The Arch Reactor Hackerspace in St. Louis, Missouri hosted an Instructables Build Night with Instamorph. As soon as I learned what it could do, I knew that I could fix my girlfriend's broken car key with it. Somehow, the plastic part of the key that is connected to the key chain had cracked and broken off. Since it could not be connected to the key chain, she was in danger of losing it. It was also inconvenient to have to carry it separate from her other keys.

My initial plan was to add a large D-ring to the key by surrounding it with Instamorph. I wasn't sure that it was going to stay put because it didn't exactly make a perfect fit. I swapped it out with a smaller circular locking washer instead.

Step 1:

I added an approximate amount of Instamorph pellets to the hot water and let them sit for a few minutes until they turned transparent.

I then pulled them out of the water and formed them around the locking washer that I had slipped over what was left of the plastic on the car key.

They started to harden before I had it quite manipulated the way I wanted it to be. It was still a bit rough around the edges, so I placed the key with the Instamorph on it back into the refreshed hot water.

Step 2: Reshaped As Needed.

I kept reshaping the soft Instamorph as it came out of the hot water until I had it until smoothed down to how I wanted it to look. I believe that I placed it back into the bowl two times for reheating after the initial application before I felt that the task was complete. The layer of Instamorph around the key is rather thin. Probably about 1/8th at the thinnest part and 3/8ths at the thickets part.

Step 3: Finished and Working

The key is solidly connected to the key chain through the locking washer that is "locked" in place via the Instamorph. My girlfriend is very happy with the fix, which makes me very happy with the Instamoprh.

This project proves to me that Instamorph is a good product to keep in my workshop for use when needed for certain projects that I think it would be suited for. I would encourage any creative people, those who love to tinker, and those who enjoy fixing things around the house to get a small bag of it and experiment with it to see if you have a use for it.