Steampunk Keyboard Mod

[mbarrick]

[EDIT] This keyboard mod was mentioned in the August 23, 2008 edition of the Sydney Morning Herald.

I finally finished that "secret project" I started exactly two months ago - a Steampunk keyboard mod.

First, an $8.29 keyboard on sale at Staples. I actually bought three, just in case of screw-ups.

Next, off to Dressew for $25 worth of buttons to use for making the keys.

The best buttons for the larger keys ("Enter", "Shift", "Tab", etc.) were coat buttons and had a knob on the back that was not conducive to my purposes, so...

Dremmel tool to the rescue!

Bit of a dusty job, that, when there are several to do. But I survived.

Now I needed to make the labels for the keys. Getting the size of the buttons right was "key" so I took rubbings of the two sizes of button I was using to get an accurate measurement of the inner dimensions. Choosing the right font was also important. I used my circa 1930 Underwood as a model and settled on Quicktype Mono as the closest match.

The labels for all the keys were printed on 4" x 6" glossy photo paper (something I'm never in short supply of) and each character individually cut out, the cut edge blacked with a Jiffy marker, and then glued to a button.

All done, I think...

Sanity check.

My original idea was to fill each button with a gob of urethane. As you can see here, that did not work well. The urethane lifted the black ink out and went almost completely opaque black. I tried pre-sealing with a thin coat, letting that dry completely, then putting the thicker coat on, and ended up with the same results.

A much more successful test with polymer resin. The smallest kit I could find was $30 at Michael's.

The resin is really intended for pouring in relatively large batches to do things like coating a coffee table. Dripping the three drops at at time into the buttons was a challenge. I learned quickly to only make very small batches because the viscosity would change fairly quickly, making the small pours impossible and wasting a lot of resin. The very small pours also caused a couple other problems.

I discovered that getting the tiny air bubbles out of the small pours was a problem and I also had a problem with some of the buttons not curing completely. With the small amounts the catalyst lost efficacy too soon.  I solved both problems by using slightly more catalyst when mixing and applying a little heat (200 °F). The bubbles rose to the surface much more quickly and could be easily tapped off with my fingertip and the cure time was only a couple of hours instead of a day or more (or never).

And now on to getting the keyboard ready. First all the keys have to come off.

My test-key is fully cured, so I decided to try out a sample. Most of the original key needs to be cut away, just leaving a column to glue the buttons to. You can see the cut-down control key below the shift key. This is going to work! The guides that the metal bar under the larger keys slip into that you see on either side of the shift key have to be snapped off.

The next step required complete disassembly of the keyboard. All the ugly marks left from snapping off the guides for the larger keys need to be covered up. I'm going to use a piece of vinyl for that, but I need to know exactly where to cut the holes for the keys. I could have done a whole bunch of careful measuring and drafting out the position of the holes on the back of the vinyl, but I'm lazy.

Confucius said, "If you want to find an easier way to do something, give the job to a lazy man."

Now that I have the exact positions of all they keys mapped out on the vinyl, it's time to cut them out. The exacto-knife approach, however, quickly proved too difficult.

"Didn't I inherit a bunch of upholstery tools?" I think to myself. After some rummaging around I found a leather punch just the right size. Thanks, dad. R.I.P. Rather than annoying the crap out of my downstairs neighbours by using a mallet with the punch to make the holes, I just pushed each one through with a twist.

I hope the downstairs neighbours appreciate my efforts. Although it was fun telling people at work that my stigmata was acting up as the blisters healed ;-)

With a couple of strategically placed keys to hold things down, I cut out the vinyl inserts.

Then on to painting the keyboard shell. I used a coat of "hammered copper" Rustoleum, and while the hammered copper coat was still wet, dusted it with "antique brass" Rustoleum.

The idea was to have the "hammered copper" texture split the "antique brass" layer, resulting in a corroded brass look. It worked really well. The two cans of spray paint add another $18 to the project.

And now for the especially fun part of snipping the keys down with a pair of wire-clippers and gluing on all the buttons. I didn't really pay too much attention to how long this took, but I'd estimate around six hours or so (not in one sitting).

Done!

A closer look.

Compass-rose cursor keys.

Roman numeral function keys in deference to The Steampunk Workshop's much, much nicer keyboard mod that inspired me to do this.

The (what I think of) Windows keys.

At home on my messy desk. In the end the materials cost multiple times what the keyboard cost and many hours of my time. This post is the first significant amount of typing I've done with the keyboard and it has taken a bit of getting used to - mostly overcoming the urge to mash the keys like I would typing on my old Underwood! Next one of these I do is going to have to be based on a better quality keyboard. Nonetheless, I'd call this a successful experiment.

Comments

[sebastian6.livejournal.com]

Wow. That is really neat. Great work!

[donnaidh-sidhe.livejournal.com]

That's quite lovely. Do you find you need to strike the keys harder with the mods, or...? Well, I'd love to try typing on it myself, but I'll have to settle for a secondhand account.

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

It's nothing to do with the mechanics of the mod that make me want to hit the keys harder. It's the round keys confusing my hands in to manual typewriter habits. I've also hit shift-2 for a double quote several times and other things of that sort. It's an interesting phenomenon.

[opium.livejournal.com]

that's really awesome

[bitogoth.livejournal.com]

fantastic! i've been feeding steampunk projects to a friend of mine at work and he'll love this!

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

Given the constraints of working in an apartment, this is one almost anyone could do.

