[GRey]

A bit of tweaking left to do, and maybe some bed cleanup... This was printed with ABS-GF as a base, using white and red ABS to fill the GR logo. Other than the small defects, I'm really happy with how this turned out.

Also, interesting thing to note - I still haven't tried wet sanding them, but it seems like it's impossible to get clean edges with the fiber-reinforced filaments, though the ABS-GF did come out a good bit cleaner than the PA6-GF. The ABS is plenty strong enough for the job, too.

I should have the keyring parts next week sometime, and hopefully by then I'll have figured out a clean way to print the buttons! I've been working on getting them multi-colored, which is working great, but I'm just not getting the print result I wanted. I can get it to print clean (the part that matters, at least) with the text (LOCK/UNLOCK/PANIC), but as soon as I add a second color, it's just trash.

Anyway, here's the colored logo, first draft!

 

[GRey]

Well, I don't think it's going to get much better than this with 3D printing. I'm going to try tweaking a few more things, but I would expect minor improvements at this point, at most. As you might imagine, it does look a good bit better in person. Photos pick up every little imperfection that you don't see with the naked eye!

And of course, every time I print one, I immediately think of ways I can improve it. Quite annoying. haha

 

[Dirty Evo]

Well, I don't think it's going to get much better than this with 3D printing. I'm going to try tweaking a few more things, but I would expect minor improvements at this point, at most. As you might imagine, it does look a good bit better in person. Photos pick up every little imperfection that you don't see with the naked eye!

And of course, every time I print one, I immediately think of ways I can improve it. Quite annoying. haha

View attachment 37606

I want one...

 

[GRey]

I want one...

Once the keyring parts come in (hopefully next week!) I’ll get a bunch of them ready to go and let you guys know!

 

[Fonzie]

Count me in

 

[apyao]

Interested!

 

[GRey]

Still waiting on the keyrings, so I keep iterating the design. I think I'm actually nearing a point where I'm happy with it! First color print compared to the one I printed last night, for comparison. If I hadn't added the Corolla logo, it would have basically been a perfect print!

And this is the first button print I'm almost completely happy with! If I can clean up the text on the lock and unlock buttons, I will call the buttons done.

 

[GRey]

Well, my white ABS gunked up my print head (really bad), and I found out that the spare I had is actually for the wrong printer... So now I'm stuck for a week or so while I wait on new print heads!

On a positive note, it looks like the CNC machined keyrings will be here today! I also got a bunch of different hardware last week to see if I can make the key look a bit better, so I'll play around a bit with one of the decent shells I have to see how things go.

I also did some strength testing, to see how the ABS-GF and PA6-GF hold up vs. ABS. There's definitely an improvement, but there's a much larger improvement from updating the model to be overall about 1mm thicker. Even with normal ABS on the 1mm thicker model, it takes a good bit of force to crack the weakest areas on the back of the keyfob, which is where the GR logo is.

Once my print heads come in, I've got a few things to try. I bought a .2mm nozzle to see if that will give me a much cleaner print with normal ABS. If that works out, I'll probably stick with that! Otherwise, I've also ordered a bunch of other heads, including a fancy new one that's coated to prevent exactly the problem I had. I'd like to try the thicker print with PA6-GF to see how well that holds up, as I bet it will be the winner in terms of strength.

I think I'll be ready to send out some keys in the next couple of weeks!

 

[GRey]

First prototype is officially working! A few details, flaws, and my plan to fix them:

1 - This is still the thinner design, as I haven't gotten a clean print of the thicker design yet, due to the printer nozzle issue.

2 - The buttons look better, but still look like garbage. One of the new nozzles I ordered is finer specifically to fix this issue. The new nozzle should have no problem at all with fine text. (The text is also raised, and feels great as it puts the button just slightly above the surface, making it easier to feel where the buttons are)

3 - I couldn't get the screws by the keyring to engage at all when using the screws from the original design. I've now switched from a 6mm to an 8mm screw for those two, and now all screws fully engage and pull pretty flush.

4 - I didn't want such an industrial design, so I opted to try some black coated screws. I think it turned out great! You can certainly still tell that they are there, but it doesn't look quite as DIY as it did with silver.

5 - Still not water resistant. Well, it might be water resistant, but only by accident. We'll see if I ever have time to completely rework the design to make that happen, but it's going to take a good bit of work, so that's definitely a stretch goal.

6 - Still no physical key, of course, but that's just part of the cost of having such a small design. I could revisit the design with the key, but assembly is going to be pretty tedious, and you'll have to have a key cut, etc. I'm just not sure that it's worth it for those rare emergencies.

