Decided to overhaul my backpack. It's starting to show its age and it does get heavy and occasionally hit me in the face when I bend down.
Main goals with the new build:
1) Make it lighter. There have been plenty of troops where I left it behind 'cause I didn't want to tote it around.
2) Easier attachment. Also left it in the box plenty of times because I didn't want to deal with strapping it on.
3) Sleeker design. Make it less obtrusive and easier to wear and sit with.
4) Make a version that doesn't look like a bomb on an airport scan. I powered the old one with a big 'ol 6v battery, which was in a metal box full of wires. Didn't even bother to pack it when we went to Anaheim.
Started with a sheet of sintra and formed it into a box.
Size is about an inch narrower than the small of my backplate, which is where it will sit.
It's attached with a pair of bolts, screwed from the inside of the backplate into some nuts that are glued inside the pack.
Then drilled holes for my antennae and such, and installed the greebs:
And wired everything up:
Power is via any USB rechargeable battery bank I have handy. Jerek Darr from Wampa showed me how easy it is to wire in as most USB cables only have four wires, two for power, two for data. Using these saves weight and money on batteries.
I have to get the corners finished and glued together, then some paint. I'll post once I get some more pictures, but it's gonna be a pretty standard mix of PVC cement for the corners with glazing putty to smooth them over.