I never bothered with this stuff but I guess others might. A mate of mine (Old Fart Pensioner) Down Here hand makes (hand held coping saw etc) these things (various designs) from plate aluminium. They are then powder coated (whatever colour you like) and engraved however you like. For perspective...photo taken with key on A4 size envelope. Lemme know if anyone would like to know more.
Is that done with a 3-D printer? Just an anecdote... West Point's Cadet Chapel is very old. The key to it's main doors was lost years ago. As a science project, some Cadets measured the interior parts of the lock somehow and generated a new key (WHICH WORKED!) with a 3-D printer. It looked very much like your picture. Great idea for a birthday present, by the way. Hmmmm... may be good for retirements, births (name), awards of all sorts. You may really have something there.
No 3-D printer. Old Fart Pensioner mate is an old school tool maker tradesman and does this stuff hand made. That was cut out with a hand held coping saw and then 'rasped' down with various fine grade 'grit' to make it look schmick on all edges. That is what I reckon people will really appreciate...some real life person put his old school trade skills into effect and actually makes something unique to a 'customer's' requirements. No computers involved anywhere in the process. It is quite charming I reckon, but I am a sucker for nostalgia and elde artisan skills.
Yep...that is how he does it. I doubt he has a specialised 'jeweller's saw' but he does use a device which looks pretty much the same...a coping saw. Has a very fine blade for use to cut non ferrous metal, like aluminium.
I've used them. Can be done on ferrous metals too, tho its much slower. I used one to cut a trigger out of an old pair of pliers because it had 'made in USA' stamped on it, and our gun laws require our assault rifles to have a limited number of foreign-made parts or they're illegal as 'imports'.
