Steampunk-y goodness! by Wishimay

Wrong end of country. dagnabbit.

bun
steampunk lover

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Thursday, April 28, 2011 4:26 AM

Lol, a friend of mine is coming to visit that week from the UK, and he said he wanted to see some of the south and visit some cultural faires. I would love to take him to this one, and yet somehow I feel it would go over like, oh damn, it's hard to think of anything that would go over this poorly. Maybe King Jong Il at at a kegger.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Thursday, April 28, 2011 5:11 AM

WISHIMAY

Wait, I'm confused...Did you know ol' Kim Jong is the single largest comsumer WORLDWIDE of Hennessy? As long as it's the right keg, he'd be right at home, lol...

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Thursday, April 28, 2011 9:08 AM

OMG, you're not making it up. Okay. Maybe like Alistair Cook at a disco.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Thursday, April 28, 2011 10:41 AM

WISHIMAY

....And tonight on Masterpiece Theater...We're puttin' on some hot stuff, baby this evening...We're puttin on some hot stuff baby tonight...Gotta have some hot stuff...gotta have some love tonight!!! And since I'm dead, later we'll have Micheal Jackson stop by for a real Thriller review!

Is it soo bad I can actually picture that??

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Thursday, April 28, 2011 4:33 PM

Beir bua agus beannacht

Sounds like fun, my best friend is in our local steampunk group and I know all the folks there. Portland is having GearCon on July 22 through 24 this summer, for anyone close enough who wants to go to a steampunk oriented con, plus there's SteamCon in Seattle towards the end of the year, Oct. or Nov.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Thursday, April 28, 2011 6:07 PM

Yes, it's a little worrisome ;) Motivating my stiff upper lip friend to steampunk though, depends. Maybe easier than Burning Man?

Seattle a bit far for me.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Friday, April 29, 2011 2:01 PM

Beir bua agus beannacht

Why do people compare Steampunk to Burning Man, you're not the first person who has mentioned them in the same breath, why? I don't think they're that similar.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Friday, April 29, 2011 2:57 PM

Riona,

They're not and yet they are. I mean, it's a total divorcing oneself from the current world culture in which we live in favor of a complete fantasy. I guess Burning Man is also sci-fi, and so it's closer to Steampunk than to a Renfaire, but it's the same idea.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Friday, April 29, 2011 4:05 PM

I never think of B. Man and steampunk together.
To familiarize your friend, use the s/punk epi. of Castle, some of the great punk/maker websites, some of the props (Farnsworth, keyboard, etc.) from Warehouse 13.
Maybe on a Venn diagram (you know, the circle-y one) you'd include steampunk as a subset of B. Man 'cos you could punk yourself out and go to B. Man, but you wouldn't go to a steampunk gathering looking like 95% of what you'd find at B. Man.

bun
can't bear to look at lovely punk-y keyboards without drooling...

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Friday, April 29, 2011 6:07 PM

WISHIMAY

Went to Michael's craft store tonight, the spring line of jewelry was steampunk!
...they called it "industrial chic"

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Friday, April 29, 2011 11:55 PM

Steampunk kb pricey.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Steampunk-Victorian-Styled-Typewriter-Keyboard-/25
0802447931

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mullingitover/3899247687/

not about to cannibalize my 1923 woodstock to make one though.

I have one as an app to replace the android kb. I'm writing another one, 'cause i want a stenotyper.

Clockwork Laptop

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Sunday, May 1, 2011 8:04 AM

The top pic reminds me of stuff my Dad used to put together on long, snowy nights back east. Wish I had a couple of those models.

The first keyboard is so beautiful. I found it quite a while back, read the entire how-to, looked at my still-functioning typewriters, and promised them I wouldn't ruin them. Have to find parts in trash, or just pretend.

I covet the clockwork laptop.

Problem is, any time something gets to be fashionable, it raises prices on bits and pieces, salvage, etc.

bun
holding breath

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Sunday, May 1, 2011 6:44 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by FLORALBUNNY:
The top pic reminds me of stuff my Dad used to put together on long, snowy nights back east. Wish I had a couple of those models.

The first keyboard is so beautiful. I found it quite a while back, read the entire how-to, looked at my still-functioning typewriters, and promised them I wouldn't ruin them. Have to find parts in trash, or just pretend.

I covet the clockwork laptop.

Problem is, any time something gets to be fashionable, it raises prices on bits and pieces, salvage, etc.

bun
holding breath

Bun,

DIY.

