|
Some new pictures. I'll stick to just a bit of text this time.
Metal work completed, yay!
Comparison of the four stages of brass work (left to right): sawed, filed, polished with steel wool, polished with brass polish. Doesn't come out so well in the photo, but 1->2 and 2->3 are huge differences. 3->4 ... not so much ^^ According to advertising, it should at least delay the onset of corrosion.
Oh yeah, the wooden frame is basically finished, too. I spent an almost complete saturday in my father's wood workshop (=garage), learning to use buzz saw and router. It's actually quite amazing... you give a lump of wood a pass with a router, and all of a sudden it looks like a piece of furniture.
After routing, I gave the frame pieces a good polish with sand paper (80 and 180 grit). Wenge wood has an awesome natural grain that really comes out after sanding. Once everything else is done, I'll put a coat of protective finish on and sand to 320, should further deepen the color.
Mad IKEA skills. The light wood is the bottom, faceplate is being worked on (cf. below).
Compare to what I intended the frame to look like. Close enough.
Almost done with the wood work, too - now working on the lime plywood faceplate that is going to be covered in leather. Pre-drilling with a 5mm drill in order to not splinter the thin plywood with the tip of the massive big-ass 16mm drill (seen on the right, below plywood). The thin wooden strips between keys are about 1-2 mm, so not a lot of room for messing up. Especially considering I'll have to sand the inner rims down a bit to make room for key movement, at the moment they just barely fit inside the holes. A drill press is however not strictly necessary, despite claims to the contrary by the guys on rampkins.com (where I stole the idea). Optimistically speaking: if the keys are a tight fit, they can't wiggle much side to side, so unsticking the glue between wooden core and plastic base is less likely.
|
This looks insanely cool! Can't wait to see the finished product!
|
Estonia4644 Posts
dayum nice work
from what i remember from my product design studies, wenge is awesome but fuken expensive :0 so i just stuck to walnut or american oak ^^
|
Wow thats actually looking REALLY nice Perhaps if you make more... I'd like to buy one ><
|
FREEAGLELAND26780 Posts
|
This is really cool, keep the posts coming, I'm excited to see the final product!
|
On May 31 2012 05:34 fusefuse wrote: dayum nice work
from what i remember from my product design studies, wenge is awesome but fuken expensive :0 so i just stuck to walnut or american oak ^^
its not on the cheaper end of the wood purchasing scale and i personally wouldn't use it for any projects (becuase i suck with a saw id stick with cheaper woods) but im sure he said this keyboard was a present for his dad or something so its cool thats he's getting really nice materials and not being cheap.
|
Wow this is really cool, thank you so much for sharing I cannot wait to see it when its completed! Keep up the good work!
|
This looks really cool! I want to see the next update!
|
I would pay good money for a hand made wood mechanical keyboard. Your father is lucky to have a son like you for being that dang cool.
|
On May 31 2012 10:41 Xardean wrote: I would pay good money for a hand made wood mechanical keyboard. Your father is lucky to have a son like you for being that dang cool. search ebay, they have them for $1k/ each lol.
|
This is pretty sweet, can't wait to see the final product
|
Cool! Hope to see the final product ASAP
|
This blog is such a cliff hanger! More more please!
|
I am looking forward to the finished product. This is such an amazingly cool idea. Reminds me of Sandbenders computers from the book "Idoru" by William Gibson.
|
wow this machine looks veeery clean, is it ever used? lol
Millettia laurentii is a legume tree native to the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. The species is listed as endangered in the IUCN Red List: Category EN A1cd, principally due to destruction of its habitat and over-exploitation for timber. Yay, featured blog for wood exploitation, way to go bro. If you've actually been there and brought back home the piece of wood yourself, I can accept it. If you just bought it, FUCK YOU.
User was warned for this post
|
I bet your blog would get twice the rating if you posted pictures of that chick in the first one doing the work instead of yourself.
|
oh god cant wait till its finished xD
|
On June 01 2012 03:48 Serejai wrote: I bet your blog would get twice the rating if you posted pictures of that chick in the first one doing the work instead of yourself. Yeah, I was waiting for that comment. My little sister is actually quite hot, but sorry, she's not the point of my blog. I think since you're on the internet, you should be able to find some other place to satisfy your cravings ^^
Anyway, I have a little setback to report. I'll have to redo the faceplate, because all drilled holes are precisely the same amount off (yes, too far)
So on saturday it's back to the DIY store, get replacement wood, recut it, redrill the holes. Maybe I'll be able to actually finish it on saturday.
If that's the case, the remaining bits of work are to saw down the plastic casing to its elementals and to assemble the keys. Then I'm actually - done.
|
On June 01 2012 00:40 WhuazGoodJaggah wrote: wow this machine looks veeery clean, is it ever used? lol
Yay, featured blog for wood exploitation, way to go bro. If you've actually been there and brought back home the piece of wood yourself, I can accept it. If you just bought it, FUCK YOU.
User was warned for this post
That machine is obviously from the manufaturer's catalogue, so it's probably unused. Also, I bought the wood in a specialty wood shop, everything certified, cost me a shitload of money. Thanks for appreciating my efforts for fair trade.
|
|
|
|