Bitcoin Keychains, custom-engraved with QR codes

[BitPappa]

Hello! After setting out on this task many months ago, some partners I've been working with have finally been able to deliver a high-quality custom engraved QR code on our popular Bitcoin keychains. We're still working out some details, but as a lot of people have been asking for this product, I wanted to post these pics showing where we are (see below).

The process is pretty time-consuming, so the retail price on these custom engraved keychains will be higher than I would have liked (exact price TBD). Perhaps you can help us figure this out; how much would you pay for one of these custom keychains? Note that they aren't simply engraved, but they also have paint applied in the engraved area.

Hope you'll let me know what you think, so we can hopefully bring this product to market very soon. Thanks!

For more info on our original (non-custom) keychains, please see that thread:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=251216

[Gliph]

I had a chance to try out some of the initial versions of this, (prior to the deeper QR code engraving), and it is still an awesome keychain!

I recommend it to anyone who wants an easy to find wallet address even if your smartphone battery is dead.

rob

[davideak]

WATCH!!

been waiting for this 

I see your using the basic keychain mold & indevidualy engraving them,
what kind of process are you using (etching/machining)? and what kind of paint?

as for your question, seeing that the basic model costs around 10$
if you accumulate a minimum of 50~100 orders/pcs you could lower costs and sell it for around 20$ (after all it is a key-chain)

hope this is available soon, & that you will be able to ship worldwide!

[cech4204a]

Thats a very good idea there, i like the way it's made of metal so it's almost forever, what would be the price for that keychain ?
I guess it works that way that i send you my QR code, you make keychain and ship it to me?

[hilariousandco]

How much do they cost you to produce roughly (if you don't mind me asking)? Would give people a better idea of roughly how much they'd would or be expected to pay. I'd definitely be interested. I was thinking about buying one of these keys but wanted one with a QR code so this is perfect.

[elebit]

They look great! I want one so bad, but I suspect they are prohibitively expensive to produce. There must be a lot of manual steps in the production of the customized backside?

As for what I could pay, I would be happy to bay $15, at $20 I would only buy one, and above that none at all. Probably. But it is easy to pull numbers out of your ass, I'm not sure how I would react to the final pricing. They look good however, they really do.

[guybrushthreepwood]

These look pretty sweet. They'd probably work and look good as a belt buckle if you made them a bit bigger. Thought about branching out into other products?

[gondel]

Hello,
These ones are looking really good. Probably these 2 pictures will be used a lot above some articles about Bitcoin
Well about the price it depends a lot. Is this QR code functional? If I can accept BTC with this keychain I can spend up to 0.04-0.05 BTC
If I cannot may be around 0.005 BTC.
BTW are you delivering to Bulgaria?
BR

[BitPappa]

Thanks for the interest and the comments. Yes, these may be prohibitively expensive to be a commercial success. I haven't seen anyone name a price that is doable, based on the time/labor involved. And that's totally understandable, to not want to spend much on a keychain!

A little more info -- I'm partnering with a local business to produce these, so the bottom line on the price is largely up to them (the goal is for them to take the orders and produce them, using my keychains as blanks). They would actually handle all aspects of the orders, and I would just supply the blank keychains, and help them get the message out. A CNC machine is used to drill out the holes, and I'm unsure of the exact type of paint they used (curious, davideak, if you have a reason for asking). For those who've been following along, we tried another method to produce custom keychains, but we weren't satisfied with the image durability. That was a lot of effort that didn't produce a marketable product. And then it was a long learning curve figuring out different subtleties of making the QR engraving process work. So what you are seeing in the photo is the result of quite a number of hours (and keychains) spent.

I have some ideas for simplifying the process thus reducing the cost for customized keychains (and perhaps other products), but it will require a completely different manufacturing process to make the keychain blanks. If the idea pans out (and it may not), it would be awhile before the new product is ready to go.