The trick is to find the right keyboard. You can get a set of keys pre-stripped from some ebay cannibal (I have a bookstore, and you can perhaps sense the the cringe factor when I see someone selling illustrations from a book as "prints" A few in particular come to mind, like when someone, who I see is still doing it, cannibalizes Lucy Dawson's dog books for the pictures, and sells them independently on ebay.) That said, old typewriters have been known to die, or be cannibalized for whatever reason, and you can get a set of keys reasonably on ebay.

The next trick is finding a decent Keyboard to transform. I'm sure there are forums on this. The older IBM keyboards had an actual mechanism where there was a stick coming up which you could glue caps onto, very carefully, with gorilla glue or something, (not superglue) Epoxy perhaps.

I think the above KB is based off of this

This link gives a lot of details, and the important distinction between something like the Model M and its cheap knockoff, which would be useless for this purpose.
http://sribalajimuthukumar.blogspot.com/2009/06/inside-worlds-greatest
-keyboard.html

Not saying you need to use a Model M as a base, but you need something of its caliber, and that almost always means something of its age, which is going to mean 1980s almost fer sher. Ergo, Next thing you need is a PS/2 6 pin DIN F to 5 Pin DIN M Keyboard Adapter, and then you will need a standard PS2 to USB adapter.

The typical 80s coil phone cord connector is probably appropriate, but up to you.

Here's a steampunked Model M:

http://www.gizmowatch.com/entry/steampunk-keyboard-an-ibm-keyboard-mod/

You could use any sort of venir, for me the black steel base of the Model M's own curved board would work fine if polished up.

After you have the basics, you can go with whatever kind of flare you want.

An alternative to the phonecord to a computer, you could make a whole machine out of it. You could run the whole thing to a machine under the base of the keyboard (buy a netbook with a broken screen off ebay pretty cheap,) disassemble the base, and run the KB into the computer, and run the video out to a Pico projector, and build it all into the underside base of the keyboard. That way you flick on the projector and broadcast your display to a wall, or, if you want to get really freaky with it, have an arm that comes up, like a lamp, that projects the display to the table. You can get a pico that will give you 1280x800, but you need a quality one to get real readable text.

Can't find anyone doing this one yet, but here's robot pico overkill
http://hacknmod.com/hack/augmented-reality-robotic-lamp-for-your-deskt
op/

I think a foldout arm that can twist and turn with an embedded pico would be pretty cool.

I'm surprised I didn't post this one earlier:

My own choice though would be to go with a kb, and probably build a trackball into it, a decent one like a Kensington Expert Mouse:

(I can't believe no one has steampunked this yet. This is the mouse I use, it's awesome. Best scrollwheel ever, also.)

I'm gnawing this all-in-the-keyboard idea with the pico projector in a robot arm, it has a certain appeal to me, no visible modern computer parts.

That said, this is pretty awesome:

ETA: Part of the key is quality components. No point in having something that looks cool but is not at the same time awesome in how it works. Back to the basics though, the key is your underlying keyboard base has to have a solid mechanical built or it's not going to work. Most modern keyboards use some sort of plastic touch sensitive rubber bubble structure that will never tolerate these kinds of mods. The conversions from AT to PS2 to USB are going to be easy compared to the nightmare of trying to keep your new USB rubber-soul kb from dying during surgery.

Oh, and you have to test a lot and carefully on the non-essential keys. careful with the glue.
That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Sunday, May 1, 2011 7:36 PM

Beir bua agus beannacht

Apparently I don't know much about Burning Man, I always had the impression that it was a hippie type event, do drugs and run around naked, hang out in the desert, buy cool stuff, whatever. I know that there is some overlap between the nerdy sette and the hippie sette, Fairyworlds in Eugene seems to be where the two meet, but I guess I didn't know that Burning Man had a scifi/nerdy element to it that much. We learn something new every day.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Sunday, May 1, 2011 8:16 PM

Yep about the original kbs: makers want the old-style "clicky" kb to work with.

That next kb I hadn't seen before. Purty.

That mouse is purty, too. In the pic it looks rather industrial as-is.

The big rig at the end: are those black morning glory speakers on either side???

You have some great ideas. We're here for moral support if little else should you make a stab at putting one together.

