Wintereenmas ideas: Keyboard Bracelet

Just a quick gift idea for your favourite geeks. How to turn an old keyboard into jewelry for nothing(ish) using tools that eveyone has in their laboratory.

Wintereenmas is a festival created by Tim Buckley in his webcomic Ctrl-Alt-Del - well worth a looksee. It usually occurs at the end of january (25th-31st) yet wherever geeks meet it lives on! As i'm studying in the wilds of wales it has become the only time i get to meet up with my mates from college for any period of time and so it has replaced christmas for the exchanging of gifts, eating what you shouldn't and generally not moving from one spot.

Step 1: Ingredients

An old keybaord that you dont mind breaking up. Year round, thousands of unwanted keyboards lead a miserable life on the streets. You may find them huddling in dumpsters or near places of technology (universities, pc stores etc), pressing their noses against the windows and remembering the time when they too were loved and the 's' didnt fall off all the time.
Adopt one of these poor individuals today..... and then rip its guts out!

A soldering iron - no self respecting geek should be without one... even if it is for poking holes and melting things.
Various flavours of pliers - i found the needlenose ones the most useful
Cord or stretchy elastic
Any of a multitude of flavours of tape - here i'm using parcel tape but gaffer/duck, masking or sellotape is good. As a general rule, double sided is a no-no if you are as hairy as me O_O This is only for a rough fitting so dont go using your best tape (admit it, you have one dont you!)

All of these i had knocking around except for the elastic which was scrounged off a mate... thanks jess!!

Comments

[dashhsad]

I dare you do one with teh spacerbar jajaja
nice instructabe

[leah_thomas]

That might make a cool necklace/choker.

[St Jimmy]

Hooray for Ctrl-alt-del! The comic I mean. Speaking of which, you could, if you had enough broken keyboards, make Ctrl-alt-del repeating around your wrist

[blueangelcat]

you could even add a small bead in between keys to cover the elastic and to fit in the holes for stability!

[pandas4me]

is there an easier way to get the "guts" out of the keys on the back side? i am having a hard time with it and can't get all of it out. any suggestions on tools or some kind of technique? thanks.

[TangMu]

 my technique was to grip a side wall of the back guts with a pair of needle nose pliers and twist the key around. This took out all 4 walls of the tab pretty flush to the front of the key.

Let me know if this works for you.

[pandas4me]

That was my attempt and I found it very difficult. I wish there was a tool that had some kind of cutters on the tips. I don't have a very strong grip and after doing 3 or 4 my wrist and hand started to hurt. If you find some kind of tool with cutters on the ends please let me know where I could get them. Maybe that would help. Thanks!

[Danny09]

It looks sorta uncomfortable...

[TangMu]

 its not that bad actually, if you get the tension of the elastic and number of keys right then it doesn't dig in at all. With the back of the keys flush its quite smooth.

[DrCoolSanta]

Looks a bit wierd IMO. I mean the idea's nice and everything, and we all agree that keyboard keys look good almost everywhere, looks a bit jerky, and I agree uncomfortable.

Have you seen those flexible keyboards, non-branded ones are cheap enough, you could try those.

[greensteam]

HI, Great idea but I had a lot of trouble getting the keys to lie against my wrist as in your step 1 picture. For me they kept flipping upside down as in your step 6 picture. I havent done this yet but I think the only solution would be two holes per key. We did this with the public at our first ever Maker Fair , McMADSAT, on 14th March 2009 in Glasgow. Still have loads left though. see the picture below of our event.<br/><br/>Sources of keyboards: <br/>I asked the local geek club to put them by for me and they kindly provided me with about 40!!! I have had a brilliantly educational time taking them all apart and finding the amazing variety of technologies over the years as keyboards have developed. See some of my makes for what else to do with keyboards and see also my son's use of the metal plates from older keyboards at <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Armour_from_Keyboards/">http://www.instructables.com/id/Armour_from_Keyboards/</a><br/>

[TangMu]

Awesome! Glad you had a great time at the maker fair and a bit humbled that you did these. I found out the hard way too that when making a single line of keys, two holes per side stopped it rolling around. Kicking myself that I couldn't make it. :p

[Salsa766]

what do you drill the holes with, a soldering iron? would a drill work?

[TangMu]

indeed a drill would, i only had a soldering iron on my at the time

[babbledabble]

WONDERFUL project! You weren't kidding about opening the windows, though - phew! I posted a few pictures of my finished pieces on my web site, and of course I gave you credit! By the way, what is the safest way to clean the melted plastic coating off of the soldering iron? Cheers!!

