

I can’t make any recommendations until you reveal the reverse side of the contact chip. I need to know how the antenna is connected. That’s a pretty unique contact module. They didn’t plate the contacts with hard nickel or whatever they usually use, they just left them as PCB features. I’d be interested to know more

4 Likes

Just found this company as well, which is advertising a much more normal visa card: Nexo Credit Card • Spend The Value of Your Crypto • Nexo that looks like a traditional plastic situation.

I’ll definitely update you once I get some more solvents and have managed to seperate the plastic from the copper, then if you are still interested, I’ll happily send you the chip (and antenna) to play with if you want it.

2 Likes