A nice little keychain I designed of the instructables logo. I used Autodesk Inventor to design the piece and Makerbot 2 Printer to print it out. I was searching for something sort of simple to design when I saw the 3D printing contest on Instructables, so I thought what better thing to enter than an instructables keychain! It took me many attempts to get it just right. My first few attempts weren't large enough and the features weren't visible. Some attempts were sloppy because of the 3D printer dripping slightly. One attempt even collapsed in on itself. After I was content with how it turned out I hung it on my backpack and that's where it is now. I had a lot of fun designing it and I look forward to making more things for instructables.

You can download the STL file here :

Mediafire link
Base = .6in
Features = .15in

Step 1: The Base

To start I found a picture online of the instructables logo and saved it as a png file. I uploaded it into Autodesk Inventor sketch. I traced the outline of the whole logo then extruded that backwards to set up the base of the keychain. I traced the outline with lots of little arcs and some straight lines. I extruded the base .6in backwards.

Step 2: The Features

After creating the base I added all of the details and features of the logo. I added arcs and straight lines across all of the outlines of the details in the logo. For example, the wheels on the instructables robot's legs. I added arcs on top of the black outlines of the wheels. Adding multiple arcs and lines allowed me to make the odd shapes that I needed to complete the robot. Once I finished all the details I extruded the features backwards into the base and cut out .15 inches into the base.

Step 3: The Keychain Loop

The loop was very simple. All I did was revolve a small circle around the robot's head in order to make the loop for a string to go through.

Step 4: 3D Printing

After I completed the robot on Inventor I saved it as an STL file and uploaded it on to Makerbot. I made sure that it would print correctly and then I exported the file and loaded it on to a Makerbot 2 printer. After 7 attempts it finally ended up looking the way I wanted it to. This is the one featured in the pictures and hanging from my backpack.