Post by: Bandit on Wed, 18 February 2015, 22:52:37
Boy howdy was this project harder than I thought it was going to be. Finding the right wood, making it thin enough, marking the holes correctly, almost ruining the whole project with my reckless dremeling a number of times, but it was all worth it in the end for one of the prettiest keyboards I've ever seen, even if I am a little biased :P
And so, after all that rambling, pictures!
(http://i.imgur.com/hYiLdah.jpg)
Ain't she a beaut?
(http://imgur.com/Ucv2MBP.jpg)
Yep, it's definitely hand-made. Remember when I mentioned reckless dremeling?
(http://i.imgur.com/jGS1F5e.jpg)
Hooray for hot glue!
(http://imgur.com/CR6ctSR.jpg)
It's "rustic"
Post by: Moralless on Wed, 18 February 2015, 22:55:19
Do you plan to put any coating over it in order to preserve the wood?
Post by: Bandit on Wed, 18 February 2015, 22:57:15
That looks great Bandit :thumb:
Do you plan to put any coating over it in order to preserve the wood?
I probably should have, but it's a bit late now since it's sort of glued shut forever. I guess I'll just sort of not spill anything on it hopefully.
Post by: MythicalWagyu on Wed, 18 February 2015, 23:00:56
Ron Swanson avatar, very appropriate :thumb:
Post by: Moralless on Wed, 18 February 2015, 23:01:23
That looks great Bandit :thumb:
Do you plan to put any coating over it in order to preserve the wood?
I probably should have, but it's a bit late now since it's sort of glued shut forever. I guess I'll just sort of not spill anything on it hopefully.
Is there a reason you glued it together instead of using screws? Seems like it would be doable.
Also you should really consider coating it, wouldn't want that good looking case to deteriorate
Post by: Bandit on Wed, 18 February 2015, 23:09:31
Seems like replacement TKL cases are not all that common, so I was interested in how you got all the pieces made - any steps from conception to completion that you might be willing & able to share?
Ron Swanson avatar, very appropriate :thumb:
Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures during the process. It went something like this
Cut 1x8" wood to the size of the case. I forgot what the dimensions are. something like 14" by 5.5" maybe?
Send it upright through my extended bandsaw 1/8" thick. Do this 3 times.
Sand & make it pretty.
Trace pattern from the old plastic case onto one of the pieces of wood.
Drill holes through all of the places where there will be holes.
Here comes the fun part. Use a slew of dremel bits to carve out by hand each hole precisely. Lol I think I skipped the precisely part.
Cut all of the side pieces from the third slice of wood. I marked how high I thought the top plate should be at the front and back and cut sides accordingly. The left and right side pieces will have a slight angle to them.
Stain everything real pretty.
Slap the bare keyboard in there and get gluing. We used hot glue but I recommend wood glue. Also I guess we should have put some sort of epoxy or something on there to make it stronger/less susceptible to warping.
Wait for pretty keycaps to come in the mail.
Take glamour shots and post them to GH and Reddit.
Profit!
Post by: Bandit on Wed, 18 February 2015, 23:11:00
That looks great Bandit :thumb:
Do you plan to put any coating over it in order to preserve the wood?
I probably should have, but it's a bit late now since it's sort of glued shut forever. I guess I'll just sort of not spill anything on it hopefully.
Is there a reason you glued it together instead of using screws? Seems like it would be doable.
Also you should really consider coating it, wouldn't want that good looking case to deteriorate
The reason we used glue is because the side pieces are 1/8th of an inch thick. Screws would either be too thin to be stable or crack the wood.
Post by: DrHubblePhD on Wed, 18 February 2015, 23:20:32
That looks great Bandit :thumb:
Do you plan to put any coating over it in order to preserve the wood?
I probably should have, but it's a bit late now since it's sort of glued shut forever. I guess I'll just sort of not spill anything on it hopefully.
Is there a reason you glued it together instead of using screws? Seems like it would be doable.
Also you should really consider coating it, wouldn't want that good looking case to deteriorate
The reason we used glue is because the side pieces are 1/8th of an inch thick. Screws would either be too thin to be stable or crack the wood.
Honestly bro, love the design, but when that starts getting moldy you are going to want to open it up. Perhaps if you really wanted to reverse it you could hold the board over bowling water, loosen up the glue and pry it apart. Dry it out with a hair dryer and rice baths, then lacquer it.
Post by: Bandit on Wed, 18 February 2015, 23:28:16
That looks great Bandit :thumb:
Do you plan to put any coating over it in order to preserve the wood?
I probably should have, but it's a bit late now since it's sort of glued shut forever. I guess I'll just sort of not spill anything on it hopefully.
Is there a reason you glued it together instead of using screws? Seems like it would be doable.
Also you should really consider coating it, wouldn't want that good looking case to deteriorate
The reason we used glue is because the side pieces are 1/8th of an inch thick. Screws would either be too thin to be stable or crack the wood.
Honestly bro, love the design, but when that starts getting moldy you are going to want to open it up. Perhaps if you really wanted to reverse it you could hold the board over bowling water, loosen up the glue and pry it apart. Dry it out with a hair dryer and rice baths, then lacquer it.
I'll keep that in mind for sure, but for now it looks and feels great. Since this was my first real keyboard mod, I'm really happy with the way it turned out. Maybe if/when it does get gross, I'll make a whole new one with wood glue instead of hot glue and some more precise cuts. Hopefully I will soon have access to a laser cutter (going off to college soon) so we'll see what happens.
Post by: Kira on Tue, 24 February 2015, 05:25:04
Post by: tjweir on Wed, 25 February 2015, 09:38:35
Post by: jellowiggler on Sat, 14 March 2015, 12:32:05
Post by: Bandit on Sat, 14 March 2015, 12:33:45
Tell me you have PDFs of the templates so that other people can use your experience.Unfortunately, I did all of the template stuff by hand, so there's nothing to share. Sorry
Post by: shiver905 on Wed, 01 April 2015, 17:03:34
I am a wood worker myself.
Iv been thinking about doing something similar.
Post by: burn1nsun on Sat, 02 May 2015, 14:14:17
Post by: bcredbottle on Thu, 07 May 2015, 11:33:06
Post by: Bandit on Thu, 07 May 2015, 20:03:38
How does the wood case affect the sound?I don't notice a difference but I am unable to do a side by side comparison.
Post by: Lain1911 on Thu, 07 May 2015, 20:06:40
Post by: nightdriver on Thu, 07 May 2015, 20:15:29
Post by: YoshiCaps on Sat, 22 October 2016, 11:54:38
Post by: rowdy on Sun, 23 October 2016, 04:45:52