Close

Part 7: Changing gear

A project log for Tesla Key Watch

Embedding a J3A040-CL chip and a custom antenna into a modified Casio F-91W for accessing my Tesla Model 3.

mattia-dal-benMattia Dal Ben 09/13/2020 at 13:350 Comments

The UV curable resin front glass was a dead end...

After trying to obtain a glass-like effect multiple times and failing I abandoned this path. I couldn't get a totally clear look, no matter how I hard I tried. Here's the best looking one so far:

Then it hit me... the original front plate is made of acrylic. If only I had access to something that can cut acrylic...

Oh wait, I do! My dear Shapeoko!

It took me an embarassingly long time to figure out I could CNC this part out of acrylic. To try things out I cut it out of a 3 mm thick sheet I had lying around and the result is amazing!

It looks AMAZING! Apart from the awkward thickness. Keep in mind that in the pic above it wasn't seated properly so it look thicker than in reality.

I plan to use a 2 mm thick acrylic sheet for this which shouldn't get so obnoxious. We'll see...

Now I need to try and build the antenna out of this and see what it looks like. Depending on that I'll figure out if it'll need some paint. I already experimented a bit with nail polish and resin to see if there's any bad reaction with the acrylic and things should be good.

Final note: Here's what happens if you forget to use the proper mill for acrylic...

Discussions