Traveling Kit

[irmcdermott]

Hey everyone,

So, as some of you know, my job puts me on the road... a lot. I've always wanted to put together a travel kit in a Pelican/Storm case to take with me on the road, that way on those many nights spent in hotel rooms I can fire up a soldering iron and pass the time that way. My idea is to put together "kits" in bags of all the projects on my desk and then just travel with the ones I want to work on.

Here is my only fear..... TSA. I'm afraid that if I invest this money into putting this kit together, the first time they see it in my suitcase (because i'd obviously be checking it with my luggage), they will see these boxes with switches, components, soldering iron and wire, and next thing I know my box is gone and I'm on a watch list That's obviously an exaggeration, but some of it i feel is a legitimate concern.

What do you guy think? Any TSA agents here that could chime in?

Ian

[aballen]

Seems like a hassle.  I would say just bring a guitar, and practice.

[derevaun]

I did that last summer for a longish trip visiting my in-laws. I put projects into ziplock bags: pcbs, components, etc. There was a TSA handbill in the luggage when we retrieved it, though they didn't confiscate anything. This summer I'm mailing it ahead 

[irmcdermott]

I did that last summer for a longish trip visiting my in-laws. I put projects into ziplock bags: pcbs, components, etc. There was a TSA handbill in the luggage when we retrieved it, though they didn't confiscate anything. This summer I'm mailing it ahead 

Yeah, I may see what the cost to ship it would be.

[DutchMF]

I really like the idea, but I think your worries are justified. There is just no way to make look innocent (which it is!). I used to travel a lot with a whole set of camping gear, including a multi-fuel stove, and taking of the cap of my fuel bottle (empty, of course... ) in transit was enough to indicate it was harmless. No way to do that with a soldering kit though.... Maybe there is a way to indicate what you are traveling with (special licence?) so you don't raise any suspicion because they know already whats there?

Paul

[irmcdermott]

If I pack it in a small enough pack, I could probably have it shipped with the rest of my gear. Or maybe only ship it when I know there is a larger Pelican heading my way that it will fit in.

[RobA]

Add a 555 timer to the parts list for a pedal and you'll end up in Cuba.

[jkokura]

I don't travel like you do Ian, but when I do, I take that time to do more design work. Graphics, Build Docs, Schem input, Layout, part design in Eagle.

But then, I'm traveling maybe 3 weeks out of the year, and my time to kill on those trips is minimal compared to yours. Sooner or later, the work involving banging away at a laptop is going to going to run out.

What about a breadboard rig? What if you put 10 each of some common values of resistors and caps into a few tackle boxes, along with a bunch of trim pots, and then some semiconducters in another. Bring a looper, or an ipod loaded with some guitar riffs and a little 1590A headphone amp to play through the rig. Then you can experiment with designing, and reload depending on what schems you want to play with.

When there's no solder, or iron, or side cutters, or stuff like that, it might be less threatening to Homeland.

Jacob

[RobA]

I don't really want this to get political but, my son's a type 1 diabetic. So, we are in that community. There are multiple cases of kids, 10 to 15 years old, being pulled off of flights and harassed for hours because of their insulin pumps. In at least one of these cases, the kid was traveling with papers from their doctor.

I just can't see taking the risk of traveling with electronics parts on business trips. But hey, I'm boycotting the entire airline industry until they put some pressure on the gov. to end this nonsense.

I'd suggest taking up programming and doing some DSP effects while on business trips. Lots of good audio fun to be had there.

[aballen]

Two stories come to mind...

http://rt.com/usa/wearing-watch-mcgann-man-105/

http://tech.mit.edu/V127/N40/simpson.html

[midwayfair]

Ian, I think it might be possible to write to the TSA and ask if you need special clearance to take a soldering kit with you on planes. I cant' help but think that this may have come up in the past.

[GermanCdn]

When i moved back from Germany, I packed a build kit to tide me over including solder, irons, parts, enclosures, had no issues, but euro air security is not the tightest so it might not be a good benchmark.

[irmcdermott]

Ian, I think it might be possible to write to the TSA and ask if you need special clearance to take a soldering kit with you on planes. I cant' help but think that this may have come up in the past.

I wrote them and all I got was an automatic response about knives, haha.

[stevie1556]

In the UK, I got through airport security with a simple explanation, but I did have a Rat clone, far too much wiring inside it, and the back cover missing when it was in my bag. But that was through a staff security point at the airport, and I also assume our security is a bit more relaxed then it is on the other side of the pond.

Don't forget though, planes do have plugs on them, which might also worry them as you may build it during the flight. I only know this as I regularly charge my phone during a flight.

Sent from my thumbs using Tapatalk!

[LaceSensor]

The TSA are clearly retarded. I hate security checks at airports, it's all a load of bollocks.