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| Steampunk Apple Pro Keyboard |
| Written by RadioC1ash | ||||
| Wednesday, 09 July 2008 | ||||
 So, I needed a keyboard with a decidedly Victorian flare to go with my forthcoming Steampunk G4 mod, but not too crazy looking. I didn't wind up going with this design for the final system, but it turned out pretty well, so I figured I'd post it. You start with your basic Apple Pro keyboard (about $10 on eBay). Then you'll need the folowing: 1 x cheap flat black spray paint 1 x rustolium metalic gold spray paint 1 x goldleaf pen sandpaper steel wool throw in any number of brass fasteners First thing to do is take off all of the keys and cover up the key holes with little bits of masking tape. Remove the four screwa on the back of the keyboard that hold the front plate on. There are two screws under this plate that hold the back of the keyboard to the front and hold in the membrane and butons etc. Remove these two screws (there is a third under the apple logo on the back of some models but we don't need to worry about that). This will allow you to get into the side and release the keyboard riser bar. Remove the riser bar. Now, put a bit of masking tape anywhere you don't want paint (think inside the usb ports). Even when using Krylon or Rustoleum plastic paints, it's aways good to sand things a bit. Then you're ready to paint. For mine, I painted the riser bar gold for some contrast to the rest of the keyboard. For the rest of the surface, to acheive the distressed affect, paint a few coats of the gold allowing five minutes or so between coats. Let that dry overnight. Next you'll paint one or two coats at the most of the flat black over the gold. Let that cure for at least a day. Once the paint has cured, use your fine grain sandpaper to distress arround the edges. Follow that up with the steel wool to get a nice uneven sheen which resembles a well worn sewing machine or typewriter. Re-assemble your keyboard. Once the keys are back in place, use the goldleaf pen to put a bit of gold paint over the letters and numbers etc. let that dry for about five minutes. Use the steel wool to remove the excess goldleaf so you can see the characters and rough up the keys a bit (we don't want them looking shiny). Finally, use whatever brass or bronze (or whatever) you like to accent your new keyboard. I also used the goldleaf pen on the apple logo. Here's what mine came out like:   
Find more pictures at my site. Lemmie know what you think! I could use any and all suggestions!
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