Magnetic Wood and Leather Keychain Organiser

This project combines wood and leather to create a classy magnetic key chain organiser.

The one in our house has been in use for a year now and not only has helped us avoid loosing our shed key, but also acts as a small piece of art by the door.

This design could be easily personalised replacing the abstract shapes with icons indicating the use of the key or words or names.

Note - Take care when using the magnets, as they are small they could easily be ingested which would be hazardous. It is also very easy to pinch yourself with these magnets, keep your wits about you!

Materials:

• 1.5mm LaserPly (18cm x 11cm)
• 5mm MDF (18cm x 11cm)
• 3mm MDF (18cm x 11cm)
• 3mm Leather (18cm x 11cm)
• 9 x 8mm Rare Earth Magnets
• 3 Key Rings
• Super Glue
• Tarzan's Grip Glue
• Wood Varnish

Tools:

• Beambox Lasercutter 40W
• Clamps
• Permanent Marker
• Varnish Brush

The keyholder is 11cm high and 18cm wide with a corner radius of 5mm to increase the softness of the design.

The numbers below indicate the hex code in the svg attached.

The first layer to be designed was the front cover, to be cut (#43F20D) and etched on thin wood (1.5mm laser ply) to allow the magnets to work through it. I chose to highlight where the magnets are with etching, in this case with spiral designs (#000044). I wanted it to be obvious where the key fob should be put by marking with imagery.

The second layer is the sandwich layer, in this case to be made with 5mm MDF (#0D79F2). This is the layer that will house the magnets, the magnets I am using are 9mm in diameter so there needs to be 9mm holes that line up with the artwork on the front. I'm also making a keyhole style attachment so the key holder can be attached to the wall, so those holes are also added to this layer.

The final backing layer, to be made from 3mm MDF (#F20DAF), just needs the keyholes for the screws when attaching to the wall.

I also designed fobs to be etched and cut from leather (#F20D0D).

Each of the layers was then etched and cut as according to the layers in the step above on my Beambox lasercutter.

I first cut and etched the cover, then the middle sandwich layer, and finally the back.

Then it was time for glueing, due to impatience I used superglue, however wood glue would also have worked well.

When glueing the three layers it is important to make sure the front layer is facing outward with the etchings, the middle layer lines the etchings up with the magnets and that the magnets are on the inside of the sandwich.

Make sure to clamp and let dry thoroughly as the key holder will experience regular stress with the magnet pulling against it.

While the glue was drying I cut and etched the key fobs from some rescue leather using my Beambox lasercutter.

Note, this part does smell quite terrible and I recommend letting the air vent as long as possible.

It is worth playing around with different settings here on your lasercutter to get the etching effect you are looking for, it's easy to burn the leather and end up with char.

An important part of this step was making sure that the key fob designs faced outwards when they were attached to the key holder. To ensure this I attached the magnets to the key holder, marked the outside points and made sure that mark was visible on the outside facing side of the key fob.

I threaded the key ring through the fob to catch it on the inside, and then put glue around the edges of the inside of the fob, using Tarzan Grip glue and clamped the fob closed with the magnet on the inside. This then needed to dry for four hours.

To avoid the complexities in this step, just etch the same design on both ends of the key fob, then it doesn't matter what the orientation of the magnet is.

This is an optional step to make the wood cover shine with some varnish.

Once everything is dry the key holder can be mounted and keys attached to the key fobs. The strength of the magnets used will dictate how heavy the keys attached to the holder can be.

Enjoy your new piece of art/organisation!