DEC PDP-11 keyring keyfob by 1944GPW

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

A fun little tribute to one of the most popular and influential range of computers in history.
Key fob size is 60mm long x 30mm wide x 4mm thick (2-3/8" x 1-1/8" x 5/32").
This thing didn't take long to create. I already had the DXF's from the CAD artwork for a recreation of the d|i|g|i|t|a|l masthead for the H960 rack (a work in progress) so I simply used a fragment of that drawing as two DXF's here.
The outer part of the keyring fob is white and the inner letters printed in magenta (actually more rose-coloured) filament from a 20-something colour sample pack I found on eBay.
I was planning to superglue them in but all that was required was to use an Exacto #11 blade to slightly bevel the rear edges of the letters before press-fitting them in, clamped between two clean pieces of wood in a vise. No glue was needed.
There is a solid version with no internal lettering pieces if you prefer that design. No support or raft is needed for any piece but definitely use 100% infill for all pieces. The final '1' character is surprisingly well mechanically attached, I was prepared to add a support strut bridging the bottom of the 1's or use a backing plate but I was happy that wasn't needed.
Shown is the keyfob attached to the console key for a PDP-11/05.