How to make a keychain Spotify for 3D printing in Tinkercad

This site is supported by its readers, and we may receive commissions if you purchase products through our links, at no additional cost to you. More information..

Spotify is an application for Android, Windows and other platforms, which provides a digital music streaming service.

This app allows you to copy and share the link of a song with the person you want so they can listen to it too.

But that's not all, Spotify also has a page that allows you to create a barcode of the song of your choice and send it as an image so that other people can scan it.

Today with this tutorial you are going to create this link and you are going to use a 3D modeling program called Tinkercad to give it the shape of a keychain and print it with your 3D printer.

Basically you're going to dedicate a song to someone in a very, very special way.

Step 1) Open Spotify and choose the song

On your PC, you will open the Spotify application and search for the song you want to dedicate.

In my case I'm going to choose the song by Alejandro Lerner called "Secretos", in your case it can be a song that means something to you or to the person you want to dedicate it to.

Step 2) Copy the song link

Once you have found the song you want to share you must copy the link, for this you must click on the 3 dots at the end of the song name.

Here some options will open and you must click on Share and then in Copy song link.

Step 3) Open Spotify Codes and generate the Barcode

In your internet browser you must access Spotify Codes and place the link of the song you just copied

Once you have pasted the link you must click on “Get Spotify code” and a section with download options will open on the right side of the screen.

Here you will only change the download format and instead of downloading “Jpg” you should put “SVG”

After making the format change you can click on “Download” and a “spcode-*.svg” file will be downloaded to your downloads folder. It may have numbers and letters or be called differently, but the file extension must be .svg

If you want you can change the name, or put the name of the song so as not to get confused.

Step 4) Open Tinkercad and import the file

Autodesk Tinkercad is a free online 3D modeling program that is used from your web browser.

To enter you can create an account or do it using your networks, such as Google for example. Click on login up to the right.

Once inside you will go to 3D Design and “Create a 3D design” and your work plan will open.

Here you must click on the button "Matter" up to the right.

In this window you must select the file you saved previously, and then click the button Matter

Step 5) Model the keychain in Tinkercad

Once you have imported the barcode, you will model the keychain using some very simple tools.

Don't worry if you don't know how to model or if my examples aren't enough, I'll post a YouTube video anyway to make it clearer.

Correct the measurements

In my case I am going to modify the size to 18 mm x 70 mm and I am going to leave the object centered on the work plane. This can be achieved by Clicking on the corners and manually modifying the measurements.

Since the imported object is tall, I'm going to change its height from 10 mm to 3 mm.

The object should have the measurements of 18 mm x 70 mm x 3 mm (at least in my case, if you want to make it in other measurements keep in mind that the measurements must be proportional so that it does not deform too much).

Create the barcode

Once you have the barcode imported and with the correct measurements, you will give it a solid form.

1) You will go to the “Shape” window located on the right and you will click on “Gap”

By doing this the object with the code has to remain transparent.

2) Now you are going to go to the Basic Shapes column on the right and you are going to click on the Cube.

You are going to place the cube on the work surface and you are going to give it the same measurements as the transparent barcode, 18 mm x 70 mm x 3 mm

3) Then you will select both objects Using the “Shift” key and pressing the letter “L” (or you can go to the top menu and click on the “Align” function)

Several black dots will appear here, you have to click on the ones in the center.

4) Once the two objects are aligned, you are going to use the “Group” function by pressing the “CTRL + G” keys (or you can go to the top menu and click on the “Group” function).

If you have done things correctly, you should have a positive barcode, that is, a solid one without rectangular edges.

Create the base of the keychain

Now you are going to put the barcode aside for a moment and dedicate yourself to shaping the base of the keychain.

5) Create a cube again as you did before and give it the same measurements of 18 mm x 70 mm with the difference that you will put 2 mm of height.

6) Now you are going to create a cylinder and you are going to place it on the work plane and you are going to put the measurements of the width of the rectangle, that is, 18 mm x 18 mm x 2 mm

You are going to position this shape so that half of the circle is inside the rectangle and the other half is outside.

