Summary

Print your own safe, house or padlock key with this easy to use key generator.

Make sure to see the following 2 things for a simplified version of the Kwikset style keys

www.thingiverse.com/thing:3067007 - Five Cylinder
www.thingiverse.com/thing:3079563 - Six Cylinder

Instructions

Warning! - this thing is for printing a PLASTIC key. This key is now optimized for printing at 0.29mm layers, and is only 7 layers thick!!! Although it works fine - it is plastic - and can / will break off if you are not careful! With that in mind, you simply need to enter in an appropriate code for your key, and select the style of key you want to print. You may want to have a nail file on hand, to remove any extra bits of plastic first. Leave the code number blank, to generate a random key. I would love to see copies that anyone prints - however - BEWARE - you might not want to post a working copy of your house key - someone else might print one too!

If you hold the key in your left hand, with the blade pointing to the right, the KeyCutCode reads from left to right. 0 for no cut up to 9 for a maximum cut. (0 to 6 when using the Kwikset defaults) You can switch to the 'top' view in 'customizer', and hold your key in front of the screen while you adjust the values. It may take a couple of prints to find just the right match, fortunately it doesn't take long to print, and doesn't use up a whole lot of your filament. You might want to print your first try using the 'straight' key header, to save even more time / filament!

To get the key to slide in nice and easy, use a nail file to buff / round off the tip of the key. Make sure it feels nice and smooth when you run your finger along the front. It also helps if you buff / smooth the front and back sides just a bit. For the house key, it helps if you buff the upper half of the back side just a little as well.

For the safe key, I had to do some buffing around the outside of the cylinder pin slots, but with just a little work, I can now reproduce a working key for my home safe - Kind of scary! I bet that the latest printer will work straight from the build platform.

Customizable Safe / House / Padlock keys

Customizable Safe / House / Padlock keys

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