7 - The keyring may not be as infinitely durable as I wanted it to be, as I ended up going with 6061 aluminum. The upcharge to go to stainless or titanium was massive - like 3-4x the price. 6061 CNC machined from billet aluminum should hold up quite well though, except in some extreme edge cases.

Overall, I really want to make a proper kit out of this - everything you need in a nice little box, ready to go, including tools, the smaller battery, etc. We'll see how logistics work out over the next week or two on that! Overall I'm quite happy with the design, even if everything isn't going to work out quite as well as I had hoped.

Anyway, enjoy!

 

[Depreciated]

First prototype is officially working! A few details, flaws, and my plan to fix them:

1 - This is still the thinner design, as I haven't gotten a clean print of the thicker design yet, due to the printer nozzle issue.

2 - The buttons look better, but still look like garbage. One of the new nozzles I ordered is finer specifically to fix this issue. The new nozzle should have no problem at all with fine text. (The text is also raised, and feels great as it puts the button just slightly above the surface, making it easier to feel where the buttons are)

3 - I couldn't get the screws by the keyring to engage at all when using the screws from the original design. I've now switched from a 6mm to an 8mm screw for those two, and now all screws fully engage and pull pretty flush.

4 - I didn't want such an industrial design, so I opted to try some black coated screws. I think it turned out great! You can certainly still tell that they are there, but it doesn't look quite as DIY as it did with silver.

5 - Still not water resistant. Well, it might be water resistant, but only by accident. We'll see if I ever have time to completely rework the design to make that happen, but it's going to take a good bit of work, so that's definitely a stretch goal.

6 - Still no physical key, of course, but that's just part of the cost of having such a small design. I could revisit the design with the key, but assembly is going to be pretty tedious, and you'll have to have a key cut, etc. I'm just not sure that it's worth it for those rare emergencies.

7 - The keyring may not be as infinitely durable as I wanted it to be, as I ended up going with 6061 aluminum. The upcharge to go to stainless or titanium was massive - like 3-4x the price. 6061 CNC machined from billet aluminum should hold up quite well though, except in some extreme edge cases.

Overall, I really want to make a proper kit out of this - everything you need in a nice little box, ready to go, including tools, the smaller battery, etc. We'll see how logistics work out over the next week or two on that! Overall I'm quite happy with the design, even if everything isn't going to work out quite as well as I had hoped.

Anyway, enjoy!

View attachment 37939
View attachment 37940

Looks great. I’m interested when you get to the final product.

can you take a pic side by side with the original for sizing?

 

[GRey]

Looks great. I’m interested when you get to the final product.

can you take a pic side by side with the original for sizing?

Thanks! Print nozzles came in today, so I’ll be making some changes and printing out a couple of prototypes once I get a chance.

I’ll take some pictures later today or tomorrow. It’s a tremendous difference!

 

[snowrx]

Not GReys' fob, but a basic idea of the size difference for the smaller fobs

https://www.grcorollaforum.com/posts/93412/

View attachment 38051

 

[GRey]

Here’s mine vs stock - essentially the same, plus a few more views.

 

[WideHippedCorolla]

Not GReys' fob, but a basic idea of the size difference for the smaller fobs

https://www.grcorollaforum.com/posts/93412/

View attachment 38051

That’s me! Had lots of bowing, flexing, and cracking within a few months and ended up switching it out for an ADT Designs fob. Not nearly as minimalist, though.

My ideal use case is a super small fob that I can glue/double-sided-tape to my thin aluminum card holder — allowing me to be on the move with the wallet/fob combo in one hand and my phone in the other.

 

[WideHippedCorolla]

View attachment 38055
Here’s mine vs stock - essentially the same, plus a few more views.
View attachment 38057
View attachment 38056

What if you ditched the key ring altogether — would you be able to backfill with filament?

 

[GRey]

What if you ditched the key ring altogether — would you be able to backfill with filament?

Frankly, the whole thing could be a bit smaller if I ditched the keyring. I don’t think backfilling that area would add anything to the structural rigidity overall, though.

 

[snowrx]

My next one will be thicker to allow the full size battery, which would also give some depth to resist bowing.

 

[Warpath]

Awesome. Can I order one from you and replace the panic button with a oh fuck button?

 

[GRey]

Awesome. Can I order one from you and replace the panic button with a oh fuck button?

That would be a pretty quick and easy change! Printing a new prototype now with the smaller nozzle, so let’s see how the fidelity is and I’ll make a modification

 

[GRey]

My next one will be thicker to allow the full size battery, which would also give some depth to resist bowing.

Yeah, if I get ambitious I’m going to do a ground-up redesign to include the entire electronic part, including the full-size battery and plastic frame to make for a much easier install experience.