I turned my Apple Pro keyboard logicboard into a USB hub

[poiihy]

My Apple Pro keyboard (the black/graphite one) failed (entire middle row stopped working) and after going through an extreme cleaning under water and lots of soap and brushing and loosing the rubber plungers (it was very dirty), it still didn't work. So I just kept out the logic board and out the rest together and put it away. I kept out the logic board and the metal logic board casing.

I lined the inside of the metal casing with e.tape (electrical tape) and placed the logic board in it, with the protruding components faced inwards.
I attached the rubber block, which holds the cable in place, to the metal eye-ring thing using a thumbtack.
The USB ports, I put the base/ring whatever on the inside rather than the outside where it usually goes, so that it's more secure.
I covered the contacts, which connect to the keyboard circuitry, with e.tape.
Then I wrapped the whole assembly in e.tape.
Now it is a USB hub! It is very useful for me even though it only adds one USB port

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

xD Pretty creative. If you want to be REALLY cheap, you could sell those key caps individually!

 

[poiihy]

xD Pretty creative. If you want to be REALLY cheap, you could sell those key caps individually!

Individually?! xD who the heck buys individual key caps? I was thinking of selling the keycaps but some are warped, mostly the caps lock and space bar. (they warped from heat when I was drying the keys ) Is there a big demand for apple key keycaps and/or other parts of the keyboard?

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Individually?! xD who the heck buys individual key caps? I was thinking of selling the keycaps but some are warped, mostly the caps lock and space bar. (they warped from heat when I was drying the keys ) Is there a big demand for apple key keycaps and/or other parts of the keyboard?

Well, there isn't going to be a large demand for keys from such a common and too-old-to-be-valuable, yet not-old-enough-to-be-collectible, keyboard.

People DO buy key caps for their keyboards if they happen to have a missing one. Try looking on eBay for completed listings. There are about 40 commonly-used keys on that keyboard... it may not be worth the effort, but you could sell each for--say--$1 and earn $40 in revenue.

 

[weckart]

Individually?! xD who the heck buys individual key caps?

I was in the market for one recently, when three keys went awol on one of my Powerbooks. Fortunately, I got a replacement keyboard for the same price as those keycaps individually. You should check eBay sometime. There are plenty of sellers stripping down broken notebooks and selling the salvageable parts right down to individual screws.

 

[bunnspecial]

This is a totally different subject, but there was a time when glass typewriter key caps were bringing HUGE bucks on Ebay as people were making them into jewelery. There was a local antique shop that started chopping the keys off every typewriter that came in, as he couldn't sell them complete in the store and got more money for a set of keys than he did for the complete typewriter on Ebay(plus a complete one cost a ton to ship). I actually bought a couple of really nice Underwoods and Royals from him(that I didn't need) just because I thought they were too nice to trash.

Of course, I don't exactly see Apple keycaps becoming a new jewelry fad

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

This is a totally different subject, but there was a time when glass typewriter key caps were bringing HUGE bucks on Ebay as people were making them into jewelery. There was a local antique shop that started chopping the keys off every typewriter that came in, as he couldn't sell them complete in the store and got more money for a set of keys than he did for the complete typewriter on Ebay(plus a complete one cost a ton to ship). I actually bought a couple of really nice Underwoods and Royals from him(that I didn't need) just because I thought they were too nice to trash.

Of course, I don't exactly see Apple keycaps becoming a new jewelry fad

It sucks when a dumb fad can sacrifice the niceness of a quality piece of machinery. I have some pretty cool typewriters as well. It seems like it would be gut-wrenching to do that to one.

 

[bunnspecial]

It sucks when a dumb fad can sacrifice the niceness of a quality piece of machinery. I have some pretty cool typewriters as well. It seems like it would be gut-wrenching to do that to one.

The shop owner was and remains a good friend of mine who I still visit even though he's closed his shop(he supplied me with Lionel trains for years ).

He and I had a LOT of philosophical disagreements over this kind of stuff. I knew him well enough-and he was outspoken enough-that I never minded to get into it with him over something like this. At least when it came to the typewriters, I did "put my money where my mouth is" and buy a few of the better ones, but I have my limits especially since I don't really even collect typewriters.

At the end of the day, I understood why he did stuff like this because he had to keep the lights on and some stuff just wasn't selling-especially during the recession. He also scrapped a LOT of nice sterling and coin silver flatware during the last silver run-up. I did at least put him in touch with another antique dealer friend who(very literally) wrote the books on Kentucky and Indiana silver, and paid him good(cash) money on the rare occasion that he got something historically significant and/or worth more than the melt value.

Unfortunately, sometimes collectors can be our own worst enemy on stuff like this. Your typical 18 size American gold pocket watch runs has 1 1/2 to 2 oz. of 14K or 18K. Back when gold was $1800+ an ounce, even a lightweight 14K watch was $1500 and a big box hinge 18K case might have been $3500. Collectors just didn't have the inclination(or in many cases the money) to buy low or mid grade watches in worn cases for that kind of money. I was called(by my silver friend I mentioned above) to look at a set of 4 watches that had come from a local family estate. They were all mid grade watches, but were in nice 18K cases and had about 5 generations of family history engraved on the inside of the case backs in the form of gift presentation(i.e. given to so and so on such and such date). The oldest watch dated to the 1870s(and had actually been updated and given as a gift again in the early 1900s) and the newest dated to the 1930s. I would have loved to have them all, and could have bought them for under melt, but it would have still been $5K that I didn't have. Fortunately, I think my friend bought them and saved them.

Such is life, especially as a collector. A LOT of watches, low grade gold coins and silver coins, and outdated jewelry have hit the melting pot in the last few years. I've even been guilty of sending some there myself, although I only ever did it if a piece was damaged and unrepairable(a low grade 14K gold watch with $1300 worth in it is a really tough sell when the front cover is split open).