[mediavictim.livejournal.com]

Nice - but you should really look at getting a hamster wheel and steam stacks for you computer (you can put in a fake mouse and run the wheel on a remote control car engine

I also know that you can get a "smoker" a mini box that emits steam /fog/smoke for movie effects (worn on a vampire who has to look like
hes burning up or on a comedian to look like hes on fire.

This would make you computer look steam powered (or hamster powered


What is the next project - make Elaines computer look like a Spinning Jenny? No power - only foot pedals for her

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

I used to have a model train steam engine when I was a kid that puffed smoke with that sort of thing. That's a really interesting idea...

I think the next project will be doing something to my monitor.

[lilitha.livejournal.com]

This is sweet. I need to make a mental note about polymer resin.

[sciencequeen.livejournal.com]

HOLY SHIT MONKEY BALLS OMG!!!

I am utterly speechless.

You do realize you could sell these for a bagillion dollars right? Not trying to suggest anything, but still.

I am constantly blown away by your awesomeness. Seriously.

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

Thanks :-)

I'd *have* to sell them for a bagillion dollars to make back the cost of the materials and time.

[nocturnalmuse.livejournal.com]

This is wonderful! I've also been reading the Steampunk Workshop's website (as well as various LJ steampunk groups) lately...it's become quite an obsession for me. (And it definitely had nothing to do with attending C13, not at all.)

That's so sweet!!!

[ztargazer.livejournal.com]

That's so sweet!!!

Looks like you have done a lot of work, no wonder you have been so "busy" lately. That thing looks awesome and I like the idea for the buttons. Keeping the original action of the keys untouched, it should work for ages.
You should post this up on http://www.makezine.com/. They have a great blog page with people doing all kinds of projects, I am sure people would love to see this one. A few years ago I got a set of plans for a full manual conversion from this site in which the strikers trigger the sensors, it even had an accommodation for the old style shift issue. Maybe I should pull out the old cast iron beast and get it started.

On second thought I have to finish my motor first.

[r-lex.livejournal.com]

Exceptional Michael. Truly an inspired little bit of nerd virtuosity. My hat is off to you.

[cheekydevil.livejournal.com]

Preeeeeeeeeeeety coooooooool!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkpixie_/]

HAH! This is sooo you! I love it!

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

I've been saying for years that I have one foot in the 19th century and the other in the 21st.

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

Quaerere verba Latina, sane!

(To look up Latin words, of course!)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_disdain_/]

That's really cool! I don't think I would have the patience for something like that...

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

It was more a matter of perseverence than patience.

[tnkgrl.livejournal.com]

Awesome :)

Were you inspired by this one?

http://steampunkworkshop.com/keyboard.shtml

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

Completely. I mentioned that one under the image of the Roman numeral function keys. If I still had access to a workshop like I did when I was living in the studio in Gastown I would have pulled off something fancier.

OK, I'm impressed

[lakenereid.livejournal.com]

A lot of effort, for a fine result.
Where do you find the time?
I like the stigmata joke; most of my hobbies don't leave that one open to me.
Congratulations on a successful weirdness -- I mean, experiment.

Re: OK, I'm impressed

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

I did it bits and pieces over two months. It wasn't so much about finding the time as something to preserve my sanity by (ironically) getting me away from the computer now and again while I am overwhelmed with work.

You have waaaaaaaay too much time on your hands my friend.

[logik.livejournal.com]

Nice job tho. Should post this on some case mod sites.

Time is money.

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

It's not exactly wasted time. Datamancer's keyboards (http://www.datamancer.net/keyboards/keyboards.htm) sell for $2,000 - $5,000 each. I'm aiming for something I can produce more easily and get into a much more affordable $500 - $1000 range. "Barrel full of dimes..." and whatnot.

[davegodfrey.livejournal.com]

Wow! That's beautiful. It probably cost a fraction of the von Slatt/Datamancer version, and took less time too. It also looks like something those of us with limited money/skills/material could actually do!

[scarletwildfire.livejournal.com]

I stumbled upon you (and this entry) today. Awesome work! Love the tutorial.

whatwhat

[(Anonymous)]

badass

[kaugomu.livejournal.com]

Amazingly awesome!

keyboard mod

[(Anonymous)]

Great ideas! I really appreciate thehammered brass on the body. This would look great with a brass framed monitor! I wonder what could be done with the cords for usb and stuff, to make them fit in the design of everything else. Any ideas?? You have a very kool keyboard! Im going to try this myself with a few diff. The keys are going to be diff gloss colors so look like gems and the frame is going to be stone tex paint. Thank you for solution to so many obstacles that kept me from trying, ie key layout on the vinyl. Again, thank you!!

Re: keyboard mod

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

I live in an old building that was not wired for electricity when it was originally built. Much of the wiring is surface-mounted in corrugated conduit. You could create a similar look with nylon wireloom (http://cableorganizer.com/nylon-wireloom/) or actual metal conduit, painted the colour of your choice. A lot of computer stores and stationery stores will sell the nylon wireloom for cable management and the electrical section of any decent hardware store should have conduit.

This is the coolest thing I've ever seen

[(Anonymous)]

This is so awesome a ton of work. It's not exactly a multitouch user interface that eliminates the need for us to conform to a device, but it's steampunk and that's cooler.

Troy Peterson
www.nibipedia.com

Latin

[(Anonymous)]

I particularly love the semi-pretentious Collins Gem Latin Dictionary. Brings back fond memories of my Latin teacher, Mrs Gould.

Gouldibus sittibus
On the deskinorum
Deskibus collapsibus
Gouldi on the floorum.

Cheers!