i have a lot of experience with 9/16" royal keys. what do you want to know ?
Looking good.
Was this a membrane 'board or rather a conductive rubber dome on pcb 'board?
That's a great idea for taking a membrane board and then soldering wires to the pads. So was the soldering hard (no holes I assume to put the wire in or did you drill?)
Do you think this could be done with buckling springs?
I'm asking all this because I'm thinking I could start small by making a keyboard calculator (http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?t=6040) with a $10 calculator board and a handfull of switches!
That's a great idea for taking a membrane board and then soldering wires to the pads. So was the soldering hard (no holes I assume to put the wire in or did you drill?)
Do you think this could be done with buckling springs?
I'm asking all this because I'm thinking I could start small by making a keyboard calculator (http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?t=6040) with a $10 calculator board and a handfull of switches!
Especially with making or modifying a spacebar. I'm not sure an alps steampunk board has been made before....
I'm farily sure I've seen an AT101 steampunked before, but a very quick search didn't turn up the link.
Second that.
I use the heavier gauge stuff for tube amps. Teflon wire, silver coated - just awesome stuff. Not that pricey if you get the surplus deals.
I find Kynar wire works well for these types of connections (single strand, but teflon coated).
If you can get your hands on one of these wirewrap tools (usually only a few dollars), there's usually a little wire stripper in the handle that makes it a breeze to strip the wire without nicking it :Show Image(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=2755&stc=1&d=1245538205)
Steampunked Dell AT101W (Black)
http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?t=6035
the only way i see you able to mount the keys is cutting the actual key to about 9/16" then gluing the old key right on.
the BEST way to do is use a model m of course, and cut a circular inside stem, then this will actually go INTO the flat back key, and the 3 tabs around the back of the flat tab will fold right over.
I would suggest Model M's to anyone building "steampunk" keyboard.
Here's the link (http://hackaday.com/2008/12/14/leather-keyboard/) for that leather keyboard.
It's a Das. A solution for worn lettering.
Yeah, kynar was what I tried first, it was nothing compared to the stranded stuff I got off ebay. It also had a tendency to break, so no good. I also have a wire wrapper, but wasn't really needed. I use a special wire cutter that I notched a hole in the perfect size with a file. It's a lot faster that way considering I had to make and strip like 170 wires or so.
Stupid bloggers --- yeah, you can see the missing CTRL key in the original pic. The artist shoulda spent the extra bucks for a HHKB Pro though - musta taken him DAYS to do this.
My favorite would be wood keys - full shaped ones, not chiclets. A little laser engraving and they'd never wear out. Or just burn the symbols in somehow (lol, soldering iron) for a funkier look. I've searched for them but plenty of chiclets, no real keys.
I wasn't suggesting to wire wrap, just pointing out that there's a wire stripper tool in the handle.Show Image(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=2783&stc=1&d=1245607927)
Finally got the keycaps done. I think it looks pretty cool as it is. I have a dell bigfoot coming with black alps that I thought would make it look better, cause the white fakes in it now I thought might take away from the style, but looking at these photos I'm not sure if I should change them to blacks or not. I really like the look of it right now. Let me know what you all think.
Also, anyone know what font the letter keys are in? I have to replace all the papers of the function and lock keys still.
I believe the fakes mostly use the same plunger design so if you really like the feeling of the fakes you could just swap the plungers rather than changing the whole switch.
There are various font identifier websites on the web that let you determine which font it is by the various features of the letters, one of them may give you the answer.
What's scroll lock do anyway? lol
In most modern programs Scroll Lock doesn't do much. However, in many MS-DOS applications and other old programs Scroll Lock will make the arrow keys scroll the page instead of moving the cursor.
At least they make the computer record the right keystroke.