[TangMu]

i just use a wad of loo roll dipped in water. Wiping the iron on this makes the plastic set and come off... its not perfect tho O_o

[FrenchCrawler]

Beautiful work... Ethan would be proud :)

[FrenchCrawler]

I think one of my favorite comics of his (actually Lucas') is when the customer comes into the computer repair shop and tells Lucas he wants a new computer (something along those lines at least) cause he (the customer) opened the computer and washed down all the circuits with soap and water cause his friend told him he needed to clean out his computer. Then Lucas called him stupid and so did his boss. I was gonna post a link, but it's so hard to find it in the masses.

BTW: The Beginning of Wintereenmas Comic

Here's a [<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e112/FrenchCrawler/CAD/WEMasBear360.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a> photo] of my second year of Wintereenmas junk (I still have the scepter, but had to toss the crown cause it took up too much room).... My old CAD Wintereenmas photos (and I do mean old :P )

[Digital_Anarchy]

this is the comic you refer too.
http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/comic.php?d=20030530

[FrenchCrawler]

So it is... Thanks

[FrenchCrawler]

Oops, second link is http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e112/FrenchCrawler/CAD/WEMasBear360.jpg

[bounty1012]

Hmmmm Add a spy camera through the o... give it to a friend and find out what they really think of you lol

[c27_mari]

It is really great, when I have a little time I make one! I congratulate you for the idea! Kisses =)!

[Broly]

I suggest using a dremel if you happen to own one, as it would make the bracelet look more professional.

[Nicornal]

Isn't his name Tim Absath? And Tim Buckley is some music guy? Either way, nice idea. I would do it if I had a spare keyboard...

[TangMu]

you mean jeff buckley.

Check his webby, its all there in the small print legalese. and on the top of each comic. Absath = web moniker

[Rizve]

Really cooooooooool. I will make it today night. And ware it tommorrow in my class. What the effect you can't imagine. Thanks a lot.

[caseynrbq]

Hi - This is a cool bracelet -- I especially like the first one - (shown in the intro photo) -- is it for sale? If so how much is it? Also how much to ship to zip code 10025? Thanks, Diane.

[TangMu]

Seeing as i live in the uk it is probbably a better idea to spend the shipping money on a keyboard and have a stab yourself. You can pick them up for relaitvely nothing in charity shops and theres always a tech friend of a friend who might have a spare. That and you get a satisfaction of having made "stuff". With your own two hands.

[Thorax]

lol :D i did this like 2 weeks ago but i made one with my name on it and a second one with the name of my girlfriend :)

[Keith_Dawg]

Does the bottom scratch your hand?

[TangMu]

As long as you keep everything flush with the keys then there isnt much problem. The elastic isnt so tight that it is digging in my wrist.

[Wolf Seril]

You spelled Winter-een-mas wrong. You should send this to Tim :)

[jongscx]

Seconded... methinks it's an ethan-mash of "WINTER", "hallowEEN"(though this not necessarily in winter), and "christMAS"... but I'm sure you knew that already.

[TangMu]

D'oh... it was late. *updated*

[jongscx]

Oh, I didn't even notice that you did put the keys in Win+Ctrl+alt+Del formation already... :-D Nice touch

[SlothOnSpeed]

Very cool Instructable. I have a few things to add: if you are using an uncoated elastic thread for jewelry (Stretch Magic is one brand name, and widely available. Buy the 1.0 mm size for keyboard beads), you will need a special knot and a sealant to make sure your bracelet doesn't fall off and disintegrate into a sad little pile of letters. The knot you want is a Surgeon's knot, which is a first cousin to the square knot. Tie the first step the same way as in the square knot (right over left), but when tying the second layer (left over right), pass the elastic through the knot three or four times, instead of once. This makes a knot that stays in place, even with slippery elastic thread. If the thread binds and sticks to itself, a drop of water on the knot will fix the problem in no time. To "weld" a knot in Stretch Magic, just place a drop of clear nail polish on the knot and let dry. Do not use cyanoacrylate (Crazy Glue or its many clones) on stretchy thread: it eventually turns the elastic brittle and destroys our creation. A very, very light touch with that soldering iron might do the trick as well, as long as you don't melt right through the elastic. If you choose clear nail polish instead, don't bother spending a lot of money. The cheapest brand available in the Health and Beauty aisle in the drugstore is just fine. (that brand is usually "wet and wild," although sometimes another brand will be even less expensive when on sale) Lastly, it's nicer looking to hide the knot by tying it inside one of the keys, instead of between them. Your completed bracelet will be just as strong. How do I know this? I've made upwards of 2,000 stretch bracelets with beads of every type to use as giveaways over the past four years.

[TangMu]

Cheers for the tips... i was a scout for only a week so my knowledge of knots isnt that strong... and my elastomancy too O_o

[masterochicken]

I just happen to have a bag of keys. awesome

[GorillazMiko]

nice. never thought about this before!