I’ve been thinking about this on and off over the years; adjacent to but not the same as storing favorites in a curio or display cabinet, I’m kind of interested in the idea of keyboards as display pieces in their own right.
This is a pretty modest and casual example, but I think it gets the point across. I thought the dark blue of the keys with the lavender of the case looked like blueberries, so I adorned it with a couple blueberry dessert stickers I already happened to have.
There are a few boards in my collection that have settled-into this role, either because they are so old I can’t connect them to anything, don’t work well (or at all) but still look cool, or something like that. There’s one I’m still working on that is more or less intended for display that I’ll post later when it’s done, but this keyboard here is a pretty good example of what I’m talking about.
The Build
Case: Buger Work BBOX60
PCB: CannonKeys AN-Cv2
Plateless
Gateron Melodic leaf-clickies
Cerakeys Indigo V2 ceramic keycaps
Designer Studio Adaptive stabilizers
UPKB Spacers on the stabs to prevent teeter
This is a completely functional keyboard that even has some nice parts, but ultimately I think it’s more fun to look at than it is to use - and so it’s earned a spot atop my stereo speaker.
I have several on different stands in my office. A few Norbauer space docks and a few 3d printed ones from my brother in law. Also I own a Buger one for the Tianwen themed set. But nothing in the main living space. I thought about making something like a large format mixed media artwork with old unused caps, switches and stabilizer parts. Never did that tho
I have a few shelves I’ll display some of my keebs on in my hobby room, although I have often thought of making a permanent display. I really like the stand you got that on too, pretty cool ideal of having a switch cutout in the display stand! Did you make that on your own or did that come with those BBox60 cases?
First of all - along with the keyboard and other art - love the wall phone!
I keep my board stuff out of the way and covered to try to ward off dust and sun damage, but that’s kind of boring, and I can’t take them with me when I die so, I’ve been thinking about how to get them out on display. I love the idea of keyboard sculptures. I can think of a couple great places where a keyboard or two would be a display piece separate from a keyboard display area…this is inspiring!
Slightly older pic that doesn’t have the new shoe rack I’m using to store more (non-lit) keebs. Much like @Extra_Fox I’ve determined that I have to keep most of them on display to keep from it becoming Too Pathological. Also a nice reminder when I’m feeling down on myself to look at them and remember I can, in fact, build things. Even if they’re not always the most useful
LOL, I narrowly escaped that one, mostly by realizing just what an insane improvement your average $10 COB 18650 “zoomer” light is over even the expensive incandescent MagLights and Army lights I grew up with as a kid in scouts, etc. “UI” and “Chromatic Aberration” just didn’t hit me as major issues, I guess. I did do more research to come to this conclusion than was strictly necessary, however.
I’ve never been big on RGB with my boards, but I really love your setup with the board shining! Might have to display some of my boards that have RGB in a similar fashion just so the LEDs actually get used!
I’m so glad I’m not the only one with a bunch of keyboards just scattered around my room. Everything’s one big mess but it’s nearly all keyboard related lol
“Why would anyone want/need that many flashlights?” – My Brain (unironically as I’m surrounded by keyboards and keyboard-related accessories and hanging out on a keyboard forum)
The fun part is that they’re all hooked up to one host (RPi 5), and I managed to hit various USB/power limits along the way. I think I managed to get 30 in that picture?
The voltage sag is ridiculous. VBus at keyboard side drops to ~3V with all of them on (instead of the near 5V it’s supposed to be). What’s amazing to me is that most boards actually do fine with only 3V, still lighting up and sending keycodes. Only the CTRL has issues with lighting up (but otherwise works fine).
Each side pulls about 2.5A (just for the keyboards/hubs, not including the Pi), near the limit for the power supplies, but I think most of the voltage sag is due to cabling. I tried higher spec power supplies that let me adjust the voltage set point higher, but that didn’t seem to help. So I just sorta let it sag and try not to think too hard about the pretty lights.
I still have 2 of 4 ports on the RPi open, so in theory I could add more…
