Glowing Keyboard

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Ben Moorhouse

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I saw some of the keyboards they used in some of the really old sci-fi films, and how they tend to glow around the edges. I then saw some glow wire, which is as simple as it sounds; wire that glows!

I decided to put it in my keyboard, so i took all the keys off my keyboard... BAD MOVE! first thing you should do is to make a note of where all of the keys are. It doesn't matter whether or not you think you know the keyboard like the back of your hand, when it comes to putting the keys back in, one by one, its just too confusing.
I laid the wire where the keys would go. It ran along each row to get the best out of the glow. After all, its no halogen bulb!
I had extra wire when I had done the main part of the keyboard, so I drilled a hole through to the cursor keys, and put the wire around them. I STILL had some left, and so I drilled through to the keypad, and outlined that. I then drilled a hole into the top of the keyboard (near the circuit and the LEDs) and another next to where the keyboard wire comes out of the keyboard case.
The wire between the inverter supplied with the wire, and the glow wire was far too short to reach the case, so I cut them, and soldered some more on (just normal wire, infact I used some that I had taken off a broken psu). I ran this the length of the keyboard cable, into the case and plugged the inverter into one of the molex connectors. I then put the keyboard back together, which due to my stupidity took hours, and the use of notepad.
And finally, and hour and a half (which could be just half an hour) later IT WAS FINNISHED
 
Lol! Yea! ok, walked into that one!

I meant ;'#-=`,./ and all them keys. Its just confusing. Or at least I think it is.
 
I had some glow wire until a about a month ago, and decided to illuminate the front of my case, but the high pitched whine from the invertor drove me crazy (crazier anyway ;)) so I got rid of it!

Have you got any pics of your modded keyboard?
 
I dont have a cam, I can take some if you have a digi cam you could lend me? My inverter doesn't whine... maybe yours had a fault or something, because even when my case is open I cant hear a thing.
 
Plug

Extra thing I've done now...

Whenever I wanted to detach my keyboard, I had to remove the soldering, which was a bit of a pain!
So I took the male power socket from my old PSU, and clipped the plug off an old power cable. I soldered the plug onto the end of the glow wire cable (keyboard end). I cut a hole in my case for the socket with a dremel, and soldered the inverter end of the cable to the socket. I can now plug and unplug it like a power cable, looks quite professional too I think... being modest of course!
 
Originally posted by OsKool
Yeah i got the whine too!
Click to expand...

Yeah - I read up on it yesterday, and most inverters do apparently whine - and most can hear it
 
I tried the keyboard glow thing & tried to use the power from the usb connection inside the keyboard so i didn't have the extra cables problem.
It worked but the power wasn't enough or something cause the glow was very dull.
 
Yup... you'll only get 5V from the USB connection, whereas the Molex connector you usually connect it to gives out 12V. I think you'd probably just have to extend the power cables by drilling a hole in your case somewhere - perhaps on a backplate?
 
One of my friends did it...

this is the effect with the green neonwire (it's a bit sloppy, the power cable runs on top of the keyboard)

loebasy-keyb.JPG
 
SORRY ... BUT YOU GUYS ARE SAD .... :D

:P


Now give me a MONITOR I can ... see ... without having to resort to 'reading glasses' then I might ... pay attention. :D
 
I think the mod looks cool, something that would be perfectly suited to the Matrix Movie! :D
 
I used a translucent macintosh USB keyboard.
It had enough room inside for two 12" coldcathodes, and inverter.



Day shot of the keyboard.

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Bright night shot

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And a closeup of the keys.
The light is very even with no dead spots.

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And a view of the back showing the two cold cathodes.

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Part of this project:
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36192

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The how to is here:
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?postid=358193#post358193
 
Wow, that is a nice Keyboard ZapWizard!

Fits in with the radioactive look of your modded PC ;)

Are those CC's actually placed straight under the keyboard, and just light up the whole thing?

If you are handy with electronics, you could make them glow from dim to bright at the flick of a switch, for extra show :D
 
The keyboard had just enough room inside for two cold cathodes.
I had to replace some PCB type material that held the back of the key's on with plexi, in order to let the light through.

I do plan on adding a throbbing circuit to the entire project, but that will come later.
 
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