Solidworks Keychain Tutorial

[Jeff]

Idesigned these heartfelt themed keyrings for myself and my husband, he will keep the key and I will have the heart, I had them printed by 3D Print UK, in an SLS Nylon, the heart was dyed red and I kept the key natural. So, diving in to some of the things I featured in my tutorial, you will see the use of dome, revolve, mirror bodies and sketch text. If you would like to add the keyring to your model, you can download that part here.

Starting with the heart, I sketched and extruded a very thin heart shape, from here I could select the front face and apply the dome feature, because of the shape type, I needed to uncheck the continuous dome box. Once applied, I could repeat the feature onto the opposite heart extrusion side to create a 3D heart.

An important step in the design was the keyring hoop, this is where I would attach my designs to a keychain, so it needed to be strong enough and large enough for the chain to attach and not break. I had some breakages in a print when I designed it too thin, so be aware of this, dimensions needed might differ depending on your printer material and your keychain thickness. At the joining edge of the hoop, I applied a small fillet, which adds material and can strengthen the join.

Moving onto the key, I took an angled ellipse and the sweep feature, using the circular profile setting I chose the ellipse for my sweep path. I could then mirror this body over and merge the two together to create a heart shaped key handle.

For the text element of the key, I created a guide sketch for the sketch text to sit onto. Using the sketch text tool, I can select my sketched line as my guide curve, and type LOVE in all caps. You could use a different word or name, but you would need to amend the text size to ensure it fits within the 12mm space and also amend the revolved shape in the heart that acts as a tooth in the heart barrel. I used the orientation buttons to flip my text onto the line, then unchecking use document font, I changed the spacing between the letters to 70 percent, to create an overlap in the text, highlighting the text I could also make the font bold, which would like the text overlap, strengthen the print. You can choose other font, but I just changed the height until the text overlapped onto the keys bar and when extruded mid plane it merged onto the key.

This tutorial explains how to make custom name keychains using birch plywood and a laser cutter. It's a relatively simple process to design, laser cut, and then apply wood finish to. Great to make as a gift for someone or just make for yourself!

Necessary Parts:

The first step is designing what the outline of the keychain looks like, which I already did so you don't have to. I used Rhino to create and design the keychain, but you may be using a different CAD or art program. I included multiple file types (all the same template) so that you can find the one that works best for you. You also may need to scale the template if the units don't go through correctly (dimensions included in first picture in that case). I decided to cut out two pieces so that it would be thicker (and more structurally sound). You can engrave both sides of a single piece, but I would be a little worried about it breaking myself. My two favorite font styles are Monotype Corsiva (more cursive like) and Javanese Text (a bolder font, and the one that I used for the two heychains that I made in this Instructable).

For instructions on how to do this in Rhino, I used TextObject to create the text, modifying the text height until it fit well into the keychain template. Then I centered the text vertically in the template using the Align command, selected all of the text and used the hatch command to make the inside surface of the text black, and finally selected the text outline and made it blue (which can be done in layers). Then to make the two pieces, I copied and pasted a second one next to the first.

You want the outline and hole to be red (already done in the template), and the text outlined in blue, and filled with a black surface (which is done using the hatch command in Rhino). The black laser engraves the black surface, and outlines (but doesn't cut through) the blue lines. Once done, you can laser cut the pieces.

The next step is gluing the two pieces together. I used a glue that dries slowly (a couple hours) and expands as it dries, so the process you use might vary if you use a faster drying glue. Once glued together, use a clamp (or a couple hundred dollars worth of textbooks you have lying around) to hold the two pieces together while drying. Make sure that the pieces are in line and don't slip. You can notice that one of the pieces that I glued together did slip a little bit, and so dried off center. If any of the glue expanded out of the piece you can use a knife to carefully remove it.

Next apply a protective finish. I used a polycrylic finish, which if you use I would again recommend 2-3 coatings on both sides, allowing it to dry between coatings. Be careful when the protective finish is drying, especially if in the sun (because it dries faster); the text can collect bubbles in the text when you paint it on, and if it dries too fast some of the bubbles might stay which gives it a less desirable appearance.

And the last step is to put on the keychain ring. I purchased black keychains because I thought it looked good with the wood stain I chose. BE VERY CAREFULL when putting the keychain ring on. If the end of the ring drags along the wood, you can scratch the finish here. And then you're finished!

As a first-year technologist at the TinkerTank, I struggled with what I wanted to do for my very first workshop. I wanted it to be fun and I wanted the participants to be able to bring something home.

View this guide as a written version of the workshop. It is separated into two parts, focused on building a strong foundation and then walking you through a step-by-step tutorial on how to design your own keychain that can be printed in the 3D printing studio at the Robertson Media Center!

Fully define the circle by dimensioning the radius and positioning the circle with respect to the rectangle. Use the Smart Dimension tool and click on the edge of the circle, drag your cursor out, and click again. Set the diameter equal to 0.20 inch. To position the circle, use the Smart Dimension tool and click on the edge of the circle, then click on the left side of the rectangle, and set the distance from the center of the circle to the edge of the rectangle to 0.20 inch. Repeat this process with the top side of the rectangle with the same measurement.

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