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geekhack Projects => Making Stuff Together! => DIY Discussions ARCHIVE => Topic started by: Orphagn on Wed, 30 March 2011, 13:30:19

Title: OrphaGn's Ugly One
Post by: Orphagn on Wed, 30 March 2011, 13:30:19

The idea for this mod came into being after seeing turbocharged and keyboardlover's boards.
I liked how turbo painted his 11900, and I liked KL's implementing of Cherry Doubleshots onto his 3494, so I wanted to take from both elements and combine them into my keyboard mod.


The base of this mod is a Cherry G80-11900LPMUS
This board came with Cherry MX Black switches. Many people dislike this board because it requires quite some force to press, but since I type pretty hard and prefer a linear feel, these switches suit me the best.

The reason I chose to mod this board is simple.
I'm lazy!
If I watch something on my computer I usually watch it on my 42" TV while sitting my bed. So instead of going to my computer desk, a whopping 3 feet away, I can instead use this keyboard to navigate around my computer with its handy dandy touchpad, all the while relaxing in comfort.
 
The first this I decided to do with this keyboard was to repaint the case.
I wasn't really feeling this beige-ish yellowing look so I decided to paint it a gloss white, using Duplicolor's Vinyl and Fabric paint (same paint turbocharged used for his board).
The painting process turned out fine, a few little dust specks, but no biggie.

The original keys were still beige in color an did not match the gloss white of the case, so I looked for a set of keys that would be compatible on this keyboard, considering the Control, Windows and Alt keys were all single key sized.
I was able to find a G80-11900HRMUS-2 on eBay which came with black Doubleshots to perfectly suit my needs!

When the donor 11900 board arrived, I took out all the keys and cleaned them using denture tabs to get rid of all the dirt on the keys. During this time, I switched the PS/2 cables to have a black cord instead of a beige one.
After thoroughly drying the keys, I replaced all the keys on the project keyboard with Doubleshots and added some personal touches to give the keyboard some color.

So without further ado, I bring to you, OrphaGn's Ugly One!







Future Mods:
Changing Lock LED's
Possibly changing switches
Modifying another keyboard

Any comments or suggestions are appreciated!

Title: OrphaGn's Ugly One
Post by: cometbus on Wed, 30 March 2011, 17:48:31

I recognize that "A" !! :biggrin1:

I love the black keys on white frame though, at some point down the road i want to put together something similar for myself.

Title: OrphaGn's Ugly One
Post by: Orphagn on Wed, 30 March 2011, 18:41:15

Haha, thanks again for that WASD set. There isn't a fourth color so I decided to keep the "W"  black.

It's a very fun project to do, you just have to decide which boar to use an what to do with it. I choose a Cherry board wit PCB mounting since it's easy to swap out stems and springs without having to solder.

Title: OrphaGn's Ugly One
Post by: YetAnotherDeveloper on Wed, 30 March 2011, 23:45:34

nice, looks great! I have been really liking the black on white.

Title: OrphaGn's Ugly One
Post by: cometbus on Wed, 30 March 2011, 23:48:59

Quote from: Orphagn;321641

There isn't a fourth color so I decided to keep the "W"  black.

I'm actually kinda digging the primary color-scheme, the picture makes the lavender key look kinda blue. :P

Title: OrphaGn's Ugly One
Post by: CeeSA on Thu, 31 March 2011, 05:06:24

whats the secret of 'RR' out of the 'CHERRY' Logo?

Title: OrphaGn's Ugly One
Post by: Orphagn on Thu, 31 March 2011, 15:34:45

I kept the "RR" there since those are my initials and I also like the Cherry.

Title: OrphaGn's Ugly One
Post by: keyboardlover on Thu, 31 March 2011, 19:21:12

Nice board!

Title: OrphaGn's Ugly One
Post by: RiGS on Thu, 31 March 2011, 19:22:51

Ronald Reagan loves cherry blacks.