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Thread: The Amber Keyboard

  1. #1
    One Eye, Sixteen Cores. Kayin's Avatar
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    Default The Amber Keyboard

    I'm sure most of you know the color amber, it being an old-school LED color for forever. This is not about those LEDs.

    This is the Amber Room. It's a room in the Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo near St. Petersburg. I saw it in a National Geographic as a kid and fell in love with it.

    What has this to do with a keyboard?

    I have a Focus Electronics 2001 mechanical keyboard with white Alps switches. I love it. But it got gunky, and I had to disassemble it. When I did, I noticed that it looked almost just like the keyboards that Datamancer uses for his $1500 steampunk keyboards, as well as the Warehouse 13 keyboard.

    As proof, see here.



    Yes, that's brass sheeting. I may or may not use it.

    So, I have roughly forty pounds of amber (or copal, either way they look almost identical) and a LOT of experience at cutting it. Works very much like acrylic, actually. And, since I need progress...







    This will be slow going. It takes the better part of an hour to cut a key from rough. And yes, I will clean the steel plate the switches are mounted on. But a perusal of the pictures shows they went with the design of the stone, just as I'm forced to do here. Every key will be unique. Still considering putting gold ink in the etchings on the keys. Thoughts?

    I'll be back with more and where the waste goes. Nothing is wasted, really.
    Project:Mithril, sponsored by Petra's Tech Shop and Sidewinder Computers-MOTM Nominee October '08




  2. #2
    Moderator TLHarrell's Avatar
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    Default Re: The Amber Keyboard

    Looks awesome. What are you planning for the surround?
    I have a hammer! I can put things together! I can knock things apart! I can alter my environment at will and make an incredible din all the while! -Calvin

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  4. #4
    The floppy drive is no longer obsolete. AmEv's Avatar
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    Default Re: The Amber Keyboard

    Any way we can help?
    Two years. They were great. Let's make the next ones even better!

    Tri.fecta

  5. #5
    Will YOU be ready when the zombies rise? x88x's Avatar
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    Default Re: The Amber Keyboard

    Nice, should be awesome.

    For the text, personally I really like how the white etching plays off the amber, so I wouldn't go with the gold ink.
    That we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously.
    --Benjamin Franklin
    TBCS 5TB Club :: coilgun :: bench PSU :: mightyMite :: Zeus :: E15 Magna EV

  6. #6
    baaah. billygoat333's Avatar
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    Default Re: The Amber Keyboard

    minus the stupid bit.
    Quote Originally Posted by Omega
    ber is id elicous
    Centurion 5 Mod <<--- ON HOLD FOR THE WINTER

  7. #7
    Moderator TLHarrell's Avatar
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    Default Re: The Amber Keyboard

    I wonder if it can be laser etched... ?
    I have a hammer! I can put things together! I can knock things apart! I can alter my environment at will and make an incredible din all the while! -Calvin

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