>I think your biggest cost will be if you go custom with injection molding.
>Can't say how many times a client has backed off from a project due to
>the costs involved...essentially they had no clue that tooling can be
>thousands of dollars.
>There are dozens of vendors making blank keyfob type cases...some can do
>a little customization on them for not alot of cost but if it was me, I
>would get samples of several and see if your device can be designed to
>fit inside it. If you can, your costs have just come down dramatically.
>If not, you really need to think about the packaging.
>Short of doing a steel tool, you can do rubber but then your limited to
>maybe 10 shots, but the cost is less.
>Aluminum molds are cheaper than steel, but again your shots are limited.
>Doing a steel mold really commits you.

If you cannot find a suitable key fob then vacuum moulding something around 
a wood block may serve fro getting a volume manufacturer interested. There 
is plenty of info out on the web on how to do this e.g. 
http://www.alstevens.com/ventriloquism/vacuum.html , or maybe try someone 
like this  http://www.rtptrading.com.au/


>Oh..patent it?
>I wouldnt, unless its so unique and new, why bother?
>Honestly with something like this, you ought to consider it a springboard
>to bigger and better and more things.
>IF by chance, this really goes BIG, you might make some serious coin for
>a year or so, and then it either wears off or the maket gets flooded with
>knock offs.
>But what it does for you, is perhaps opens doors to some of the novelty
>and toy companies to have you begin developing things for them.
>You just never know where things can go.

http://www.kirkhouse.co.uk/compact/poly/poly.html The guy that designed 
these chairs has been getting a penny a chair since the late 1960's ... 
These things are ubiquitous around the world. There was a program recently 
on TV where they interviewed the guy that designed them, and he told of 
seeing some of the plastic pieces bolted into a canoe in Africa somewhere, 
and the locals didn't believe he designed it until he got them to turn one 
over and showed them his name as the licensor of the design ...

So you never know where your fob will go ... 

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