3D Printed Keyring: Seven Years Later

 

In 2018 we produced a series of key rings for various purposes, as shown for a tractor and also several that were for local businesses.

We also used this to resolve a specific problem that we had at our school - we have a student operated PE equipment shed, where students distribute the equipment for the school for general use by the students at lunchtime and return and check off the gear at the end of the break.

This room is accessed by a key but a long term issue has been to ensure that the key is returned each day to the location that is kept at.   When the key was small it was able to be placed in a pocket etc and wasn't necessarily recognisable.

This was the design created by students in 2018.   It is a standard design, that has been produced a number of times.   The print was designed to be oversized as we were having versions of this key be replaced as the key went missing.

The design at the time also had the lettering above the print line, which is something that we have tended to move away from in recent years as the lettering with handling can break off.   The (rugby) football shown in the design is indeed sunk slightly into the base of the design - and this provides it with strength.

Seven years later the print looks like this.    The lettering has survived with some evidence of some loss of structure but this needs to be put in the context of how much the print has been handled.  It has been used by students at the school everyday for seven years, daily.   

At some point someone has taken a pen or marker and shaded in the ball, and there is visible evidence of the fading of the colour (which originally was orange but has now faded to red).   We have seen similar evidence of this with another long term print that we have been monitoring, for years,  which is the numbers that are on display outside for the evacuation assembly area.    These have been in place for a similar level of time in an outside environment.

We have seen a similar level of aging from the outside print - the colour has faded (and been resprayed) but the integrity of the print itself has remained.

We have actually printed a replacement print for the PE shed key, however this has not been in use as it is a backup when the key itself is lost or needs replacing.

3D Printed Oversized Key Ring: Updating a post from 2018

 

In 2018 we printed an oversized key ring for the student PE shed at school.  We had trouble with this key being misplaced so as a result we printed a deliberately oversized key ring so it could not be put inside a pocket or left around.

You can read the original design post here.

We have recently been looking at some of our long term prints, and assessing the state which they are in such as tracking the prints that are exposed to the weather which are outside classroom numbering for the emergency evacuation.   We recently looked at this print six years after it was first created.   

We have students who are looking at various designs and as a result the PE Shed Key was identified as needing to be reimagined and reprinted by the students in the classroom.

The classroom design has been completed and has been and printed.  The design has followed the process of serving a purpose, so once again we have opted to deliberately over-size the key ring.   While this makes it impractical from a typical standpoint we were deliberately doing so as the intention is to ensure that it remains an item returned to the office. 

The students opted to include several sports themed items on the key ring, these typically are avoided as they tend to break or loosen overtime - in this instance the lettering is also a little higher than we would ideally produce, however it was designed by the students and we wanted them to create something which they could test and we could use.

The dimensions of this print are unusually large - we made it 160mm across and 90mm high.  The lettering stood out 10mm as did the sports equipment.   The base of the print was 10mm thick - while these could have been reduced to make it more manageable it was done for the reasons listed.  The print time of ten hours was reflected in this.   Finally we will be monitoring this print and how it works in the medium term.  There are elements on the print that may need to be evaluated.   Finally - the retired key was not retired due to any faults with the design, it was still in existence and working six years after it was first printed, and has been used multiple times every school day since then.