7) Now you are going to duplicate this shape using the “Ctrl+D” and you are going to place it on the other end of the rectangle.

8) You are going to select everything and you are going to use the “To line up” and then the function of “Group“.

now you have base of your keychain.

Create the edges of the keychain

9) Once you have your base ready, you will “double” (Ctrl + D) two (2) times that base, leaving it as in the image, above the code and 3 times the base of the keychain.

10) based on below and of the half you are going to modify the height and you are going to put 3mm instead of 2mm.

11) At the base of the middle you are going to subtract 1mm in width and in length. Instead of 88mm you are going to put 87mm and instead of 18 mm you are going to put 17mm

12) With the base of the medium selected you will go to the shape window and select “Hollow”

13) Now you are going to select the middle base and the one below and you are going to use the “ functionTo line up” to put them together. And after putting them together you are going to Group with "Ctrl+G“

The edges of the keychain are now ready. Now all that remains is to put the 3 objects together, align them and group them.

14) You are going to select the 3 objects and by pressing “L” you are going to center them and once centered you are going to group them with Ctrl+G

Create the hole for the key ring

You're almost done with the design part of the keychain, all that's left is to place the hole for the chain.

15) For this in the column of “Basic forms” you are going to select a “hollow cylinder” and you are going to place it on the work plane.

Modify the cylinder measurements. You are going to put a measure 3mm x 3mm and you are going to place it in the place that you want to put the key ring hole.

16) Once located, you will select everything and group it.

And that's it! You now have your Spotify keychain modeled!!

Step 6) Export the STL file

Now that you have your finished 3D model, all that remains is to export it in a Stl format, which is recognized by cutting programs such as Ultimaker Cura or PrusaSlicer.

17) To do this, go to the top right bar and click on “Export” and select the option .STL

The file will be automatically saved to your downloads folder.

Video on YouTube: Channel Novatech

Step 7) Open cutter and select printing parameters

After opening Cura you can select your favorite printing parameters to use with a 0.4 mm nozzle

I am going to use the parameters described in the post Best Cura setups for beginners, you can visit the post if you want and then come back.

Once you have your parameters ready, you will go to the preview tab and you will identify which one it is the last base coat of the keychain and what is it the first layer of edge and of the bar-code.

This will be important to be able to pause the print and change the filament.

In my case it will be the 12th layer of printing.

Modify G-code

In the menu bar you must select the option “Extensions” > “Post-processing” > “Modify GCode”

In this window you must add a command sequence, you will choose “Pause at height”

In the window on the right, in the first option where it says “Pause at" you are going to put "Layer Number”

In the second box “Pause Layer” the layer number that the filament needs to be changed. In my case it would be layer number 12, so that is the number I am going to put.

In the box below “Standby Temperature"I'm going to put 190 °C , since if we don't put anything the nozzle gets cold and if we delay changing the filament everything gets ruined.

Close the window and save the file on the Micro SD card

Step 8) Print the keychain

Congratulations! You have reached the point of printing the keychain that you designed yourself!

Don't forget to have the bed properly leveled before printing.

Remember that the 3D printer will print the keychain in one color (green for example) up to layer number 11, from there it will stop and the printer will remain in Stand By waiting for you to change the filament to another color (Black would be appropriate for the barcode).

Once you have placed the black filament, You will need to press the appropriate button on your printer to “Continue Printing.”

From this point on, the printer will heat up the nozzle and the heated bed again. It will extrude some filament, and will continue printing from layer number 12 to layer number 15 with the black color.

And that's how you print 2 colors with a single extruder.

Step 9) Gift the keychain

A song can say a lot about us and the message we want to convey, choose the song wisely and perhaps, you can be something more than a friend to that special person.

Whatever the case, I want you to know that wish you all the best.

You may also like: How to calibrate your 3D printer's flow rate to get more accurate parts.