DIY rollable keyboard exudes simplicity

Make no mistake, there are plenty of outfits out there looking to snap up your loose change in exchange for a pre-built rollup keyboard, but if you just can't stand that 'board that came bundled in with your last pre-fab PC, we think there's a better alternative. Apparently, all you have to do is remove the inner membrane from an unwanted set of keys, make sure the control board is accurately reassembled onto said membrane and cut out letters in the font of your choosing to keep you on track when your touch typing skills begin to fade. That's it -- an über-painless, amazingly easy and absolutely inelegant method of crafting your own rollable keyboard. Hit up the read link for all, oh, five steps.

[Via MAKE]

[MEAT! @ Jan 26th 2008 6:17PM]

I did the same thing to a very old keyboard that had a membrane like that. My experience:

* It couldn't roll-up because (as you can see in that picture) there is a relatively heavy circuit board attached, and you have to constantly worry about tearing the thin plastic.

* The lack of tactile feedback causes you to constantly look down and miss keys; try this: drum your fingertips against the desk at about 50WPM. It gets old quick, yeah?

In the end, I just had a very broken keyboard.

[Liam @ Jan 26th 2008 6:29PM]

Some good points there, MEAT!

[morcheeba @ Jan 26th 2008 6:32PM]

I just glue a set of keycaps to my fingers... I mean, why carry around 101 keycaps, when you only use a few at a time.

[phrozunsun @ Jan 26th 2008 6:22PM]

*cough* stolen from hack-a-day *cough*

[Phrogg @ Jan 26th 2008 7:29PM]

How could it be "stolen" from Hack-a-day when neither party is the originator of the content? In fact, if the OP has stolen it at all, it's not from Hack-a-day, but from MAKEzine (see that link at the bottom?). And even MAKE links it to the same Instructables article that Hack-a-day links to.
Nobody stole anything, they all link back to the originator without claiming personal credit. So chill.

[Seoultrain @ Jan 26th 2008 7:46PM]

it's comments like this that lead to the race by websites to publish stuff first, and in their haste, post erroneous information.

[phrozunsun @ Jan 26th 2008 8:26PM]

this is the second time in like a week, is all. maybe a co-incedence, but a strange one.

[DarkLightConnection @ Jan 27th 2008 1:17AM]

I read Hack-a-Day daily, and engadget posts news from there quite often... it's not stealing, they're just helping the news reach farther in the net :-)

[Wwhat @ Jan 27th 2008 5:34AM]

engadget just collects stuff from all over, and as is said they always link, even the via "from a through b via c'
I thought it was understood that was what engadget is, a collection of bits from around the web.

[jbspeyer @ Jan 26th 2008 6:31PM]

Looks like one of those messages that a serial killer would leave. "I have stolen your real keyboard and left you this one!" HAHA

[MEAT! @ Jan 26th 2008 7:18PM]

"We HaVe OpTiMUS MaXiMuS. GaTher $1,500 iN un-mArkeD nOn-ConseCuTivE 20's. No FunNy StuFf. -ArT"

[mr.me! @ Jan 26th 2008 6:46PM]

I did this in college last year, but we stuck it to an old monitor and made a very poor quality touchscreen-well you could still see the screen, mostly :D

[tiuk @ Jan 26th 2008 6:49PM]

Can't believe how this is making the rounds in the past week. It showed up on instructables, hack-a-day, make, and now engadget. And those are just the feeds that I happen to subscribe to.

[Backlin @ Jan 26th 2008 7:55PM]

Slow news period.

[Joe_Templeman @ Jan 26th 2008 9:00PM]

and lifehacker!

[Richard @ Jan 26th 2008 6:50PM]

Should add the following tag to the image, I IZ GHETO GEEK

[HappyStretchedThin @ Jan 26th 2008 7:07PM]

Straight shooting headline, but could have been more fun: "Roll Your Own Keyboard Only Needs Glue"

[Joe @ Jan 26th 2008 7:11PM]

It's for people who like their keyboard, but wished it sucked.

