quick keyboard mod... (pics)

N

NickTheNut

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jan 18, 2001
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Hey guys, I figure sense I'm not done w/ this project it would best go here. It's not much of a mod, so don't get your hopes up :rolleyes:

A while back I received the keyboard from a compaq presario. It had a bunch of buttons up top to do so many different tasks that I didn't need, but the keyboard itself felt good and typed well. Only three buttons I used, volume up - down and mute.

So I decided to break out the bondo and get rid of the buttons! :)

Here's a before pic:
before.jpg


So far I've applied two coats of bondo. I forgot to take a picture after sanding the first layer smooth. But it looked GREAT. Only I had screwed up and there were quite a few spots that needed work. So i Applied a much thicker coat. THEN i took a picture. So it looks rather... ugly at the moment.

But here's how it is now:
during-01.jpg


After sanding down this coat it will probably only need one more very very light coat, i think. This is my first time working with bondo, so I'm still learning :)

After that is done I need to paint it, but I have a question about that. Does vinyl dye adhere to bondo in the same way that it adheres to plastic? Will there be a noticable difference between the two materials?

Thanks everyone, and while there's not much to look at, I hope you enjoyed it :)
 
I just sanded down the last coat of bondo, and it was near "perfect"! I had three spots that needed work, so I just put a thin layer over those spots. I took pictures before that though. So here's one of them.

during-02.jpg
 
sandman78 said:
Are you going to paint the keys also? No more compaq logo:D
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nope. I thought about it but decided against it. That compaq logo was the first thing I sanded away :)

I'm only going to paint the keyboard white. Yes i know - boring. But oh well. :)
 
if the paint sticks to the bondo the only difference you will notice is were you have sanded away the "texture" of the plastic
 
wouldnt it be better to pop all those keys out before painting. I mean now you are going to have lines from where the tape was. But that is just my opinion

JEEVES
 
I have that keyboard too! only thing that still works besides my monitor that came with the computer... -_-
 
I have to agree with Jeeves, why don't you just pop out the keys and then paint it?
 
I didn't take the keys off because they have two tiny clips that would need to be pushed in, inorder to remove one key. I'm painting the shell white, so the paint getting on the keys a bit is not a concern. Plus I wouldn't want to go through the painstaking process of taking the keys out, when I'm painting everything white anyways.

I've already put two coats of paint on it (vinyl dye), and am not liking the outcome :( Bondo is a tricky substance, and I didn't notice how non-flat my job was until the paint went on there. It brought out a few dimples. The purple from the center piece and then also the color of the bondo is causing me grief as well. Hopefully this second coat I just put on will help with it. I'm afraid of putting to many coats on, then it'll get that tacky feeling that I hate. :(
 
it can be a pain in the ass to pop the keys off, if your just doing white, you can just cover over the keys and paint, or you can just cover over the top of the keys and paint, but either way,, i wish i had the picks (i wish they keybaord worked right now but i got 3 years out of it), its all black exept the top of the keys but i did each key one at a time, the trhift store near me stoped carying their $2 Dell quietkey keyboards, (ok keyboards, and for $2 they just beg to be modded)

looks good, good luck
 
um From what I have been told vinal dye will not work on bondo the way it will on plastic. That could be your problem with the bondo showing through. And as for the stickyness that will be there until the paint is fully dry, meaning a few days. Just give it time and it will all settle and hold.

JEEVES
 
JEEVES/whohasmyname? said:
um From what I have been told vinal dye will not work on bondo the way it will on plastic. That could be your problem with the bondo showing through. And as for the stickyness that will be there until the paint is fully dry, meaning a few days. Just give it time and it will all settle and hold.

JEEVES
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The paint appears to be working okay w/ the bondo now. The 2nd coat helped with it a lot. It's also not near as tacky, in fact it's almost completely not tacky now. So i'm happy for that.

Only there are a few spots where the paint did wierd things, it looks like it cracked or pealed or something. I'm going to try and wetsand them out, same w/ the dimples that formed in the bondo.
 
will do soon :)

I put a third coat on about 45 minutes ago, and unless the problems from before are extremely obvious, or the purple from the center piece shows through again, I'm calling it done.

This was more of a learning excersize for me than anything else, and I'm happy with it all thus far :)
 
Alright, i'm done! I liked the process, I'm glad how things went. But I do not like the final outcome of my project :( The bondo is not really smooth like it should, you can still see the spots where the buttons were, especially around the purple center piece. The center piece can also still faintly be seen. The paint was also very cheap or something, because it didn't stick like I think it should. When I was removing all the tape some of the paint also came with it! :eek: There's also some trouble around the volume butons edge. It got chopped up a bit from my own negligence. My paint job was definitely not all that great, the more I look at it the more displeased I am with it. :(

I think i'm going to try and find another keyboard like this one, and do it all over again. Possibly.

