Magic Tablet

Taking notes on my computer makes storing and searching info much easier, but I miss the tactile feel of handwriting. I bought a small Wacom tablet to see if this would help. I found out it takes a disappointingly long time to replicate the same control you have when writing on a piece of paper. Part of the reason seems to be that you can't see the marks your pen makes on the surface you're writing on.

I decided to put the innards of my Wacom in an erasable "magic slate" to fix that problem and make the overall experience more touchable and fun. I wired it so that sliding the writing surface of the slate out clears both the slate's screen and the computer drawing program's screen.Then I converted the tablet's outer casing into a watercolor palette.

Ingredients:
For the Magic Tablet
1 Wacom or other digital graphics tablet (eBay-ed or old is good, there's a chance of damaging it)
1 magic slate (this one for instance: http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Drawing-Slate-by-Schylling/dp/B000ICZ5IW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1226218291&sr=1-1)
Conductive fabric, copper tape, or aluminum foil
Some wire, solder, and a soldering station
Glue, hot glue, scissors, possibly a utility knife (Wikipedia says this is the proper generic name for an x-acto :)
Bits of cardstock

For the "Digital Watercolor Set"
Outside casing for a Wacom "Bamboo Fun"
Watercolors in tubes
A hot glue gun
A plastic bottled water cap

Step 1 Disassemble tablet

Unscrew all screws in the back of the tablet. If you think you have them all but the tablet still won't come apart, check under stickers!

Very carefully pry the casing apart (using a flat screwdriver to gradually pry up the edges helps). If you're using the tablet I did (the Wacom "Bamboo Fun") you can pull out the scroll touchpad from a little plastic slot but BE CAREFUL! I damaged the connections when pulling mine out and ended up breaking the touchpad. Carefully remove the board and the insulating metallic sheet behind it.

I really ought to have more pictures for this step, but I disassembled mine a long time ago. It's pretty straightforward, but let me know if I can offer any assistance.

Comments

[apender]

Wondering whether any of those optical pens offer the same functionality as wacom to use as a mouse.

[dombeef]

cool