printed electronics, paper smart card, contacting

thomas@strubreiter.com

Hello

I am looking for a suitable card reader for a paper smart card, with electrical contacting. Similar to chip smart cards, though the card is made from paper, and the pad layout is different, 20 pin. The card reader should be very userfriendly, i.ex. easy to understand how to insert the card, and when to take out again - or motorized for quick in/out.

is there any card reader out there we could adapt, with motorized feed, motorized pins, or landing contacts.

thanks

lanternfish

Hi Thomas.

I did a quick Google search and found a number of interesting entries. Obviously I haven't trawled through all of them but have come up with a couple of suggestions.

1. This link is to a .pdf at Athena Smart Card Solutions. It gives a reasonable insight to the mechanical construction of a motorized smart card reader. You may be able to construct something yourself from this basic info.

EDIT: And a similar .pdf from Digital Concept

EDIT: And use the Smart Card Reader from Parallax as the basis of your reader.

EDIT: And maybe use and old EFT-POS printer as the drive mechanism.

2. Check out eBay or similar sites.

3. Check out surplus/recycled electronic stores/suppliers. For example I scored 2 x 15" Touch screens for $1 on a local auction site. The screens were from a closed restaurant and had the EFT-POS card reader still attached.

Cheers

Tubular

I'd look at modifying a magnetic card scanner - the type used for public transport, and car parks, because these are motorised and quick and reliable. You might need to add your own spring contacts that make gentle contact.

But do you have ICs on the card, or just bridges between the pins?

What kind of gsm is the paper you wish to use?