hinchcliffe

I'd be in, price pending of course.

OrionKhan

Count me in if you can get alarm keys...

dpower$

I'm in also (price dependent) for the on keychain style as I collect porsche keychains also.

SharkSkin

Thanks for all of the input, folks.

Alarm blanks should be no problem. Also, right now we are thinking of making the unit at least 2-3mm thinner than my clay mock-up.

Heinrich, cutting "928" with CNC should be trivial. I won't consider reproducing the crest except as I noted above, for my own personal use. The question is, where to do that? Maybe on the butt of the non-keyring version? Almost anything you can think of can be fabricated, it only needs to be defined(and paid for).

Nicole, I had no idea there was a problem getting the blanks for the lighted keyhead. They have them at LockWorld... Seems like it would be relatively easy to reproduce.

I'd like to throw a few more ideas past everyone:

- Would you prefer that this keyhead simply attach to the Porsche blank used with the lighted keyhead? Then, anyone who has one of those could simply attach this keyhead instead. So people with this blank already in hand need not ship their key.

- If using the above approach, perhaps an additional service could be offered, where you send in your key made on a generic blank, and that blank would be cut down and machined with the same profile used with the lighted keyhead or this one. Maybe some people would be interested in this service alone.

- Is the lighted keyhead also used for other P-cars? If so, adopting this as the standard could open the market to ALL Porsche owners, further driving costs down due to economies of scale.

- One idea that Jon offered when we were talking about this, was to make the end cap reversible; one way, it's smooth. The other way, a keychain could be attached. We're already thinking that we need a detachable end cap for other reasons, and it would make more sense to produce a single part to serve both purposes.

- Another possibility that occurred to me... If using the Porsche blank as the standard... a loop could be attached instead of a key shank, the end cap flipped around so the "smooth" end is visible, and it could be used as a key fob. Thoughts?

- It also occurred to me that it need not be too heavy, so long as it is solid. We'll probably hollow out as much as is practical under the crests, to save weight and reduce stress on the ignition tumbler.

- I have found out that titanium can in fact be polished to a high luster, but I've been told it's tricky. We'll look into it, but if the finish is too delicate or too hard for the owner to maintain, it may not be a viable approach.

perrys4

I like option one. I have the lighted key fob but they are all wrecked.

OrionKhan

Hey, does anybody know the part number for the key blank (alarm lighted key head)? I found a site that may have them and I want to make sure its the blank and not the key head that they have.

heinrich

Dave the keyhead is used on other Porsches. I have one on a 911 key. I like the titanium idea
Heinrich

OrionKhan

Disregard that request...company had the key head not the blank.

SharkSkin

It's starting to sound like Ti is the preferred material.... but I have to say, the response is a bit underwhelming. Heinrich, do you know if there would be clearance issues on other cars? For example, the ignition tumbler on the 928 is a bit recessed. Do other cars have a smaller recess here? I'm beginning to think that I ought to post a pointer to this thread in other forums. Was the same lighted keyhead used on all Porsches from say 1985 on?

heinrich

Dave, 911 and 944 have flat surfaces so no clearance issues. And I was thinking this is much more than a 928 thing, it goes for all Porsches, so I would do as you say. Low response? May I suggest posting a set of designs, and let's all work on where to go with it? Personally I'm not sure how it will look. Are you using the original crest? Will the shape be a crest shape? How thick? Etc, you know

SharkSkin

Heinrich, that's what I thought I was doing.... taking a basic idea, tossing it to the wolves as it were, and seeing what gels. Yes, I intend to use genuine P-crests. Once I realized that there were so many benefits to using the Porsche blank(lighted keyhead style) I pretty much decided that that's the way to go. Now the trick is to make the head attach to that blank without having an ugly set-screw in the side of the keyhead.

The clay mock-up above represents the initial design, and was used to check for proper clearance. Through feedback received here I have decided to make it as thin and light as possible... as I said, at least 2-3mm thinner than my mock-up. Due to the curvature of the crest, I'm sure some degree of compromise will be in order on this issue.

I'll try drawing in other groups of P-car owners and see what they have to say. The more input I can get on this, the better the chances of creating a successful product. Thanks again everyone, for the feedback so far.

SharkSkin

OK, cross-posted a link back to here in the following places(hopefully this is OK)

911 Forum
924/931/944/951/968 Forum
930 Forum
964 Forum
964 Turbo Forum
986 Forum
987 Forum
993 Forum
996 Forum
997 Forum
GT2 & GT3 Forum
General Porsche Discussions Forum

BrianB

Count me in aswell.

FlyingDog

I'm in depending on the final design.

Jim_H

Count me in.