The Space Bar

Intro: The Space Bar

In the interest of making your keyboard less boring, I wanted to bring the final frontier to your fingertips. Not to mention some silly wordplay. Houston, we have a rocking space bar.

This simple and quick keyboard mod took more time to dry than paint, and it can be easily customized. Want to feature Saturn? UFOs? More nebulae? You got it, Neil. You drive this spaceship.

STEP 1: Remove Key

Most all keys are built to pop out, so don't worry about breaking anything. Take something small and sturdy to use as a lever (I used my keys) and ease it out.

Sand very lightly with fine sandpaper. This helps the paint bond to the surface.

STEP 2: Paint

Now it's time to have some creative fun! 

I used some basic acrylic paint, mixed liberally and often with water, and used a very fine-tipped paintbrush along with a toothpick to make those smaller stars. 

Using a picture I found online, I worked off of the image adding a lot of watery layers of color to my space bar to give the Milky Way more depth. I wanted to get the background colors right, before drawing in any stars.

When you feel good about the base layer, start dotting on your stars. Some can be watery distant universes, others bolder and brighter blue supergiants, and others tiny toothpick-drawn stars to add depth. This is space after all - try and capture it's infinity

STEP 3: Protect

When astronauts are in space, they need protection against the elements. Your space bar also needs protection. Once your universe has dried, grab a can of spray clear enamel and cover your space bar with a light layer. 

And I think it's gonna be a long, long time till touchdown brings you round to find...this clear layer has dried. 8 hours, in fact. Wait it out Rocket Man

STEP 4: Pop Back In

Once it's dry, pop your key back into your keyboard and admire your work. Now you can type to infinity and beyond!

That's one small step for man, one giant leap for maker-kind.

Comments

[EmmaKaspersen]

That is so cool; I might have to do this to my son's keyboard while he's at school and see what he thinks of it when he gets home xD Won't he be surprised!

[Mr. Gadgets]

Nicly done. I think it looks very convincing.

[hellmaster993]

how did you do it

[hellmaster993]

I got it from a guy and printed it out made it and here you have it thank you alot

[monsterlego]

How, may i ask does this solve maria problems?

[kazmataz]

It's a clear view, because I've taken those clouds and pinned them down

[monsterlego]

Not to mention the whole moonbeam thing. :)

[spark light]

Nice pun! I would do this in a flash if i weren't using a laptop. XD

[Punkguyta]

Lol Dell keyboard.

[RLRRLRLL]

i used to have a button like that, but i have no idea where i put it. i must have totally "spaced" it! yuk, yuk, yuk!

[jj.inc]

I wan't to make a keyboard with custom keys that have things like A for Apple and B for Bat and Z for Zebra. Its gonna be good.

[skittlespider]

Sounds interesting. Be sure to make an Instructable when you make this, because I have a feeling it will be a hit!

[jj.inc]

yes I am trying to figure out some stuff for numbers and word keys

[Philip J Fry]

for numbers you could use roman numerals or maybe a tally, for the letters you should use the attached pic

[jj.inc]

Thanks, That is a great idea for the numbers. I have already planned out my letters, but I like the idea behind those so I think I will change a few of mine, I really liked the USB and Wikipedia ones

[skittlespider]

There could be a lock picture on the Caps Lock button. That's the only one I can think of.

[jj.inc]

I wonder if I could fit a gear-shift look on the shift key

[skittlespider]

Yeah, that could work

[hjjusa]

I'm going to put the Star Ship Enterprise on my space key.

[bowmaster]

Nice, I wish I could do this with my laptop; you can't remove the keys without them breaking.