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zac4mac · Jun 17, 2001, 03:09 PM

Finally finished today. This is Rev1 and it was quite a learning experience. All told, completely disassembled, there are almost 300 parts. I may need a bigger power source for the inverter, had to shut it off due to heat after an hour or so. I didn't cut holes for the keys, just pushing thru the .020" EL film and so key pressure is way higher, but all keys work. The EL sheet is brightest at the power connection and fades to the right. I may try running a pair of small wires over to the other side as it was brighter before I cut it down to fit the case.Also, the Apple logo isn't bright enough, will put a white LED behind it. Glad to bs done for now.

Z

[ 06-17-2001: Message edited by: zac4mac ]

itomato · Jun 17, 2001, 03:14 PM

Wow! Kick-ass! I need to bite the bullet and get a pro keyboard now! Any more pictures?

Light colored keycaps would be a very cool addition.

georgius · Jun 17, 2001, 04:56 PM

WOW!

that is..like wow!

...go on...post a guide on how to do it...!

Once again...WOW!

Play it cool

ThinkInsane · Jun 17, 2001, 06:39 PM

Dude, that rocks! Hat's off man.

IceEnclosure · Jun 17, 2001, 06:56 PM

Yessiree bob.. that's it right there!! I want one... instructions, instructions

!!

and what was the end cost??

Good show!!

seanyepez · Jun 18, 2001, 12:54 AM

Freakin' awesome, dude!

Now give us the instructions!

SupahCoolX · Jun 18, 2001, 03:37 AM

Any way that would work somehow in a Rev. A iBook? Oh, please say yes. Please!! Anyway, that is indeed, to quote MacAddict and seanyepez, FREAKIN' AWESOME!

waffffffle · Jun 18, 2001, 06:41 AM

Woah. Very very cool. I am very impressed. I all of a sudden feel very proud that I inspired this . . .

Anyway, let us in on the real details. Can this be done with Apple's notebook keyboards in a way that the actual keys can glow?

zac4mac · Jun 18, 2001, 07:27 AM

Glad y'all like it.. Not a fully functional hack yet.
The power supply doesn't seem up to the task, it and the inverter get pretty hot after an hour or so.
The keys are very hard to activate thru the EL sheet.

The pro-keyboard is hard to get in and out of also.
There are 5 screws on the back, 4 are visible, the 5th is under the info sticker, just above the first letter of the s/n (small sticker below info).
With those off, slide something along the front to separate the case halves. I used my fingernail.
with the top off, remove the "6" on the num pad, the ":;" and the "caps lock" and remove those screws (phillips #1& hex, .050 - I think)
Two more screws hold the Strain-relief cap on the cable, and one holds the ground-wire and cover over the PC board.
A piece of plastic sheet covers the back plate. It has adhesive along the edges and up the middle. Remove it.
The back plate is held on by about 50 little phillips screws. Have fun.
Be careful when you pull all these apart, under each key is a little plastic cup that actuates the switch and they get lost easily.
Between the Flex-circuit layers(3) and the back plate are two strips of silicone rubber that apply pressure to the keyboard connections.
On top of the LED legs (caps lock and num lock LED's) is a piece of conductive rubber. All these are small parts that can be lost easily.
At this point you have a butt-load of parts laying around and it's time to make the EL sheet fit the case. (I also pulled all the keys off, which I found was unnecessary)
The light from the sheet needs to be diffused, so I bead blasted the top and bottom case with a clean fine grit.
I cut out an Apple logo in the opaque strip of plastic above the keys for light to shine thru the logo. It's not bright enough tho, have to add a separate LED.
I removed the left USB port from the k/b control board and re-wired it to take power to the EL sheet.
A lot of cutting ensued, for fit and some of the mounting screws. I may still cut out areas for the keys, but don't relish hand cutting 108 little holes.
The hole edges are supposed to be sealed, I didn't.
The EL sheet was 6" x 16", coulda used 17". cost about 100 bucks with shipping from "Being Seen Technologies" in NJ and came with the inverter, but not a 12v p/s.
Parts I left out were: about 80% of the screws on the back plate and 3 or 4 pieces of clear plastic sheet from the top, under the keys. The only plastic sheet parts I re-installed were the opaque strip at the top and the large sheet on the back plate. My mods are nearly invisible in daylight, just the two wires going to the EL sheet (white) and a minor color difference under the keys.

Gotta get to work now
Happy hacking...

Zack

Stogieman · Jun 18, 2001, 11:24 PM

Zack, how come Being Seen Technologies lists the 6"X16" EL sheet at $184.63? I want to get a gleaming white sheet but the price seems a little steep.

