The Golden Key

by kazmataz

51K9652

Intro: The Golden Key

I'll be honest, keyboards are boring. And most of us are at our desks 8 hours a day with these drab accessories. Gold, however, is not boring, and is exactly what our keyboards need. With just a little spray paint, your keyboard can have more carrots than a salad. 



STEP 1: Sand the Key

Carefully pop off your $4 key. Sand thoroughly with 180 grit sandpaper.

STEP 2: Primer and Paint

Grab your trusty spray paint cans. Spray a round of primer, sand, and then spray a round of gold. Give it a bit of time to dry.

Hint: to make sure you thoroughly cover your key with gold paint, try propping it on top of a small dowel.   

STEP 3: Make Your Mark

Once your key is dry, pop it back into your keyboard and draw on the 4 and $ sign. 

STEP 4: Finished!

And you're done! Mo money mo problems? Maker, please...


Special thanks to mikeasaurus and PenfoldPlant for their help!

52 Comments

joaoluz 5 years ago

With time, the ink begins to come out, without the varnish for paints

Hiyadudez 12 years ago

I already knew about this stuff but you inspired me. I am quite a serious PC gamer and I spray painted my WASD keys and my Shift and CTRL key, just to make sure I didnt make a crucial mistake when in battle :D

Thanks!

Thrasym 11 years ago

Looking away from your screen and delaying commands while your eyes try to locate the right keys is a good way to die in PC battles.

Having to feel around isn't much better, but it leads to not having to look or grope around in the dark. So, if you still look at the keyboard, I'd suggest you glue dots or wire pieces to your keys for recognition (and don't allow yourself to look ever again). Use hot glue or water soluble glue or poster tack (something that you can remove later).

But anyway (back on topic), having just stumbled upon this instructable, I'm looking at my keyboard trying to come up with something clever...I'm not clever...o'well, gonna copy this and the spacebar idea too. Great ideas.

munchdog 7 years ago

Yeah, I was forever hitting the 'tilde' key instead of the '1' key in battles, so I used a stick on round cabinet door bumper on the offending key. Now I can locate my fingers without looking down. For all other uses, paint would be a nice aesthetic...

Hiyadudez 11 years ago

I now have a Razer Lycosa keyboard which all of the keys light up and I also have a Razer Naga mouse which has numbers 1-12 on the side, which also light up.

After a couple hours of gaming you get used to where the numbers on the mouse are and it becomes super easy.

Hiyadudez 11 years ago

I now have a Razer Lycosa keyboard which all of the keys light up and I also have a Razer Naga mouse which has numbers 1-12 on the side, which also light up.

After a couple hours of gaming you get used to where the numbers on the mouse are and it becomes super easy.

40wolvesadancing 10 years ago

fairly pimp. I must say.. next step.. gold front for the keyboard..

lllshreelll 11 years ago

I always wanted to try this on my cellphone.

iambrad 12 years ago

It's not the "4", it's the "$"

gold and money go hand in hand

sadook 12 years ago

nice idea...... ,but button "Enter" is better than number 4 is'nt it !!
thank u for your fun project .

SwishMaxx 12 years ago

the reason for it is the $ part.

Blegueni 12 years ago

In the french key disposition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AZERTY), it would have double meanings : $ and £ signs are on the same key !!
I will do one when i will get the time ...

sourabh882008 12 years ago

i didn't like the drawing idea. else is good. :)

nevermore0069 12 years ago

I'm not trying to be rude, but you appear to have missed the step in which you shoot a round of clear to seal the gold paint. Being an aluminum based paint, that key will turn black-ish really quickly from the oils on your fingers and the moisture in the air.

SwishMaxx 12 years ago

he's using gold spray paint.. do you think he cares?

kazmataz 12 years ago

*she

And I didn't choose to cover the key with clear, but that would certainly seal in the paint. I don't use my $4 key all that much, so it didn't seem necessary.

bd5 12 years ago

... What this guy said ... The clear will also protect the blank ink from wearing out.
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