But not my adored typewriters. Out from under my cold, dead hands...

bun

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Monday, May 2, 2011 1:39 AM

The aftermath of cannibalism:

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-ANTIQUE-ROYAL-SMITH-CORONA-TYPEWRITER-NO-K
EYS-/180606489006

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Monday, May 2, 2011 1:58 AM

Riona,

I always had the impression that the goal of Burning Man was to be the world of Mad Max.

Have you been to Faerieworlds?

Bun,

Thanks.

I suspect they're not original morning glories but that's the idea. It's hard to make any suggestions to an effort that impressive but my first thought was "rolltop" and they I thought "remember the flat-top secretaries? The LCD fold out could do that"

I support you're right about the mouse. Another thing, you could set the buttons and frame under a thin sheet with buttons which click down.

It's another concept also for the KB, especially if it's a laptop: If you get keys with stems still attached this would be pretty easy: Take a piece of venir, or sheet steel, and poke holes, getting the key pitch and stagger right, and then make an assembly like this

o o o
--|---|---|--

and put springs around the stems, and something flat on the bottom, and you'd have a steampunk keyboard overlay that you could put over a normal keyboard. The point here is any laptop that you take apart, the keyboard is going to be a rubber contact sheet underneath and not mechanical.

I like my idea of the computer with projection screen though. Then of course you need your steampunk OS. ;)

I wonder if I can get the arts and crafts crowd interested. Some of the keys would need substitutes, like return, which on my typewriter is a lever, that could be rigged though. Also, the "1" key. Some other tricks.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Monday, May 2, 2011 6:00 AM

O God, that poor typewriter. You just know where the keys went.
The story of all the work-arounds on that first kb were in an article I found online. The saved URL is, unfortunately, on a fried thumb drive. Only other place I can think to look for it besides a full Google is outgoing mail still on my server because I'm pretty sure I sent it to my bro. Can look...

ETA I think the big rig is a little over the top, though I like the morning glories. I tend to like to leave off the non-functional, as there is plenty of functional which can be styled.

bun

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Monday, May 2, 2011 9:08 AM

The non-functional parts needn't be as non-functional as they might appear. Brass rails and typewriter platens could hold batteries. I just put a wireless router in a birdhouse. If it looks good, innovate a use for it.

There are a lot of lots of keys for sale on ebay. I suppose this is a better use for them then bracelets spelling out LOVE.

I just thought of an alternative though: The key pitch on a typical computer keyboard is 19.05 millimeters which is also known as 3/4 inches, the same as that on an old typewriter. The stagger is also the same one *most* computer keyboards: Q A 2 Z with 1/4" stagger in each case, and 1/4" more brings you back to W.

If you modified a typewriter by adding little posts to the bottom of each arm, you could put a deconstructed keyboard like the above under the tray.

1923 Woodstock identical to my own

Tragic fate of another
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&hash
=item43a697664a&item=290557748810

Anyway, if you're really clever, you could make it so a slight touch on the key would register the click and have the posts spring loaded so you could still type on it, but the easier solution would be to have the IBM KB tray removable.

Better picture of a Woodstock 1916, I can't tell the difference, aside from that the date is stamped on the back.

The tray would extent to the right, with arrow keys and would have to be converted into an adding machine of some sort

Another possibility would be a smaller keyboard. I suppose if it's going to be pegged by keys typing, then it doesn't matter, as long as the digital era plastics don't show. (lot of ways to do this, the simplest is a thin piece of wooden venir with holes drilled in it.)

That brings up an interesting question: What is the smallest 3/4" pitch keyboard?

I care for the caligraph II also:
http://www.machinesoflovinggrace.com/others.htm

Another nice adding machine

Something like this would probably fit
http://cgi.ebay.com/iGo-Stowaway-Bluetooth-Ultra-Slim-Keyboard-XTBT01-
/140541515145

The key is not having too many keys, and having full 19.05/19mm/¾" keys (Damn, now I want a key mapped to ¾) <- does that char show up for you?

Speaking of things that already look steampunk in their native form, I see thanko is making a USB knockoff of the infamous Targus Stowaway (I wonder if the original is available for bluetooth. That would rule.)

http://www.techfresh.net/foldable-mini-usb-keyboard-from-thanko/

All of this is giving me an idea: tricked out typewriter steampunk computer. You couldn't sell it online, but I'll be you could at a convention.

I'm thinking a pico projector embedded in the unit somewhere. As for what to make the CPU... It could be a simple machine, or no machine, just dock your cell phone. What do you think?

