Bitcoin Forum

 

Click here for Update Album #1 (http://imgur.com/a/aK8qI#0)
Click here for Update Album #2 (http://imgur.com/a/KNZdQ#0)
Click here for Update Album #3 (http://imgur.com/a/1EGqW#0)
Click here for Update Album #4 (http://imgur.com/a/Ld6LH#0)

If you wish to see all pictures that are CryptoPendants related you can head over to: cryptopendants.imgur.com (http://cryptopendants.imgur.com/)

Super stoked about seeing these and getting the first serial number ::) Anyway, I hope you get the help and support you need and good luck!

Great idea. I hope to get also one of the first specimens... Good luck!

Okay then!
I arrived home and held the prototype in my hands for the first time last night.

I've taken more detailed pictures and made an album, so do check that out: http://imgur.com/a/YNn61/#0 (Link has also been edited in to the main post.)

It's been a few days, I think it's about time I gave an update. I made an album explaining everything which you can check out here: http://imgur.com/a/aK8qI#0 so as to not burden you all with a giant wall of text and pictures.

Any feedback on the ideas proposed in the album would be greatly appreciated!

Very cool.  Keep up the good work.  Watching with interest.

Thanks for the album. I still think this is a great idea and you could start a Bitcoinstarter project: https://bitcoinstarter.com/ (https://bitcoinstarter.com/).

BitcoinStarter eh? Interesting, didn't know such a thing existed. Thanks, I'll definitely look in to that once I've figured out exactly what needs funding.

I really like the initiative. Keep up the good work!

Love it! Very interested to see where this goes, watched the thread! =).

Hey all! I've put together another update album for you guys which can be found here: http://imgur.com/a/KNZdQ#0

Also, I've tidied up the main post a bit by doing the following things:

Bumped down the list of issues with the prototype to the first reply
Removed the donation address because I realised it was a totally stupid idea
And made some small edits here and there to fix wording

I also added an archive of the Update Albums to the first reply.

Damn, this is so freaking sweet. Can't wait!

My suggestion would be not to include a Bitcoin logo due to the risk of theft/mugging

The idea here isn't really to create an ultra-secure paper wallet/physical Bitcoin. If there is demand for a different design of pendant which isn't really identifiable as a Bitcoin related product but still stores Bitcoins so as to reduce the risk of theft/mugging, I'll make one. Until then, I think that keeping it "branded" like this makes for a better conversation piece.

Don't worry, I have many ideas for future versions of CryptoPendants - one of which I've started modelling - some of which increases the security. For now though, I'm just focused on making a pendant that stores Bitcoins.

These are pretty nifty. Good work bud.

Thank you :3

As novel as the idea is, I would be terrified of having it snatched off my person.

Unfortunately, this is a real problem. One which I'm not entirely sure how to rectify. The best advice I could give would be to conceal it in public, but then what's the point of it? You might as well just print off a paper wallet.

To be honest, if it would just make you paranoid and stress you out, perhaps it's not the physical Bitcoin for you.

We could always buy 2... one to use as secure wallet, in a secure place and one "empty" for use/display as a pendant.

Not really the solution that I would use, if I'm honest.

Also, I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but the pendants won't all have set values, they'll come empty and perhaps with a certificate or something of the sort which has the public key on it, so you can top it up as you go along. So if you just like the design, your CryptoPendant doesn't need to contain any Bitcoins.

Oh, and one more thing! New update album: http://imgur.com/a/1EGqW#0
I went in to even more detail regarding the storage of the private key in this one.

Or buy 1... and use an actual secure wallet to store BTC. Which would mean you'd simply want a BTC pendant for display.

This is what I'd suggest, if you're worried about thievery but still like the design. Maybe in future I'll make a version which isn't branded, but I have other versions of CryptoPendants that I want to get working on first. We'll see where it goes after the new prototype is ready.

Just a quick update, guys:

Today I uploaded the prototype components to Shapeways, so that when I get a chance I order the prints.

I selected the material for component #1 (The main pendant) as stainless steel, but when I was selecting the material for component #2 (The plate), I saw this:

https://i.imgur.com/O5XfdoK.png

I assume this is to do with some sort of design flaw, so I'm going to play around with the model a bit by making some parts thicker than they are at the moment. If that doesn't work, I'm going to contact Shapeways support for advice.

