16/7/2007

IBM Model-M Keyboard Mod

Something random I did one morning:

Take one IBM ModelM keyboard:

Pull it to pieces:

Carefully apply vinyl dye:

All done:

It looks a lot more matt under natural (not flash-photography) lighting. Also, the blue is a lot darker.

Still to do: I forgot to dye the cable at the same time, and there are a few bits that need another coat, but I can’t be bothered to take it all apart again yet… But when I do I’ll also replace the LEDs with blue ones.

Update - Unfortunately, while the vinyl dye worked great on the keyboard casing, it didn't take very well to the keys. I'm guessing that this is either down to bad quality dye that I used, or some property of the plastic that makes it unsuitable. This meant that on the keys the dye worked more like paint, which would chip off after time. I solved this by spraying the keys with a clear matt-finish varnish (available from Games Workshop as PuritySeal). The end result looks just as good and is super hard-wearing.