Here's something that has been gnawing at me. The average cell phone texter communicates at 15wpm. That's 8 times slower than a 19th c. professional typist, and about 12 times slower than stenotype from the same era. Information technology should make us more efficient, no?

Anyway, the price on that ebay auction in the above link definitely caught my eye (ebay takes items out of complete search way too early!)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&item
=250802447931

ETA: Here's a thought: The open sides on my woodstock, I could make little wooden or brass insets that fold open to reveal little velvet padded docks, one for the phone, and one for the pico. Then for the keyboard, take a bluetooth keyboard, put in a wooden box, drill holes in the top, and make little Y-shaped pegs so when you press down on the typewriter keys, they press the bluetooth keys.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Monday, May 2, 2011 9:40 AM

I see wired also found clockwork laptop

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mods/multimedia/2007/06/gallery_steampunk

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Monday, May 2, 2011 2:31 PM

Beir bua agus beannacht

I plan to go for the day this summer if I can, I have a couple options for getting there that I'm working on for Mary and I. I've never been, she camped there with some friends two years back but she didn't fancy that, too much drugs and weird stuff, but she does like going for the day and I want to as well.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Monday, May 2, 2011 4:10 PM

Riona

I'd love to go, but I'm a bit tied down what with everything going on.

Bun

Ethical solution:

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/$(KGrHqF,!k8E2D)trdZ(BNl2ed2FOw~~0_1.JPG

I know on my Woodstock, the key lids I think are formica rather than glass, but underneath is just paper. This also answers the question of how to deal with the character issues, some characters move, and some things like "control" etc.

There is just something about the typing feel of a typewriter, it's the weighted keys, it's like the difference between a piano and a casio.

The other thing I was gnawing over is the form vs. function issue. What are your thoughts on this?

I've been gnawing over the idea "Think steam, don't just look the part." Not specifically steam, but the mechanical era. Ironically, everything is now going solid state (this machine has a mechanical hard drive made of lots of little moving parts, but I know that's a data integrity liability)

But other things have had me thinking this way. I've been thinking of designing my own boat, and I'm thinking that I should start with a remote control boat first, because on a small lake, you could design a sailing ship for the 1":1' scale and the waves would be like the ocean. I would need to be able to move the wheel, the boom(s) and raise and lower the sales, and possibly move the ballast. (I'm gnawing over a number of options here, but that's where the design come in. I want everything to essentially have no power, or be self-correcting... Remember the self winding watch? Probably one of the last purely mechanical inventions before the digital age.) Anyway, the purely mechanical self-correcting ballast would be awesome. I know it's not steam ;) but I can't build my own airship.

Too bad. I have such an awesome design for an airship.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Tuesday, May 3, 2011 1:45 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

These are awesome!

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Tuesday, May 3, 2011 6:30 AM

Heee! I have an old miniature Lane cedar chest just like the one at the bottom of that e-bay page. Not selling.

"von Slatt" = genius.

I've debated the form-function thing in contexts varying from art/architectural history to banking (yes, banking) and like to introduce the idea that form contributes to function in many contexts. Binary thinking is limiting.

That folding keyboard is adorable.

Wonder if the "ethical solution" looks/feels more authentic than von Slatt's brass-edged buttons. Less work, for sure.

bun

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Tuesday, May 3, 2011 1:48 PM

The old rule was "form follows function" and in the 19th c. they always seemed to come out with something awesome looking. I guess there was an element of time after the function was running to work on the form. Now it seems fashion design has led form to lead, and function to be constrained by it.

Didn't get the box. Link? (Ebay autofills its pages, so what you see isn't what I see, unless I'm being stupid and missing something obvious.)

I'll try the keys, see how it works out. I still like my typewriter with fold out projector idea, something like this only more accordion

I want to get a targus stowaway in bluetooth. It always reminded me of the coathanger from raiders of the lost ark.

Banking? I have a 1920s banker's lamp. It's really cool. I got it on ebay for $8. Auction title was something like "Old lamp, broken." Only flaw was it was missing a hinge pin, so I fix it. It's pretty cool. A lot like this one
http://www.icollector.com/Vintage-Green-Glass-Bankers-Lamp_i10002188
not a reproduction, not that there's anything wrong with that. (I have some reproductions, they're nice lamps. I have a nice one with a stained glass butterfly...)