So here is the final outcome.
after-01.jpg


Even though I'm not exactly happy with the final outcome of this, I'm glad I did it. It was a great learning experience, and I feel I can do better now. This was my first "real" mod beyond changing LED's and the like.

edit: I'm also not happy with the keys. some paint got on the tops, and other issues like that. ARG!
 
In the photo it doesn't look all that bad. Sorry you aren't happy with it. It shouldn't be real difficult to locate another keyboard like that one, and give er' another try:) . At least you got the experience.:D
 
sandman78 said:
In the photo it doesn't look all that bad. Sorry you aren't happy with it. It shouldn't be real difficult to locate another keyboard like that one, and give er' another try:) . At least you got the experience.:D
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the photo hides a lot of the bad details about it. :(

I am changing my thoughts on the keyboard now though, it's starting to look more appealing to me.

Hah i'm so indecisive!
 
if you do it again, you may want to take all the keys off and do a skin coat of bondo on the whole keyboard and sand it down so its all nice and smooth and use real paint on it...get a nice glossy finish on the keybd. hell if I didn't have this expensive cordless logitech keyboard I'd probably do it myself. Looks good for a first time bondo usage. the tip I've found with bondo...you will need more coats than you think you need...every time.

is it just me or does that big open area just beg for something to be put there? maybe a 2x40 LCD or some kind of graphic or something?

keep up the good work
 
I Did a similar project...

Picture283716.jpg

Picture284.jpg

Picture285.jpg

Picture286.jpg

Picture287.jpg

Picture288.jpg

Picture289.jpg

Picture290.jpg

Picture291.jpg


sorry for the big pictures
 
siege said:
if you do it again, you may want to take all the keys off and do a skin coat of bondo on the whole keyboard and sand it down so its all nice and smooth and use real paint on it...get a nice glossy finish on the keybd. hell if I didn't have this expensive cordless logitech keyboard I'd probably do it myself. Looks good for a first time bondo usage. the tip I've found with bondo...you will need more coats than you think you need...every time.

is it just me or does that big open area just beg for something to be put there? maybe a 2x40 LCD or some kind of graphic or something?

keep up the good work
Click to expand...

Good idea siege, though it's such a pain in the ass to take the keys off, the end product isn't "worth" it to me. I'd rather start w/ a better keyboard in the first place ya know? I'm thinking of doing the same with the new MS multimedia keyboards out there, only i'd leave more controls.

I'd consider putting an LCD there, but again: the final outcome wouldn't be worth it to me. Plus there is some electronics behind it that I don't want to mess with :)

DRJ1014: what's going on in your pictures? I can't tell from the gloss of the paint.
 
NickTheNut said:
DRJ1014: what's going on in your pictures? I can't tell from the gloss of the paint.
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it was white then i painted it black. kept the keys the same.

the pictures where u cant see anykeys is tape.
 
I would paint the keyboard all black except the "tops" of the keys. give them a floating effect.
 
NickTheNut said:
The bondo is not really smooth like it should, you can still see the spots where the buttons were, especially around the purple center piece. The center piece can also still faintly be seen. The paint was also very cheap or something, because it didn't stick like I think it should. When I was removing all the tape some of the paint also came with it! :eek:

edit: I'm also not happy with the keys. some paint got on the tops, and other issues like that. ARG!
Click to expand...


For bondo to be really smooth i find it best if you use glazing putty, its made to fill all the little dents and divits in bondo..

The painting, did you put a coat or two of primer before you painted it, did you clean the surface at all?

and yes, remove the keys before you paint... would have gotten rid of the paint on the tops of em..

but besides all the problems you had, i think it looks good
 
3N1GM4 said:
For bondo to be really smooth i find it best if you use glazing putty, its made to fill all the little dents and divits in bondo..
Click to expand...

I'll have to use that next time. Thanks.

The painting, did you put a coat or two of primer before you painted it, did you clean the surface at all?
Click to expand...

I used vinyl dye, so i'm under the assumption I didn't have to primer it. But yes, I did clean it with rubbing alchohol and then very lightly sanded what I could.

and yes, remove the keys before you paint... would have gotten rid of the paint on the tops of em..
Click to expand...

Already said I couldn't remove the keys, I would have spent hours doing it, and most likely ended up breaking the clips on them as well. I wasn't about to venture down that road.

but besides all the problems you had, i think it looks good
Click to expand...

thanks :)
 
it looks bald...

there you did the bondo have someone or you do a nice paint job like AMD or INTEL or just get a sticker and put it across there. it would look a lot better
 
DRJ1014 said:
it looks bald...

there you did the bondo have someone or you do a nice paint job like AMD or INTEL or just get a sticker and put it across there. it would look a lot better
Click to expand...

I agree. I was thinking of masking off a tribal pattern and painting it on there. But i don't know. Soon this keyboard will be either a) retired or b) put into my LAN bag, along with my other needed LAN equipment.
 
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