My garage door remote / keyfob recently broke, and my building’s strata wanted to charge me ~$50 for a new one. Seeing as how the electronics were totally fine, I saw a good opportunity to practice my CAD and re-design a new shell to 3D print.
The STL / print files are free to download on my MakerWorld.
This seemed simple enough, the only weird part was this weird little semi-flexible piece for the actuating button.
I got a little fancy with it and set the first bottom layer to octogram spiral in the slicer. This adds a nice geometric “shine” to an otherwise boring flat face.
Given the beating a set of keys goes through, I decided to use PETG instead of PLA. I tried my best to make it ‘snap’ together like the original, so the little bit of flex from the PETG made this work pretty well. It’s actually surprisingly tight, and has held up for over a year now.
The stock FOB features a status / feedback LED light under the lid. I made a little opening for this and a seperate file to print to snap-fit in a diffuser, to give it a more finished look.
This is a pretty small, finicky little piece so it’s an option. The file on my MakerWorld has a seperate build plate / STL for a lid without the LED opening for those who don’t want to deal with it.
The button itself is also push-fit, and a little finicky. I’ve put little video clips below to show how they snap in. You’ll likely need a little tiny screw driver, and might need to print some extras for when you inevitably break one
I’m pretty happy with the finished result. I actually made this FOB over a year ago and beta-tested it on a set of keys to get beat up, to see if it actually holds up. I didn’t want to release something like this for the few people that may need to print a replacement.
Size & Weight Stats:
| Measurement | Old Keyfob | New Keyfob | Size Reduction |
| Weight | 11.4g | 9.8g | -14% |
| Length | 59mm | 55mm | -7% |
| Width | 33.5mm | 32mm | -4% |
| Thickness | 14.4mm | 11.5mm | -20% |
Overall the 3D printed version is about a ~29% volume reduction which is nice.
And again the STL / print files are free to download on my MakerWorld!
Thanks for looking.