One last question, how did you re-wire the left usb port to take power to the EL sheet? I can't wait to try this hack myself.

[ 06-19-2001: Message edited by: Stogieman ]

BlueFlameOut · Jun 19, 2001, 10:22 AM

Ok, no flames. I prefer the Mac but have a Windoze PC also (built myself). I have not done anything to it but ran across a company that sells the neon string and inverter.

Cool Case Mods

They are in the UK however.

zac4mac · Jun 19, 2001, 12:33 PM

I talked to Ed at Being Seen a couple of times about what I was doing, before I ordered the sheet. Forgot to ask price when I ordered, but when it arrived, the invoice said "keyboard lighting kit" or something, with a price of $94 and change plus shipping. I think the price of 184 includes 2 sheets, not sure tho.

For the power connection, I desoldered the left USB socket from the k/b control board and butt-spliced the red and black wires from it to the EL sheet(power to sheet(inverter out) is 1kHz and is NOT polarized, 12 VDC into inverter is polarized). The other end of the USB cable is cut off and the red and black wires are connected to the inverter output(look close at top picture). Then I put some red stripes on the keyboard as a reminder.

My keyboard was down for almost two weeks and now is very hard to use because of the force required to actuate the keys.

Rocco · Jun 19, 2001, 02:00 PM

This is great!

macvillage.net · Jun 19, 2001, 06:13 PM

Wow, I am impressed, that is pretty cool. I wish apple would do something like that. That would be a way to boost sales, much more than a flower power iMac (in my opinion). That is awesome.

More pics?

Whisper · Jun 19, 2001, 11:02 PM

Originally posted by zac4mac:
My keyboard was down for almost two weeks and now is very hard to use because of the force required to actuate the keys.

Would punching holes in the sheet of glowy stuff underneath each key make it easier to press the keys, damage the glowy stuff, defeat the purpose, or any combination thereof?

zac4mac · Jun 20, 2001, 08:30 AM

From whisper: Would punching holes in the sheet of glowy stuff underneath each key make it easier to press the keys, damage the glowy stuff, defeat the purpose, or any combination thereof?

That would be the right way to do it, but there are 108 keys, and the only precision punch I have only hits the edges. Some holes I cut with a scalpel, but that is very tedious.

Ed said the edges need to be sealed to keep out moisture, don't have much of that here, so I'm not gonna worry.

The required pressure is dropping as I use it, maybe it'll be OK soon.
Still have to solve the heat issue, maybe a small fan n the inverter box.

I'll post some more pix this weekend.

Z

yukon · Jun 20, 2001, 11:51 PM

really cool.

i think though, that the point was to illuminate the actual keys (to type in the dark) rather than the rest of the board.

the only ways i can think of is to, design a specific cut of that sheet which will illuminate all but the actual key mechanism (overstatement lol), or just hook up 108 diodes (just to be insane! "aw puck! my "f" key burned out!).

or, requiring a redesign of the keyboard, some kinda fiberoptic string around the keys illuminating each one.

unfortunatly, the hardest and most expensive/foolish one sounds the coolest. imagine strings of light encircling every key. different colours for different macs. switchable lenses/lasers for different colours.

just my little 30second reflection

IceEnclosure · Jun 21, 2001, 12:03 AM

yukon...

ya 'should' be able to type in the dark.. pitch dark.. black..

butttt.. with this setup.. you certainly can see the keys.. and then some.

and it looks totally supercool.. i think this was the point

(my 4 hr 41 minute reflection)

COmie JOe · Jun 25, 2001, 11:51 PM

how about this on a power book? that might work; how much power dose the light strip thing take?

zac4mac · Jun 27, 2001, 07:36 AM

You might be able to do it with external power. It will take longer, need to make holes for each key. This is too much pressure for a laptop, the k/b like this. Too much for my fingertips... Small DC p/s I used is 500mw and appears to be too small. Will try a larger p/s, have a small fan in the inverter box, seems to work OK. For a laptop, the EL rope might work better, less power, less trouble to fit.

Z

Update: Bigger DC p/s did the trick. It made a great "night-light" last nite. Lit up fot the last 12 hours with no heat issues. Keys are getting easier, but still too hard. Overall, worth the trouble.

