Ripster's Guide to Adding Lead Weights To Your Keyboard

[itlnstln]

Nice.  Not that I would know first hand, or anything, but it looks like you're cooking crack from the burner with the plate and the scale.  I might try this with my G80-3000.

[itlnstln]

In Texas probably just a magnifying glass would be good enough.

Nah, leaving outside during the Summer is good enough.

[quadibloc]

By the way; arsenic is more dangerous than usual nowadays. One theory of why so many people died from the H1N1 swine flu in Mexico is because of the prevalence of groundwater with traces of arsenic there.

[timw4mail]

By the way; arsenic is more dangerous than usual nowadays. One theory of why so many people died from the H1N1 swine flu in Mexico is because of the prevalence of groundwater with traces of arsenic there.

How does that make arsenic more dangerous? Anything that weakens your immune system makes you more susceptible to dying from any sort of disease.

[clickclack]

Andre Agassi came over and tried to cook crack on my BBQ and I said No Way Man!  I got burgers and lead coming up!

I find I do like the weightier keyboards that don't move around though.

I need an  artist like ClickClack to give some pointers on how to make the mold though.   Most modern keyboards leave you little room.   Maybe if you took an impression with clay and then formed some kind of Plaster of Paris mold?    Anyway, nobody experiment unless you really know what you are doing - molten lead is serious stuff.  This guy melted lead using just a focusing mirror system.

In Texas probably just a magnifying glass would be good enough.

Haahaa poor Andre...

Anywho, clay and plaster could work quite well. You can use hydrocal or plaster (or even a mix) and if you want the mold a bit stronger then mix some sand into it and make a nice investment mold to which you could poor into. You should probably wait a day or two after you make the mold before you poor into it and you should heat the mold very slowly to about 500 degrees before you poor into it (at least 400 degrees). You could also just line the mold with aluminum and save yourself some trouble. Heck if you are cautious you could probably just pour the lead into a water based clay mold lined with a few layers of aluminum foil.

Umm... you can even use a silicone mold (RTV platinum/addition cure silicone) and that way you can use it multiple times. Make sure the silicone is rated to at least 800 degrees.

Even thought its not as heavy I would consider bismuth and tin and some pewter combinations. You can easily melt them with a heat gun even! On second thought  those are not a good idea as they are relatively expensive compared to lead. And I think I am the only dork who happens to just have extras laying around :S

When I was young we used to melt pennies with a fresnel lens, sure wish we had used welding goggles back then! =P

[mike2h]

lol. by the time your done arnie wont be able to lift it let alone ***** about your 'contamination'.

[JohnMD1022]

Try a local gun shop. Lead shot for reloading is well under $2 a lb, in 25 lb bags

[JohnMD1022]

Hahahaha..

If you figured on 3 lbs of lead per keyboard, that would only be 8 keyboards.

Share some with a friend, or beg some from a reloader friend.

[microsoft windows]

That would be an interesting project to do. However, I think it would be easier to mount weights inside the keyboard instead of melting lead balls with arsenic.

[arfink]

The answer is, lead really isn't that bad for adults, just for small animals and children. Every time you open a piece of electronics not manufactured in the EU, chances are you've got lead all over the place in there. Just use some common sense and wash your hands after handling.

[itlnstln]

I don't think this flavor did well for Frito-Lay.
 

[PAINKILLER]

Heck if you are cautious you could probably just pour the lead into a water based clay mold lined with a few layers of aluminum foil.

I once cast lead in a clay mold. We didn't use foil or anything like that, although the mold was in 2 parts and had other features that probably made it not water tight. Despite that, it went very well the first time and I don't think we even had to clear any flash or seam. So it's really simple and inexpensive.

[Findecanor]

I once cast lead in a clay mold.

What kind of clay? Oil-based clay melts when heated.
I can imagine that water-based clay could crack and spill (or even by lever-action, launch) hot lead around. I know from experience that plaster is very likely to crack if there is any tiny bit of moisture left in it.

Heat-resistant molding silicone is the right stuff to use IMO. It is not that expensive, really., and it is readily available on-line or from craft stores. Anyone can use it. The most tricky bit is to measure the right number of drops of hardener. If you add "silicone thickener", then you don't even have to build a mother-mold, you could just brush the silicone onto what it is that you want to mold. There are lots of tutorials on-line to help you get started. There is also non-heat resistant molding silicone, food-grade silicone, medical grade silicone etc. but they all work the same way, so most info that is out there will be useful for all types.

[clickclack]

Water based clay is what he would be refering too.

Plaster would work fine especially with a little foil for the lining. Lead is a very low melting metal this is why those techniques work. Silicone would be tricky for someone who has never used it just to cast lead. You need a silicone that can withstand spikes of heat up to 800 degrees F, eventhough the lead can be poured at around 630 degrees F. This limits the number of silicones you can use dramatically to basically only Platinum based/addition cure silicones. And I try to never recomend Platinum silicones to someone who has not made a silicone mold before (as opposed to Tin based/condensation cure).

As a professional mold maker I would try and sway someone away from silicone for something simple like this.

Things that would work reliably, cheaply and easily are-
-Waterbased clay (even unfired)
-tinfoil on a metal or wooden base or form
-Plaster or any of the other "stones"

There really is nothing wrong with what ripster did, it was quick clever and effective actually.

=)

[Oqsy]

Lead poisoning just seems so...  anachronistic.

It seems every few years some product is found to contain lead, there's a recall/boycott and an uproar, and then it goes away again.  Can it be that there's really so little lead out there that sneaks through undetected?  Lead is used in almost every(hopefully not toys) industry I can think of for one reason or another, yet the number of confirmed cases of lead poisoning of humans in the US is astonishingly low considering all the hype.  What gives?

Oh, and I have a deal with the LHC to provide me with copious amounts of elements 110-116 to use for weighting my cases.

[PAINKILLER]

Or if lead is not heavy enough for you, you can use depleted uranium weights, like some aircraft use up to 1.5 tons of this stuff. If you keep it from spontaneously igniting when working with it and try not to breathe the smoke, your offspring will still have a chance to have the usual number of limbs.

[Oqsy]

It appears Iraq was bombarded with the stuff for a while...  should be plenty around for hobbyists and geeks.

[Findecanor]

The "Depleted" uranium used for tank cannon rounds is suspected to be the cause of the "Gulf War Syndrome".

[Oqsy]

By?

[KillerBee]

By?

Fidel Castro and The Cuban Missile Crisis perhaps?

[8_INCH_FLOPPY]

OK, now I can be sure that Ripster in insane.

[Phaedrus2129]

My dad casts miniballs and keeps 40lb bars of lead in the garage. Fun stuff.

If you're feeling stupid, spit in the melter. More fun than grapes in a campfire. Except the second degree burns.