The guys I'm working with on these are very interested in bringing more products like this to market. Their entire business is custom work with lasers and CNC machines, while I've mostly been pursuing the custom products with the goal of creating products that people in the crypto playground want (a lot of people have told me they want some version of this product, so I've been trying to make it happen). The production guys have worked out a few lower-cost products, and hope to eventually have a wide selection of custom QR products available.

Perhaps I can figure out a way to for people from this forum to get custom keychains in a group, at a price that's lower than if people just order one-by-one. I'll talk with the guy who would actually be hands-on making these today, and see what quantity/price is doable for him, and talk more about coming to a final standard retail price.

I assume foreign shipping will be available, but keep in mind that shipments with even basic tracking using the U.S. Postal Service to some countries (with delivery by your local postal service) can add a lot to the cost. I'll come back with more info.

I also have some non-customize products along these lines I also hope to bring to market, and those would benefit from the cheap prices that mass-production allows.

Thanks again, all, and please keep your thoughts coming. My day job has me pretty busy right now, and I will have to talk to the production guys to work out more pricing and shipping details, so I probably will not be back on to update for a bit.

EDIT: gondel, yes, these QR codes scan! And your offered price is much closer to doable (well, depending on the price of BTC).

[davideak]

A CNC machine is used to drill out the holes, and I'm unsure of the exact type of paint they used (curious, davideak, if you have a reason for asking).

I'm a mechanical engineer so I'm familiar with manufacturing processes,
If this is done by CNC then the pricing would be high due to:

* engineering time to program each individual QR code from 2D to 3D

* set up time for the machine (as its probably not a dedicated one)

* Machine work time (would probably require a small diameter milling head & a longer time to cut due to the slow speed so the tool won't break)

(and this does not take into account the painting - although I would assume the QR area would be pre-painted with the BTC sign in the front and the CNC process would take care of the contrast after cutting the base of the key-chain, requiring only cleaning after the CNC process is complete)

All in all - this does not seem as a cheap process could easily cost as much as 50$ a piece (in contrast to the generic keychain which probably had the high initial cost of the mold)


Another thought:
I was looking at some new 3D desktop printers (Example) for my workplace,
With one of these you would be able to low cost print these keychains from a durable ABS plastic.
The machine can have up to 2 different colors - so the QR code can be printed in a different color than the base & give a readable cheap Key chain that would easily be sold for around 15$ - they might not last as much as the metal ones or have a good a finish but they would do the job (I would buy one anyway).

Anyway - I'm keeping my eyes open on this post - hope you are able to produce these in a reasonable consumer price.

[BIGMERVE]

Thanks for the interest and the comments. Yes, these may be prohibitively expensive to be a commercial success. I haven't seen anyone name a price that is doable, based on the time/labor involved. And that's totally understandable, to not want to spend much on a keychain!

A little more info -- I'm partnering with a local business to produce these, so the bottom line on the price is largely up to them (the goal is for them to take the orders and produce them, using my keychains as blanks). They would actually handle all aspects of the orders, and I would just supply the blank keychains, and help them get the message out. A CNC machine is used to drill out the holes, and I'm unsure of the exact type of paint they used (curious, davideak, if you have a reason for asking). For those who've been following along, we tried another method to produce custom keychains, but we weren't satisfied with the image durability. That was a lot of effort that didn't produce a marketable product. And then it was a long learning curve figuring out different subtleties of making the QR engraving process work. So what you are seeing in the photo is the result of quite a number of hours (and keychains) spent.

I have some ideas for simplifying the process thus reducing the cost for customized keychains (and perhaps other products), but it will require a completely different manufacturing process to make the keychain blanks. If the idea pans out (and it may not), it would be awhile before the new product is ready to go.

The guys I'm working with on these are very interested in bringing more products like this to market. Their entire business is custom work with lasers and CNC machines, while I've mostly been pursuing the custom products with the goal of creating products that people in the crypto playground want (a lot of people have told me they want some version of this product, so I've been trying to make it happen). The production guys have worked out a few lower-cost products, and hope to eventually have a wide selection of custom QR products available.