For anyone interested, I've resolved the issue.

All I had to do was make the plate thicker by about 1mm, and now the stainless steel option can be selected.
There is one problem with this, though: it's now a little more expensive. Before I order I'm going to email Shapeways and ask them if I can print both the components together rather than as separate items to reduce costs.

Given a week or two, I think I'll be ready to order the new prototype. :)

Good luck my friend and keep the good work. I'm waiting for a future release, to buy one.

I really like the initiative. Keep up the good work ;D

Cool, looking forward to it! =)

Instead of a ar code can you pop a usb chip in there?
Or better yet, the entire slide be a usb chip?

This actually isn't a bad idea.

But there are a few problems with it:

• I don't know how I would implement it.
• I don't know where I could buy USB chips thin enough for the plate.
• I'm not sure exactly what data would go on the USB chip. I'm assuming it would be the wallet.dat from a wallet...right?

Most of these problems could potentially be fixed with a little research, though.

I'll definitely keep this idea in mind for future iterations of CryptoPendants. Thanks a lot for your suggestion!

Not the most insightful feedback but I just wanted to say these look awesome!

Any feedback is appreciated! Thanks! :P

Hey all, I've got another update for you guys.

Over the past few days I've been asked "Why haven't you ordered the new prototype yet?". The answer to this? I'm not pleased with the price.

Considering shipping costs and costs for the holograms, and then of course the profit margin, a final product which I would then sell on to people would definitely cost upwards of $50. Perhaps even $60+ if shipping outside of Europe, and this displeases me. I set out to make a cool yet affordable pendant, and at the rate things are going now it doesn't really look like the "affordable" part of the pendant is going to happen.

You might be thinking that I'm taking a huge profit margin here, but really I'm not: the majority of the costs are for the actual printing and shipping.

So we're left with a few options:

• I can continue with this price, totally throwing out the original idea
• I can scale down the model slightly to reduce prices, but this might make it harder to print and there's a higher chance pieces will snap off
• I can continue with this price for the stainless steel version of the product but also release cheaper versions made out of different kinds of materials

And since I have no idea what to do, I thought I'd ask you guys. What would you, the members of the Bitcoin community, deem acceptable?
You can vote here, if you like, but a comment on this going in to more detail about your vote would be a lot better: http://strawpoll.me/336856 (excuse any typos on there) 

Also, suggestions on any other solution are greatly appreciated.

One last thing, what materials would you like to see versions of CryptoPendants to be made out of? You can view all available materials here: http://www.shapeways.com/materials?li=nav

Any feedback at all is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
//Untitled

3D print the pendant and then spray it gold ;)

There are places online that'll print it for you.

You could also contact these guys: http://www.3dp4btc.com/

They might even do it for a share of the profits / to be involved.

I'd like to offer these services too: http://bitcoinprbuzz.com

(we can come to an arrangement re price or some other possibility)

 ;)

CryptoPendants are currently being printed at shapeways.com using Stainless Steel 3D printers, which isn't a service that 3dp4btc provide.

But assuming that I do want to print them out of Plastic, there's another problem with 3dp4btc: their printers aren't SLS printers...
There are a couple of types of plastic printers, one of which (the one used at 3dp4btc) has a plastic filament which is fed in to the printhead, is heated up and then is spat out by the printhead. SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) printers on the other hand lay down layers of nylon powder and use lasers to melt out the layers.

Don't get me wrong, 3D printers that aren't SLS aren't exactly bad, just not suited to my model which has some fine details that I don't think a non-SLS printer could pick up.

Regarding bitcoinprbuzz: it's not really something I'd use yet, But I'll keep it in mind in future.

Man I love shapeways :)

Still if you printed them on demand you don't have to worry about stock levels.

Plastic is kind of cool in it's own way. Floats on water, futuristic feeling.

Just thinking of how to make it cheaper.

The problem with the plastic at 3dp4btc is that it's not detailed enough for what I'm going for. The plastic at shapeways just looks so much more professional.

I really love the idea of a pendant that I can store my money in! But I also wouldn't wear a pendant with a giant B on it. I'd probably want my cash to be a little more discrete. ;)

Yeah - you can probably find somewhere cheaper than shapeways and plastic would definitely be cheaper.

