How to make a prank musical caps-lock keyboard

Kipkay has a number of great DIY videos, but my favourite has got to be the keyboard prank.

The gist of it is to fit a fun music module from those musical greeting cards inside a keyboard and wire it to the caps-lock key to trigger the music each time the key is pressed. Do it on a friend's keyboard, unbeknownst to them, and wait for them to press caps-lock by mistake. Genius!

I'm in the ideal situation because many of my colleagues have the same standard issue Dell keyboard at work, so I took one home, wired the caps-lock key with some cheesy Christmas music and took it back to work ready to put my colleagues in the mood before the holidays. Once one is bored of it, I could simply move the keyboard to someone else!

Here's how to make yours!

- Ingredients:

• Keyboard with caps-lock LED
• Musical greeting card
• NPN transistor
• Thin wire

- Utensils:

• Phillips screwdriver
• Solder iron & solder
• Electrical tape

(Version francaise)

Step 1 Choose the right keyboard and take it apart

Let's start simply:
Here we have a USB Dell keyboard with the caps-lock LED next to the wire connection.
Turn it over, remove the many screws holding it in place and keep them in a safe place for now.
Take the cover off and keep it close by.
The caps-lock LED is likely to be marked as such on the circuit board. It will be easy to locate.

Comments

[Gypsyman]

it seems like it would be easier just to program it so when you press the button your computer makes the noise. I have actually seen people do this, seems cheaper and simpler.

[agent]

I'm going to make a program that whenever you push ANY key it plays a different sound. I'm going to put it in my flashdrive, and have it that whenever I plug it in it'll copy it to the startup programs. >:D Maybe people should learn not to leave there comps logged in when they walk off!

[fastlines49s]

WHERES THE ANY KEY!!!

[Duct Tape Dude]

If you make it make the caplock say "STOP TROLLIN''

[iambrad]

send me that program when its finished, if you ever write it.

[agent]

If you're still interested, I'll write it.

[Redgerr]

im interested as well, would be really funny to have in your back pocket

[iambrad]

 yeah, im still interested

[agent]

I never really got around to making it. The main problem is that any program like this that hooks global key input is registered as a key logger in most antiviruses.

[jedi pen-gui-n]

You can still get in if you know how. No i'm not telling here. If you want to know, go read 101 spy gadgets for the evil genuis.

[mman1506]

kipkay plagiarized this from this http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Singing-Keyboard-Prank/

[Alx_xlA]

KipKay's 'ible: November 6, 2007 jgillick's 'ible: April 3, 2008 How did he plagiarize from something written 6 months before it was written?

[mman1506]

his organial blog post was posted before kipkays instruuctable

[mman1506]

it is here and check the time stamp

[mman1506]

http://blog.mozmonkey.com/2006/april_fools_hack/

[conrad2468]

4 months and some ott......to be relatively exact....

[goldenbacon]

lol, mman got 0wned

[mman1506]

read 2nd coomment

[lolcat360]

I would hook it up to the E key.

[Redgerr]

omg that would be halarious! that would be so annoying and would be a great gift ahahaha... totaly

[lunchboxslayer27]

as would i

[fwjs28]

most used letter in the english alphabet...good idea....i would prefer shift or space....there also used quite often....

[downs]

Has anybody every heard of being able to re-record one of the musical greeting card chips? there are recordable ones out there but can the standard, one song chip be re-recorded? anyone? Bueller ?

[thegeeke]

Ya, it's possible, but it's extreamly hard and I can't and won't explain it in a thread.

[DYLEGO]

does the caps lock still work?

[llemarie]

Yes, the caps lock ley works as usual. The musical interlude is a bonus, not a replacement for the uppercase. Lionel.

[smashbob]

great i'ble. imagine the look on the person's face when they press caps lock. it must be hilarious. +1

[ekulmeekul]

do you know what would make this circut perfect? power it from the keyboards 5v supply it would never die. Although you would need a voltage regulator. Great instructable.

[fd93]

there is a thing avalible on THinkgeek.com that makes an annoying beeping when activated or a sonic grenade but my friend wont tell me how he did it

[punkatsub]

just click the shift button 5 times

[locofocos]

The annoyatron or somethin like that? It's a preassembled circuit, battery and everything, that will make a little noise at random intervals. I think the intervals are between 2 and 8 minutes, but I'd have to check. It has a magnet on it to attach it to a metal surface if u want. You might be talking about the sonic grenade. When the pin is pulled, it will make a noise, whose frequency and volume can be changed. It stops when the batteries run out XD or when you put the pin back in.

[jgillick]

Great instructable walk through.

Here's the original post which Kipkay got the instructions from:
http://blog.mozmonkey.com/2006/april_fools_hack/

[jaypee4227]

I've actually made two of these keyboards, and they are in place for tomorrow. One is for my boss, and the other is for a friend's co-worker. I would post pictures, but you can't tell a modification has been made! Thanks for such a great idea. I'll let you know how they go.

[llemarie]

Excellent! Bear in mind that it takes most people a while to press the hilarious key. My co-worker kept me waiting for 2 days before he finally pressed it (: Good luck and have fun.

[tom004]

DOES ANYONE ELSE HEAR JINGLE BELLS? OR IS IT JUST ME?

[tiuk]

This would be awesome to do to somebody who uses caps lock too much (read: at all).

[TrumpetNeel]

CAPS LOCK IS LIKE CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL

[James (pseudo-geek)]

man did literally ripped his caps lock key off his keyboard after bumping it so much when he types.

[oberpriller]

Awesome. My only problem is that the Caps Lock LED doesn't light up on the keyboard anymore. I guess all the current is going through the NPN transistor now. Next time I'll see if a resistor in line with the switch is enough to get the current running back through the LED.

[bmlbytes]

My keyboard doesn't even have a LED to light. A little box in the corner says, "CAPS LOCK ON" or "CAPS LOCK OFF" when I hit it.