Perhaps I can figure out a way to for people from this forum to get custom keychains in a group, at a price that's lower than if people just order one-by-one. I'll talk with the guy who would actually be hands-on making these today, and see what quantity/price is doable for him, and talk more about coming to a final standard retail price.

I assume foreign shipping will be available, but keep in mind that shipments with even basic tracking using the U.S. Postal Service to some countries (with delivery by your local postal service) can add a lot to the cost. I'll come back with more info.

I also have some non-customize products along these lines I also hope to bring to market, and those would benefit from the cheap prices that mass-production allows.

Thanks again, all, and please keep your thoughts coming. My day job has me pretty busy right now, and I will have to talk to the production guys to work out more pricing and shipping details, so I probably will not be back on to update for a bit.

EDIT: gondel, yes, these QR codes scan! And your offered price is much closer to doable (well, depending on the price of BTC).

Please let me know when you are ready to take orders. I'd be wiling to spend $20-30.

[elebit]

* engineering time to program each individual QR code from 2D to 3D
* set up time for the machine (as its probably not a dedicated one)

Wouldn't this be pretty straightforward to automate, as a CNC by definition is controlled by a regular computer? Even the set up time could be made minimal if you could insert a whole batch at a time?

(I have no idea so I'm just making things up here, but am genuinely interested.)

[BitPappa]

Thanks for your input, davideak, indeed that was the initial price the hands-on production guy suggested charging. After another meeting with him, it does seem the actual CNC time is the biggest contributor to the price. Though there are quite a few other steps, including painting and sanding.

We're also experimenting with laser-cutting and etching other materials. I have no hands-on experience with 3D printing, but my thought is that resolution artifacts (bumps, lines, etc.) that seem typical are particularly significant on something as small as a keychain.

Thanks, BIGMERVE, for your encouragement thoughts on price. BTW, you appear to be the best deal in quality logo design I've ever seen. I'm really curious, where are you located?

elebit, as I'm not the hands on guy with the CNC, I'm sure I don't have the most accurate response. But my take is that it's a weird trial & error thing, getting this particular CNC machine to work with the particular (shareware/freeware?) software being used. Since the biggest charge is due to the raw CNC time, the efficiency you described will probably only come in time.

I'm considering doing something interesting for forum members, maybe starting at around $20 (+ shipping), with each consecutive purchase increasing by $1, and we see what happens… Would be a fun pricing experiment. Stay tuned...

[BIGMERVE]

Thanks, BIGMERVE, for your encouragement thoughts on price. BTW, you appear to be the best deal in quality logo design I've ever seen. I'm really curious, where are you located?

Thanks, Southern California

[runam0k]

I want one.  I'll pay whatever I need to pay.

Love the earlier (non-engraved) version, even though the QR code is now unreadable.

[hilariousandco]

How much are the custom ones with shipping to the UK? I'd like one of them and a handful of the other chains if possible. Could you shoot me a price?

[Honeybooboo]

Those are some really cool looking keyrings. I've actually seen images of them on many bitcoin articles but had no idea they were this. Really cool that you can buy them with your address on. How much are they with or without engraving?

[BitPappa]

Those are some really cool looking keyrings. I've actually seen images of them on many bitcoin articles but had no idea they were this. Really cool that you can buy them with your address on. How much are they with or without engraving?

Thanks for your response! And sorry I've been M.I.A. on the custom keychains. I'm working with another party to produce these, and we keep being out-of-phase for having time to keep things moving. Visit Bkeychain.com to and click Buy A Keychain to see the stores that sell the keychains (I don't sell directly, and each store has it's own price).

Sorry getting these going is taking so long. As getting it all together to launch a biz with these is taking awhile, I will make a limited run for people who are up for the price - $40 + shipping (many coins accepted). If you're interested or have any specific questions, please PM me. It can be an image (like a logo) or a QR for a public key, etc.

Thanks!