I'm an audio professional, and work on profesional sound systems worldwide (theatres, performing arts auditoriums, houses of worship, etc). I carry on board with me some pretty expensive test equipment that I use to setup and tune these systems, so far I have had no trouble going through security with this equipment, though sometimes the TSA gets curious with my test microphone that has an odd shape! (see http://www.earthwks.com/ns/m550.html )

Just wanted to get people's thoughts and opinions on the practicality of carrying on a piece of custom electronics with me on the plane. If I could find an off the shelf equivalent, I'd buy it, but it looks like my only option is to cobble together a couple of modules and put it into a chassis that would fit in my carryon. Nothing special, just a couple of switches and connectors on it, no flashing lights, external AC adapter. The chassis looks like this: http://www.rdlnet.com/acc_ru.htm#uc1 and the modules inside won't be seen, but look like this: http://www.rdlnet.com/acc_st.htm#dtb with some interconnecting wiring between them.

I'm not really interested in checking this with my checked baggage, considering that I can't lock my baggage, and I don't feel like losing a $500-600 piece of equipment.

So what do you think? Crazy idea? Should I count on checking in 3 hours before my flight because of potential hassles?