House and Car Key Chain

[Paul Jones]

This is a great gift for friends and family.

Along the lines of my previous postings for "kitchen utensils" with knurled stainless steel handles (see e.g., http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/k...323#post107011 ), I made key chains that are allow the house key and car key to be separated (great for valet parking).



The key chain can be separated into two individual parts by unscrewing a stainless steel 8-32 threaded part. The main body of the key chain is made from 0.375" diameter stainless steel 303 rod turned-down to 0.364" for a very clean 21 pitch knurl application. I used a 8-32 SS all-thread rod attached with Loctite 620 rather than single point threading or cutting with a 8-32 die. Every way would work very well but by taping a 8-32 thread and gluing in the 8-32 threaded rod was a much easier operation.



I bought the stainless steel rings at Amazon and the combined small and large pair allow a very flexible key chain for being in your pocket or purse.



Thank you for looking,

Paul Jones

[Frank S]

Thanks Paul Superb knurling job.

[Paul Jones]

Frank,

Thank you Frank. Our grand daughter recently received her car driver's license and we wanted to give her a key chain for her car keys. We thought making something homemade and unique would be a wonderful gift for her.

There has been some discussion about knurling at HMT and YouTube. In my experience the best way is to pre-calculate and then machine the ideal basic diameter for the knurl pitch before doing the knurling. There are formulas for this but as they say now "there is an app for this" on your smartphone. I use the phone app "Knurling Calculator" for the Imperial pitch knurls from 12 to 80 TPI. It works perfectly each time. In stainless steel, it takes me only two passes from right to left and then back left to right at 140 RPM and a slow longitudinal power feed with lubricating oil when using a simple scissor-type knurling tool (see http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/k...7860#post24656 ). This method guarantees a perfect knurl every time.

Regards,
Paul

[PJs]

Well done and thoughtful gift for your Grand Daughter! Mine just turned 16 also but no car yet. It's always a pleasure to see your work and read your write ups...especially your fine knurling work. Great to see your Post...Thanks Much!

PJ

[rossbotics]

Beautiful work Paul, those would make nice Christmas gifts, making the rings in two seperate pieces is a great idea, like you say for valet parking, thanks for sharing.

Doug

[Paul Jones]

Thank you PJ and Doug.

As Christmas gifts for this year, my wife gave her friends some of the stainless steel "pickle forks" I made with the same type of knurled handles. It has now become gift a tradition when our friends know I will make some type of "kitchen tool" for them and they look forward to seeing what will be next. The key chain idea may be next on their gift list.

Regards,

Paul

[DIYer]

Thanks Paul Jones! We've added your Key Chain to our Storage and Organization category,
as well as to your builder page: Paul Jones's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Key Chain by Paul Jones

tags: holder, key