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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: fl0w3n on Thu, 04 October 2012, 01:11:05
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Absolutely love my Filco, hate the cable.
I'd love to make it have a detachable cable, and possibly throw some sleeving on there while I'm at it.
Did some searching, found something over on DT that even links some parts...
Wondering if anyone's had any success with these parts, or has done it another way?
http://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/filco-detachable-cable-mod-t3269.html
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Absolutely love my Filco, hate the cable.
I'd love to make it have a detachable cable, and possibly throw some sleeving on there while I'm at it.
Did some searching, found something over on DT that even links some parts...
Wondering if anyone's had any success with these parts, or has done it another way?
http://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/filco-detachable-cable-mod-t3269.html
Yea those will work.
However, detachable cable is a gimmick. I've never moved my keyboard..
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.
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I like a detachable cable because:
I travel with my keyboard
I have a hub on my desk and want the cable to be "right-sized"
I have cable chewing cats, if I can easily remove it, I can easily replace it
I have a young child that can't seem to remember the "don't tie knots in daddy's cables" rule
I could keep going.
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Yeah I absolutely will use that. I unplugged my Ducky almost once a day for various reasons. Usually to do some quick test key presses or swap caps, and not worry about where I was in the OS and what havoc I'd cause (lol, havoc is a little strong )
All my perifial cables coming out of my tower are velcroed together to stay neat, if I wanna do a quick wipe down of my desk for dust then I'd have to undo that, unplug the Filco, move/clean, then reverse. Pain in the ass.
And I doubt I'll make my filco a mobile board and take it other places, but still would be nice to not have to worry about messing with my towers cabling to do so.
As esoo said, I'd to mod the cable and add sleeve, but my main reason is pure functionality
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Those are valid reasons, to be sure.
Personally, I have some sort of phobia or anger about plugs and cables, they always seem to be the weak link in almost anything electronic.
In the absence of a compelling reason for a detachable cable, a sturdy fixed cable is just one less thing to break and/or worry about.
Although I loathe the Apple and its horrible religion, the power cable connection on my wife's Macbook is one of the most brilliant concepts I have ever seen. It makes me furious and frustrated that these connections aren't used anywhere and everywhere on everything.
Although I am a cheapskate, that it something that I would gladly pay extra for.
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But Apple won't let that happen.
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Psh, we come from the modding community...they don't have to let it happen, we can make it happen.
Could we modify the power connector/receiver for USB use?
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It's a complicated system using specially manufactured parts. To make it not hideous you'd have to figure out either how to cheaply mold connector housings or figure out how to get magnets into an existing housing. You need at least a 5 point docking style connector and preferably in a not huge space. And those are just the hi-lights.
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Ya haha probably not what I'll look into for my first detachable cable mod.
I am concerned about appearance, however. Even though its on the back and won't be seen.
I'm wondering if I could make a small mold to get the female USB to fit into the existing slot in the same way that the slot now holds the cable in one place.
Or, maybe just be able to carefully cut the existing grommet so it now can have the female USB snug in there, maybe with the assistance of super glue.
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Ya haha probably not what I'll look into for my first detachable cable mod.
I am concerned about appearance, however. Even though its on the back and won't be seen.
I'm wondering if I could make a small mold to get the female USB to fit into the existing slot in the same way that the slot now holds the cable in one place.
Or, maybe just be able to carefully cut the existing grommet so it now can have the female USB snug in there, maybe with the assistance of super glue.
Alessandro had a thread documenting what he did to his Noppoo Choc Mini; looked really neat: http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=35178.msg652398#msg652398
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A usb2/3 mag-lock setup would quite possibly be the greatest upgrade to cables and connectivity, EVER.
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I have worked in the direction of modding one of my Filco's. A bare USB mini-B socket requires very little carving of the case to fit snugly. I picked these (http://www.ebay.com/itm/5Pcs-Mini-USB-Female-5Pin-Socket-Connector-180Degree-/180974566489?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a22ecbc59) off ebay.
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It's a complicated system using specially manufactured parts. To make it not hideous you'd have to figure out either how to cheaply mold connector housings or figure out how to get magnets into an existing housing. You need at least a 5 point docking style connector and preferably in a not huge space. And those are just the hi-lights.
just 'cause you said that, I'm going to take a spare magsafe board and broken AC adapter and make one.
Unfortunately, Apple bridges the pins on that connector, so you only get three connections. So actually making one is hard. But pulling the magnets out is easy.
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I'm the OP in that DT thread, I have since done the mod to both my filcos. It's very much the same as the noppoo choc mini one in the video. It takes a little shaving of the sides of the hole for the female mini-b connector to fit. I cannibalized a spare filco cable I had, because while the crimping pieces are cheap, the tools to use them are NOT. Anyway, it looks like this when you are done:
(http://i.imgur.com/ILL2R.jpg)
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also, for the record, I unplug both my keyboards every day. I don't leave my work board on my desk at the office, and I put one of these (http://www.petsafe.net/products/pet-proofing/scatmat-large-48-x-20) on my desk at home while I sleep to keep my entropy engine off it.
(http://i.imgur.com/RB5y4.jpg)
pictured: entropy engine
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I'm the OP in that DT thread, I have since done the mod to both my filcos. It's very much the same as the noppoo choc mini one in the video. It takes a little shaving of the sides of the hole for the female mini-b connector to fit. I cannibalized a spare filco cable I had, because while the crimping pieces are cheap, the tools to use them are NOT. Anyway, it looks like this when you are done:
[img width=640 height=853]http://i.imgur.com/ILL2R.jpg[img]
Hey there!
That's good to hear. Thanks for sharing the additional info. I'll probably attack this project after swapping my board to clears.
Great looking cat too :p
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Although I loathe the Apple and its horrible religion, the power cable connection on my wife's Macbook is one of the most brilliant concepts I have ever seen. It makes me furious and frustrated that these connections aren't used anywhere and everywhere on everything.
I agree completely. Every laptop and every phone should use this sort of connector... but alas..