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Wednesday, May 4, 2011 9:18 AM

Steampunk girls (lame excuse to bump this thread)

Pictures of girls

http://www.robotvsbadger.com/images/steampunk-girls/

http://www.robotvsbadger.com/images/steampunk-girls-2-fashion-photogra
phy/

http://www.robotvsbadger.com/images/steampunk-girls-2/

http://www.robotvsbadger.com/images/steampunk-girls-4/

Gadgets

I see someone has beat me to the typewriter as keyboard:
http://eclecticephemera.blogspot.com/2010/10/why-typewriters-beat-comp
uters.html
I wouldn't go to the full type, I find that the full hammer slows me down, I'd have the letters register on a light touch

More on Jake's LCD
http://www.gizmowatch.com/entry/go-retro-jakes-amazing-steampunk-flat-
panel-lcd-mod/

http://www.instructables.com/id/steampunk-keyboard/

Okay, there has to be an easier way. I know how these typewriter keyboard keys were made originally, it's not that hard. You need just some brass or steel rings 9/16" or 5/8" (1/2" min, not 3/4" because the whole keypitch is 3/4" and that would leave no space in between keys)

Anyway, then the glass disk was put under the lip, the label under that and then the whole thing was glued or welded to the post, or just crimped on.

I like the slider here, it has function, height adjustable.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Cheap-and-Easy-to-make-Steampunk-Keybo
ard/

lots of nifty keyboards
http://datamancer.net/keyboards/keyboards.htm

http://www.instructables.com/id/Miss-Betsys-Steampunk-Keyboard/

I see Jake did kill a typewriter (or bought keys off ebay) to make this. But here are more details
http://steampunkworkshop.com/keyboard.shtml

http://dvice.com/archives/2006/10/handmade_steampunk_laptop_actu.php

The original typewriter factory is just down the road from me. (literally) Maybe they still make parts.

http://www.gizmowatch.com/entry/ibm-keyboard-modded-steampunk-for-an-a
ntediluvian-keyboard/

The friction lid support is readily available cheap, it was the adjustable, the one there is Ives, it's brass-toned steel.

Here's an interesting alternative for the more industrial less shiny piece

http://s7.cdn.hardwareandtools.net/is/image/HardwareandTools/038613208
674?wid=200&hei=200

Facebook is really starting to scare me. Every page on the internet is linked to facebook, and many ask you to sign in to your facebook. A site, which, as far as I can tell, provides no service, and leeches off of its members like a vampire. Christina Hendricks called it the most evil site on the web (using google's definition of evil.) I think she's right.

http://www.unplggd.com/unplggd/diy-project/diy-project-make-your-own-g
reat-steampunk-keyboard-068793

This is beautiful

I just have one question...

If you've gone this far and you *haven't* remapped the Windows Key to something more useful that its default Ctrl-Esc?

I suppose if you're making it to sell, it makes sense.

http://technabob.com/blog/2008/05/15/steampunk-computer-accessories/

Not sure what I'm looking at:

Clay duck and cast iron dog, I guess.

A whole host of them
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cauldroncraftminis/4646628982/in/photostr
eam/

I guess all those pencil sharpeners could come in handy...

Someone made the Underwood computer
http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/underwood/
(Had a better site for this one but I lost it)
This raises a new form-function issue, which is fluid form.

those of you who have an old turn of the century mechanical typewriter (admit it, you're reading this thread, ergo, you have one.) Sit down and start typing lightly, pressing the way you would on computer keys, not to actually type. Feel the weight of the keys pressing back? There's a fluid form to the motion. I think this is a common element of the mechanical era. Everything is mechanically balanced and fitted.

If I'm going to have an actual typewriter as a computer weighing some 40 lbs, I would would like to keep that, and not sacrifice portability for nothing.

Still, looks nice. But also, I think you can use the machine and make a computer out of it without sacrificing its ability as a typewriter.

Also, to what degree does the "punk" enter into it?

My recollections of steampunk was that it was always filled with things which looked ordinary (Okay, I grew up in this century, because we're way behind the times. As a kid, I didn't have a flashlight, I had a hand held gas lantern and we all had silver candle-holders.) So to me, the stuff in steampunk often looked normal, 19th c. wise, but had sci-fi fuctions to it, so you twist something and then there's a nifty trick, which makes it steampunk instead of err., I guess "period." (This would make me feel old if it didn't make me feel a century or two old.)

Like, also, I might want something that looked like it belonged in jules verne more than I would just a mouse with gears for buttons.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Wednesday, May 4, 2011 6:28 PM