Perspex/Acrylic/Plastic cover for Filco Tenkeyless

[Barn]

Hey

I am often eating at my desk, and as a result of this my keyboard often gets crumbs in (and I am a bit of an OCD clean freak).
The vacum formed cover that came with my board was involved in a fatal accident involving a chair on coasters (the chair won).
Does anyone know where I can get hold of a solid perspex cover for Tenkeyless Filcos?

Thanks
Barn

[reaper]

These?

[WhiteFireDragon]

I eat at my desk often too, but I just use my stock plastic cover that comes with the filcos

[Surly73]

@reaper: I'd be interested in something like that, but $30 seems like a lot.  There's not a lot of prestige or eliteness in a clear piece of plastic with two bends in it.  I'd love to know if there are less expensive sources of something quite similar.

@WhiteFireDragon: That's exactly what the OP wants to use but he states he broke his.


You know, there seem to be a lot of geekhackers that discard all of their packaging.  I read a lot of classified ads for boards a couple of weeks old but there's no packaging.  Maybe there's a market for people to "sell" (for the cost of shipping plus a small convenience fee) their clear covers in the classifieds if they're just going to throw them out anyways.  We divert materials from landfill and those who need more covers save $30 (you'd have to pay EK shipping too).

[slueth]

Just use some plastic wrap, paper, etc, to cover your keyboard and eating area, or eat away from your desk.

[Graviton]

is there is no workshop for them in your city?
its easy to built one just measure your keyboard and bring it to them

here`s mine
roofl

[rhizo]

if people were interested i could make these because my school has clear acrylic and heat thingy's ?

[Crowat]

You can make your own.  Not to highjack the thread but there is a good amount of information in the thread below.

http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?25786-Looking-for-a-keyboard-roof-maybe-make-one

Also, I recently got a 2 foot line bender.  I may start making covers depending on interest.  EK's price does seem hard to beat considering you get a final finished product.

In addition to getting the plexiglass (I used a $4 11x14 inch piece of lexan) to make a final product I would have to do the following processes (at least once).

1) Cut to Size (width & length)
2) Polish Edges
3) Bend

I figure I could do all the above but it would take about ~30 (and up to 60 minutes) to get a good looking product.  And note that by good looking product it would have to be perfect (smooth edges, no scratches, and a good clean bend/angle).  All of those requirements would certainly mean that I would waste a bunch of materials while getting production up and running.

Then there is the point of shipping cost.  You would have to be able to do it at a reasonable price.  It may not be that bad for a tkl cover but it may be more expensive for a full size cover.

So the question ends up being what would I charge?  $20 + S&H?  That seems like a decent price from a customer standpoint.  That would leave about ~$12 profit after paypal or whoever takes their chunk.

There are a couple of other options I am considering.

Offer custom production process.  (Aka. you tell me what you want and I will design it or use your design to build it)  Then figure out some fair way to charge people for it.  (it would be funny to do something like Cost of Materials + Design Charge + ...
 
Offer a-la carte pricing - e.g. Price of Material then add $X the bending, add $X for a cut to length, add $X for polishing.  

Material - $4
2x 90 degree bend - $5
Cut to Length - $5
Edge polishing - $5
Total - $19 + S&H cost

It would probably work out some funny way to make sure that if you contribute to the GH community through wikis posts/edits, answering questions, etc... you would get reduced pricing or even a pretty cheap product (read: material cost & S/H).

Oh boy, sorry for the WoT!

[Barn]

I have considered making one simply by using a vacuum former (one at my sixth form), but I feel i'd prefer an acrilic as they are much much sturdier. I am trying to avoid buying from EliteKeyboards as last time I bought something using USPS it took over a month to arrive, I'm a patient person, but a month is silly.

I will ask Bruce from The Keyboard Company if he is able to get any in.