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RFID Ring : Physical hacking of the EZLink card

This is a rehash of an old project that I did back in 2016. There are still some tutorials and documentation floating around on the net, on how the RFID tag, along with the antenna could be taken apart from the plastic card that they were embedded in.

The whole intent of physically hacking the card was to turn it into a wearable. The videos of the proof concept is in the next post RFID Ring : Proof of concept and Rapid Prototyping.

Photo courtesy of EZLink official store on Shopee

But hings have changed very much since then. There’s no need for the RFID tag to be pulled apart since the company that is responsible for distributing them here in Singapore, have came out with compact sized travel dongles. And they are easily available too.

I have re uploaded the post back again on the web for documentation purposes.

In order to strip the RFID tag and the antenna from the card, it had to be soaked in glass of solvent first. Acetone would probably be the best option but I had to make do with what have the moment by using thinner instead.
The sides begins to peel after a few days.
The card will eventually be soft enough to peel and the RFID tag and antenna is revealed.
Extra caution is taken to prevent the copper wire from disconnecting.
The aftermath
The antenna and the RFID tag is then wrapped around a ring for a very quick prototype
The only concern when wrapping the antenna in a coil is the reduction in contact area between the RFID reader and the ring.
Further prototyping led to the encasement of the RFID tag into an epoxy ring.

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