Random keyboards, lovingly photographed

[wheybags]

Polyurethane resin + silicone mould

[Muirium]

Ah, no quick and simple cheats for you! Looks great. I've got to think that's not the cheapest way to outfit a whole keyboard, of course, but you get what you pay for.

[wheybags]

well I sold em to adhoc at 5 euro a piece, so it's not that bad (compared to the ridonculous prices people pay for clacks :S)
The resin isn't too expensive, it's mostly the effort of making moulds + casting them (+ learning to cast without bubbles ;_;)

[IonutZ]

Very cool, are you selling any of these? Do they come with the cheese in the last pic? haha

[scottc]

I think that's butter!

[photekq]

Great work wheybags! Did you use any kind of vacuum equipment?

[wheybags]

Nope, just toothpics.
And yeah, I could make a few more if people were interested.

[Muirium]

Something tells me they are…

[scottc]

I can vouch for the caps, too - I have my own WheyClack (ClackBag?) as my SSK's esc in a bold purple and it's been great.

Yep, they exist for buckling spring too. Form an orderly line, please...

[Muirium]

Ah! I might be interested in a little something for my Kishsaver at some point…

[wheybags]

I can vouch for the caps, too - I have my own WheyClack (ClackBag?) as my SSK's esc in a bold purple and it's been great.

Yep, they exist for buckling spring too. Form an orderly line, please...

I should make you a new one o those without a bubble in it :p
I've gotten a lot better at casting since then.

[scottc]

Yes please! Then I'll wait until you're famous and sell it for €200 to a collector...

[Dubsgalore]

Wow Whey, those look great! I'm interested in some!

[cookie]

Can you do Spacebars?

[wheybags]

I don't have a mould for that, and I'm not sure it would work anyway. People would want one to match the colour of the hhkb caps, and I really can't match colours accurately.

[Muirium]

Space bars are hard. What's kept them ABS so long is that PBT curves while cooling. How well behaved is resin, I wonder?

[Dubsgalore]

I once had a dream of a Julysicle spacebar to match my julysicles but......

[cookie]

You could make whatever color you want! I'd buy a unique colored one

My Spacebar is not only shiny, it developed a huge dent :/ So I am Looking to replace it.

[wheybags]

There is also the problem that I don't have good one to mould :S
Mine is shiny too

[cookie]

Shiny you say? I wish my spacebar would only have shine... look at this:

[scottc]

You could get a spacebar in yellow to match your case!

[cookie]

Hahahaha, this baby has some miles on it! But I am going to overhaul it completely, my colleagues think that I am a heavy smoker because of the aged case :S

[002]

Haha...actually that makes me wonder.
I wonder if cigarette smoke can be responsible for the yellowing of plastic. Nicotine tends to be pretty brutal at staining things. Might explain why some people people can reverse the yellowing of items (e.g. Super Nintendo) with strange methods like lemon juice?

Anyway...are you planning to retr0bright your HHKB? I vaguely recall that you were against revitalising it when you first got it

[Grond]

I wonder if cigarette smoke can be responsible for the yellowing of plastic.

I'm pretty sure it does.

[Julle]

At the risk of being awfully pedantic I have to say nicotine doesn't stain anything. It's clear in colour, and completely odorless and tasteless. The staining comes from the tar.

[002]

I stand corrected. I should have already known that actually given that I had clear nicotine "juice" when I was using e-cigs.

[cookie]

I haven't spent so much time to bring this thing back to a usable condition just to get cigarette offers from my colleagues

@002: I will not retrobright it, it's just to much work for my taste and I don't own enough yellowed hardware that I actually use to justify the effort. I will simply give it away to a painter and give it a unique color. There are a few cracks, dents and scratsches I will get rid of as well. I will also get a new set of keycaps, maybe... I screwed the caps up after I tried to dye them

[002]

Cool! Paint it silver and get yourself some urushi lacquer

[cookie]

I saw the post on facebook a few minutes ago and that was exactely what I thought!

[DerpyDash_xAD]

My god, that is beautiful. My dad is going to pay me to make him a hand-made wood matias keyboard, and I may consider that 'urushi lacquer' for the keycaps.

Edit: What is the texture like on it?