Remember I said to save the felt “holes” ? here is where you’ll want to use them to cover the blank posts for the formerly wide keys. I covered the front and back of the keyboard with gaffer’s tape to deaden the sound and give the keyboard a solid feel. They were then glued to the tops of the buttons with the silicon sealant. I printed out some more labels on glossy photo paper, punched them out, blackened the edges with a Sharpie and gave them a coat of clear lacquer. The backs were rounded so I attached them to a piece of wood with double-sticky tape and sanded them flat. Two old typewriters did not supply quite enough keys for the entire project, so I ran down to Joanne Fabrics and found these brass rimmed buttons. These I punched out of the sheet of paper with the same punch I used for the felt. I wanted the enhanced keys to have proper labels on them so I disassembled several of the keys and printed labels on glossy photo paper. I also glued down the status lights at this time. Each key was carefully lined up by eye, the silicon sealant gives you and open time of about 10 minutes before it starts to skim over. I cleaned the backs of the keys and the tops of the key bottoms with alcohol and affixed them with G.E. Ready to start the tedious job of positioning and gluing the new keys on The whole frame was wiped down with denatured alcohol and sprayed with a coat of clear lacquer. These were glued to short brass tubes which were in turn glued over the LEDs. Save the “holes” you’ll need a few later.įor the keyboard status lights I remove the cardboard letters from three of the keys and replaced them with translucent acetate. I put the entire keyboard on a copier and made an image that I then used as a template for punching holes in the felt with a sharpened piece of steel tubing. I also cut a piece of felt to cover the exposed plastic of the keyboard bed.
#Steampunk typewriter keyboard movie
Heres a movie that shows my method for flush cutting the backs of typewriter keys.Īfter they were all flush cut I laid out the keys to see what I had. The cheaper typewriters keys on eBay are usually removed quickly with a bolt cutter or angle grinder with a cutting disk, I needed to cut these flush before I could use them. Depending on shipping cost it is sometimes cheaper to by a whole typewriter and cut the keys off yourself. There are plenty of people offering these since they are popular among crafters. I have an old Royal typewriter that I had planned to cut the keys off of but I made the mistake of showing it to my daughter who instantly fell in love with it. The next step was the preparation of the old typewriter keys I planned to attach to the key bottoms. Two lengths of brass “C” channel were cut on the table saw and threaded rod was used to fixture the cradle for soldering. Holes were drilled and tapped to attach the legs. The pieces were then cleaned up with several grades of sandpaper, steel wool ,and a rotating fiberglass brush in the drill press. I think the steps add a visual appeal so I did not drill from the other side to remove them. The step drill left a shoulder about half way through the hole because it’s step are 1/8″ and the piece is 1/4″ thick. I drilled 3/16″ pilot holes on the drill press and then enlarged them with this step drill.
#Steampunk typewriter keyboard series
A series of files were used to smooth the contours. Brass cuts very easily, the entire project could probably be done with just a coping saw. The interior cut outs on the feet were drilled and cut with a coping saw. The shapes were then cut out on a band saw. I’m sure that Norm puts them right back on after filming. Note: the blade guard has been removed for the same reason that Norm removes the blade guard of his saw in the New Yankee Workshop, that is to allow the camera a good angle. Be very careful cutting brass on a table saw, if the work piece binds it can be thrown back at you with a great deal of force. Next came the process of cutting and shaping the brass.
I wanted a simple and clean design, the finished keyboard actually takes up less desktop real estate then the original Model M.
At this point I started to design the Steampunk cradle that I planned to make from 1/4″ thick brass plate. After I removed all of the key cap skirts and cleaned the excess plastic off of the key bottoms, I reassembled them into the keyboard.
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