Tent Key for Silly Solutions

The tent key is not a key to lock or unlock a tent, but rather a small key-shaped object designed to be inserted into a hollow tent pole as to keep it up and bent as it should be. The key is supposed to be on a ring attached to the tent. But after a while, my family lost one of these tent keys.

Tinkercad account

Ruler with centimeters

Cura/slicing program

3D printer

1 gram silver PLA filament

We luckily had three other keys to make a model from, so I took one off and measured it.

The length was 3 cm long, and a diameter of 0.5 cm. The torus was 2 cm for the big circle, and the smaller thickness diameter of 0.5 cm.

This step was fairly easy. I found the shapes I wanted, the cylinder and the torus, and put the measurements on them. The length of the key is pushed in 2 millimeters and has 8 mm on one side and 7 on the other. Because this wouldn't affect the structural integrity of the design, I didn't worry about it.

While using the torus instead of the welded shape deviated from the original, I think it should help insure that this one doesn't get off of the ring.

I pressed the export button and opened with Cura, the slicing program that we use for 3D prints. I checked the size, which looked good, and then messed with the settings. I decided to put the infill up to 20, because I want the tent key to be as sturdy as the original metal one.

I printed it on our CR-10S printer using PLA. I used a silver filament as well because it looks most like metal. I prepped the glass build plate with a glue stick so that it adheres well. After 15 minutes, it was done! I took it off of the printer using a putty knife and it was ready to be put on the tent.