Steampunk

[CaptCarrot]

I am thinking of doing something in a similar vain to this... The Steampunk Workshop: Steampunk Keyboard Mod.  

Now I am no metalworker and don't have access to that sort of equipment, but that is not necessarily(sp) a problem, looking at the Type-O-Matic or what this guy has done.

I was looking at doing a steampunk mouse too, but they look too difficult, then I had a brain ripple.  Build an OLD 2 button Kensington Expert/Turbo Mouse INTO the board .  That is, if it will fit.  The old ones are around 5 inches square, and the cutout for the num-pad area is only 3x4".  My thought was to take something like an 84key board and fit it in the full size shell and some how butcher the Expert/Turbo Mouse into the num-pad area. And like replaceing the keyboard keys for typewriter keys/buttons I was thinking of using telegraph/morse keys for the trackball.

What do you think?

Can I get the trackball to fit? (if anyone has an old expert or turbo and doesn't mind dismantling, I would love some photo's of the inside (against a ruler if pos)).  Should I look at anything else?  Lastly, before I go-ahead, would anybody be interested in donating hardware into the project (cheeky I know, and unlikely with some of the rare boards, but if ya don't ask ya don't get).

many thanks.

[bigpook]

That looks like ALOT of work. I do have a kensington expert mouse. I will take a look at it when I get home. If it doesn't look like too much trouble I will take it apart and take pictures for you.

[CaptCarrot]

Thank you so much.  I appreciate that.

Regarding the amount of work, I have my own ideas on how to do the keys/buttons.  I am inherantly lazy and will take any short cut I can.

If i do do this, I will post it in the mods section with as much info as pos.

[bigpook]

I am somewhat lazy myself, I looked at the links you provided and though "oh my!" and quickly lost interest. It looks to be very tedious, and if you go down that road, it has to be executed properly. Otherwise, the end result will be less than desireable. But kudos for effort.

[CaptCarrot]

Indeed.  I am very pedantic and can be extreemly fastidious when I want to be.

[lowpoly]

If you choose the right mechanical 'board you can saw the numpad just off and don't have to rewire that much. On this page:

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fhomepage2.nifty.com%2Fsskicr%2Fremodel%2Fg80-3000.html&langpair=ja|en&hl=en&ie=UTF8

Scroll down to "Bonus 1". These are both Cherry G80-3000s. One has the controller pcb connected to the F-key area. The other one has the controller connected to the numpad area. Of course, the second one will be a lot more work. Current Cherries use the numpad placement so you'd need an old one.

There is a thread here discussing those 80% models (with more links).

[CaptCarrot]

is not one of those ps/2 and the other usb?

[bigpook]

CaptCarrot check your message box.

[CaptCarrot]

Thanks bigpook