Maybe have two different materials - cheaper plastic and more expensive metal?

Yeah, this has been suggested a few times before, and will definitely be considered for future editions of CryptoPendants.

Don't forget, this is only the first iteration! I have many more ideas for future versions, so stick with it and a discreet CryptoPendant may arrive at some point.


That's pretty much what I was thinking. Having a cheap plastic version and an expensive metal version.

Well great minds think alike ha ha

Hey all! Sorry for not updating you at all recently!

I decided to finally put together a new update album, which you can find here: http://imgur.com/a/Ld6LH#0

Thank for your feedback... waiting for the final product...

It'll take a while yet until I have a final product, so don't expect it too soon. :P

Trust me, we don't :P But it's always nice to see an update!

What are the dimensions?

The pendant is 4.9mm thick:

http://i.snag.gy/D8STI.jpg

...And is 28mm in diameter:

http://i.snag.gy/vWXF6.jpg

This may be subject to change, though, if I need to further reduce costs by making it smaller.

---

On a somewhat unrelated note, I added new chain holes.

http://i.snag.gy/uyApN.jpg
(Red is the old model, orange is the new one)

Also, I've done a bit of research and I'm thinking that the pendants should come with a 1mm thick leather cord. What are your thoughts on this, everyone?

I think that is a great idea!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words:

https://i.imgur.com/X3yGafV.png

Yes, that's right, I've ordered the new prototype and it should be here in October. I really hope this goes better than my previous attempt.

WOW... great news. Good luck and keep us all in the loop.

Got an email from Shapeways, they've reviewed the model and thankfully everything is okay with it. It's on its way to the printers, so now we just need to wait until it's delivered.

Awesome! That sounds good.

Good luck my friend.

Hey all, quick update:

I've cleaned up the first post of this thread a little, and brought the details up to date.

More notably, though, I've set up/am working on a crappy google site for CryptoPendants, to use as a hub for all information. You can find it here: https://sites.google.com/site/cryptopendants/ (It's still under construction. Expect test posts consisting of gibberish and other such things.)

Also, we're getting closer to the estimated ship date of the new prototype (according to Shapeways), so I've set up a countdown on the left sidebar of the website. Expect more updates both here in this thread and on the website over the next few weeks.

I recieved an email from Shapeways a few days ago regarding the prototype.

Long story short, the opening to the pendant was warped during the printing process, and a reprint has been requested. Shapeways say that it will be shipped within two weeks (There's a BFL joke somewhere here), so I'm afraid we're going to have to wait just a little bit longer.

Here's an image of the issue:

https://i.imgur.com/wM08Reyl.jpg

Did you ever get this sorted out?  Shapeways uses ExOne's process for their metals (almost exclusively, even) and sometimes the sintering and infiltration steps involve some distortion. 

It looks to me like we could hide an NFC sticker into a print like that.  (I know you said you didn't want it in plastic)

Really like this, as stated in the OP, can't wait to see more about these and watch them rise!
Thanks!

How much would it be for other coins?

Because I'd love to get some of these for ADN and FRK

Hey all!

So, here's the story:

Basically, the prototype arrived, but the opening to the pendant was so warped that the plate didn't fit: I guess metal printing just isn't stable enough for something like this. I tried filing it down with a whetstone, but it didn't work. I neglected to update you because it slipped my mind, and eventually I just thought it was too late to bother. I should have said something, so you have my deepest apologies.

Now, regarding the future of the project: for the moment I've given up. I'd consider redesigning if there was a demand for it, but for the time being I don't have much motivation to continue. However, if I do decide to redesign, I'll use a more basic design that's more likely to work.

Thanks, and again sorry for not notifying you guys sooner,
//Untitled

have you considered using a 3-d printer? ;-) *blessed like the design!!!

The prototypes were printed using a 3D Printer that prints metal at a company called Shapeways, which is the reason that the entrance to the pendant was warped.

you watch this yet? =)

====> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DconsfGsXyA

Yes, but I don't see how that's relevant.

that camp may be the best peeps to source the ideal 3d printer materials to use?  ;)

Nah, if/when I choose to continue I'll be metal printing at Shapeways. There aren't other places that really do Metal printing, so I'm not looking to change the plan.