[ 06-28-2001: Message edited by: zac4mac ]

kidatari · Jun 28, 2001, 08:04 PM

I've been thinking about doing that to my Ti for a while, as the white plastic below the keyboard is translucent. the real trick is getting the keyboard to stay down afterwards. I was thinking about powering it off of the Firewire bus, but I'm still working out how I want to do it. Kudos man, nice job. Now if I only had $100 for a peice of EL sheeting...

Stogieman · Jun 28, 2001, 10:11 PM

Zac... how much bigger of a DC power supply did you use? And where are those extra pics you promised us?

imacaholic · Jun 28, 2001, 11:54 PM

Rock on! I want to make my own! Now, if I could just find the time.

zac4mac · Jun 30, 2001, 11:06 PM

OK, here's pix... http://homepage.mac.com/zac4mac/PhotoAlbum.html

Thinking about rev2. If I can get the sheet thinner, the key pressure will be more tolerable..

Z

itomato · Jul 1, 2001, 11:03 AM

Does the brightness really fade as much as in P6301756.JPG? Would 2 separate sheets help that?

finboy · Jul 1, 2001, 07:49 PM

There's gotta be a way to do this without impinging on the ability to type on the keyboard, right? Essentially, this turns a useful keyboard into an iMac Rev. A keyboard that glows.

zac4mac · Jul 2, 2001, 12:12 AM

As far as the light fading, the sheet is brighter at the power side(left) but the plastics and perspective help too. Look at xx774.jpg. I think if I pull the back off again, I'll run a wire to the other side. I'm sure that will help. Maybe add an LED for the logo and make the strip at the top, block light better. I don't like how the two large cutouts in the sheet show thru.

Key pressure is another issue altogether; either the sheet needs to be thinner, or holes need to be cut for each key. It is getting better, but still intolerable by most standards. I don't type very fast, but the pressure and editing missing letters is annoying. I found some punches that might work, but getting it open and closed one more time could be dicey. I used a few unorthodox assembly techniques. I still have all the "extra" parts.

I gotta say, it looks really boring now when it's turned off.

z

tooki · Jul 12, 2001, 04:25 PM

An idea for cutting the holes: biopsy punches. They are essentially round scalpels that punch out a perfectly clean circle.

You can buy them from medical supply houses, or from http://www.bmeshop.com/ (go to Piercing -> Dermal Punches).

tooki

STAT · Jul 12, 2001, 11:03 PM

Originally posted by tooki:
An idea for cutting the holes: biopsy punches. They are essentially round scalpels that punch out a perfectly clean circle.

You can buy them from medical supply houses, or from http://www.bmeshop.com/ (go to Piercing -> Dermal Punches).

tooki

Lord... What kind of sick F is buying biopsy punches online? Next thing you know, they'll offer home circumcision kits! Jeffrey Daumer never thought of this crap, did he?!

tooki · Jul 13, 2001, 03:03 PM

Lots of people buy them, to do their own piercings (dermal punches are great for cartilage). And yes, you can get home circumcision kits online... (and home emasculation kits, too :-\ )

tooki

mike one · Jul 14, 2001, 12:45 PM

Originally posted by tooki:
[QB And yes, you can get home circumcision kits online... :-\ )
tooki[/QB]

oooo oooo where??

j/k

olePigeon · Jul 14, 2001, 09:19 PM

This can REALY handy, check this ot:

www.glowire.com

Gonna get some myself to mod my SCSI tower some more.

JoeG4 · Jan 5, 2002, 07:21 AM

Love the el sheet mod. Perhaps a better way is to stick the sheet between the top layer, and the plastic. If you cut holes where those key things go through do it right, you'll have a NICE layer

EL wire works too, but it's butt ugly and only works on fat keyboards

FulcrumPilot · Jan 7, 2002, 06:24 PM

way cool! been eyeing this site myself for a while...
http://www.tweakmonster.com/lightstrips/index.htm

v0id7 · Jan 8, 2002, 06:18 AM

My Christmas tree may be in for a big surprise next year (Asuming it can think

.)

superlarry · Jan 17, 2002, 11:59 PM

don't forget simple electronic automotive accessories!
i popped a blacklite in my PC and cut myself a hole for a plexiglass window, and it's sweet. blacklite: $19.99 at target, wired to the power supply :c)
target and probably other places also have little neon ropelight-type thingies.. at target, they're $19.99 for 6 ft. and i think $39.99 for 15 ft. it all runs on 12V, which is a happy coincidence for your power supply, which puts out both 5V and 12V DC. of course you should make sure it can handle the wattage blah blah.
anyway, my point is that you get these parts cheaper and more easily sometimes if they're not from some manufacturer of rare computer modding parts. ;c) have fun!