[Anonymous @ Jan 26th 2008 8:01PM]

Maybe it's just me and I'm a moron, but that was damn funny. I lol'd.

The comment section of the articles makes my day.

[Maztec @ Jan 26th 2008 7:17PM]

I could swear I did this back in 1994, give or take a year. It worked ok. The better flexible membranes in some keyboards make it work really well. But, there reaches a point where you just get something else.

As for having keys, I hate them. I wish all of my keyboards were flat and required no actual pressing. You only need slight ridges or bumps on some of the keys to locate yourself consistently. If you are already a good touch typist and you use it for a while [ok a few months, ahk!] you'll get used to it and wonder why you have always had to press keys all the way down.

... the worst are keyboards [like the macbook keyboards] that require you to press keys all the way down before registering. It just takes so much more effort and interferes with my slothdom!

[austin @ Jan 26th 2008 7:21PM]

i love my macbook keyboard. i can type faster on it than i can any other keyboard.

[Maztec @ Jan 26th 2008 7:31PM]

austin, cool :) Actually, it might be a difference between the Macbook and Macbook Pro keyboard? I have a Pro and make more typos on it than any other keyboard I have used in years because I have to constantly press the keys all the way down . . and just am not used to doing that :(

[austin @ Jan 26th 2008 7:47PM]

the MBpro and MB keyboards are completely different. the MBpro's keyboard is like a conventional laptop keyboard, while the MB's keyboard has, flat, skinny keys, similar to scrabble pieces. the keys also have about an eighth of an inch spacing in between them which makes it harder to hit the wrong key.

[Mike Mu @ Jan 26th 2008 8:39PM]

If you want more tactile response, you can just glue the rubber membrane with all those domes on it onto the plastic...

[Steffen Jobbs @ Jan 26th 2008 7:44PM]

That is some pretty pathetic looking keyboard. Why even bother. Especially with those exposed electronics in the upper right corner. I guess if you have nothing else to type with....

[dramamoose @ Jan 26th 2008 8:48PM]

Hmm. It's an interesting idea, to be sure. But I just can't get over the ghetto-ness. (Couldn't see bringing this to a business meeting). Plus, as stated by a previous poster, the circuit board would be a problem. I'd prefer to just shell out some cash and make my own.

[Wwhat @ Jan 27th 2008 5:40AM]

Only Wozniak and Balmer could take that to a meeting, and only the Woz would obviously.

[anonymouse @ Jan 27th 2008 3:20PM]

A friend did this about 10 years ago. But he glued his to a sheet of beveled glass, and handwrote small letters in the appropriate places. It was beautiful, and it worked, too.

[Erick @ Jan 26th 2008 9:41PM]

We got a yahoo keyboard that looks like this. Whats the big deal?

[jeicrash @ Jan 26th 2008 11:10PM]

Seen this years ago on rant-tv, also tried it, does not work to well as the plastic layers shift when rolled up. But its still good for a cheap flex keyboard, or low profile board.

Jei

[Hammond X @ Jan 27th 2008 12:25AM]

im usng ONR rigttttttt now 7& iTt wroks jsut fine. i dndint Eevn gule lteresa on teh PAd!1

[DarkLightConnection @ Jan 27th 2008 1:25AM]

LOL man you just made my night.. your comment deserves being at the top

[Chris B @ Jan 27th 2008 4:04AM]

Brilliant! hahahah

[equity trader @ Jan 27th 2008 12:23PM]

Cool Idea ! Never thought this would work :-)

equity trader
url: http://equitytrade.wordpress.com

[Halex @ Jan 27th 2008 4:32AM]

I can't help but feel that this pwned the R&D of those roll up keyboard makers...

[Richard @ Jan 27th 2008 4:45PM]

New supper thin Apple MacBook Air add on keyboard....

[Unregistered @ Jan 27th 2008 9:35PM]

I saw this on instructables last week and thought it like one of those "why-didnt-i-think-of-that-oh-no-wonder-it-doesnt-work-that-well"