$20 Homemade Illuminated Keyboard

**WhiteBoy88** · 03-24-2006, 12:12 AM

Lights look cool. Lighted keyboards look even more cool. Paying a lot of money for one is not cool. Paying $20 for one that starts with sticky keys and ends up broken is just as not cool. So I made my own for a grand total of $20.

The vicitm and the supplies used:

Yup, just some good ol' EL wire, silver high-gloss spraypaint, and a $10 Microsux keyboard that works just as well as most $50 ones.

Break it in two:

Break it some more:

I'm sure you're thinking that I'm going to paint this keyboard silver. Well, not really. EL wire works, but when you put it under keys, you only get a few little spots of light. The silver goes under the keypad to create a mirror effect, so you see more of a glow around the keys.
Masked and painted:

(notice the Dremel MiniMite in the background

)

Unmasked:

I was also going to mirror the bottoms of the keys to get even more reflection, but I decided that I was too lazy.

Run the EL wire:

It's only so long, so this route gives it the best coverage. Drilled holes to run it to the different keypads. The power wire will run along the keyboard cable to the computer.

It's greener in real life

:

Putting it back together:

My H and G are now backwards.........

A couple of dark pics with the end result:

I was going to take off the Microsoft logo, but once again, I was too lazy.

y2alex007 · 03-24-2006, 12:45 AM

looks pretty good, love the green, i like how it is very sutle (sp?) good job

(z@ph3r) · 03-24-2006, 01:44 AM

very cool. might have to attempt something like this myself. from the pictures i cant really tell if it lights up that good. can you see the keys well enough to type in the dark? or is it just for looks?

**WhiteBoy88** · 03-24-2006, 02:32 AM

I don't really need to see the keys

.
But no, it's just for looks, and doesn't put off enough light to see anything.

buckley · 03-24-2006, 02:38 AM

looks cool.

you still living at the barracks or are you home now? i would guess it gets boring at the barracks, gotta find something to do :D

**WhiteBoy88** · 03-24-2006, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buckley

looks cool.

you still living at the barracks or are you home now? i would guess it gets boring at the barracks, gotta find something to do :D

You got it......

_Watch_Me_Now_ · 03-24-2006, 11:48 AM

How do you power the el wire and do you have to connect the molex to the computer ps if thats how you do it?

**WhiteBoy88** · 03-24-2006, 12:18 PM

Yup, it's just 2 wires in a standard 4-pin molex.

CreatedMind07 · 03-24-2006, 01:17 PM

I dont know why yall diss the light up keyboard. I bought mine for $9 and has no sticky keys and it goes everywhere with me and is still working great.

I even bought one for this friend of mine. Hers is still working great too with no sticky keys.

BlackKoala · 03-24-2006, 01:19 PM

I would much rather have a microsoft light kbd than a Sunbeam light up kbd ;)

**WhiteBoy88** · 03-24-2006, 01:21 PM

All of my experiences with illuminated keyboards have been bad. I do have pretty bad luck, though

.

superman · 03-24-2006, 01:24 PM

Someone asked how you power the elwire. Do you run it through a hole you cut in the side of the case or what? Is it a pain to take to lan parties?

**WhiteBoy88** · 03-24-2006, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by superman

Someone asked how you power the elwire. Do you run it through a hole you cut in the side of the case or what? Is it a pain to take to lan parties?

It goes through a hole in the back near my I/O panel (the hole was already there).

If you look closely at the first pic, you can see that there's a convenient connector in the middle of the black wire, between the EL wire and the inverter. It's easy enough to disconnect and move.

_Watch_Me_Now_ · 03-24-2006, 06:53 PM

Was The Inverter Cord Originally Long Evnough To Reach The Panel In Computer And If So How Much Excess Do You Have?

**WhiteBoy88** · 03-24-2006, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Watch_Me_Now_

Was The Inverter Cord Originally Long Evnough To Reach The Panel In Computer And If So How Much Excess Do You Have?

No
None
I had to lengthen it to get it a comfortable distance, so I went ahead and made it travel all along the keyboard cable.

_Watch_Me_Now_ · 03-24-2006, 08:36 PM

How did you lengthen it, i have a wireless keyboard and im thinking about doing this mod to it, how should i approach this/

**WhiteBoy88** · 03-24-2006, 09:54 PM

I just cut and spliced in some extra wire.
I wouldn't suggest using a wireless for this, unless you really like and want to use that particular keyboard. That's why I used my el cheapo Microsux board. Good quality at a good low price.

I don't think you would need to do anything exceptionally different, just drill a hole for the wire and cut and splice to lengthen it.

sui_winbolo · 03-24-2006, 10:48 PM

Looks great. I like it alot. It's hard to beat a Microsoft or Logitech keyboard. They are very nice. Too bad my keyboard is too thin to do this.

airbornemist6 · 03-26-2006, 09:46 PM

it looks great man, believe it or not i've actually heard of people doing this with CCLs rather than EL, they usually say that CCLs tend to light it up better. Heck if I know, never tried it, kudos man, kudos.

**WhiteBoy88** · 03-26-2006, 09:49 PM

With CCFL's you have 2 choices:
1. Try and make it fit with the protective tube.
2. Take the tube off and run the risk of the wire melting through your keyboard if it touches anything.