Today we are going to start planning and designing our custom keyboard and mouse mods. In this project we will be transforming regular run of the mill keyboards and mice into customized works of art. Bellow I will out line the resources at your disposal, then you will be expected to plan and design you project.

Here are the basic resources we will start with in planning our keyboard:

Keyboard: Basic computer keyboard, these will have to be cleaned to remove all built up dust and dirt. Some of the keyboards we have also have media controls and additional buttons that may factor into your design.

Mice: Basic track ball serial mice, some have scroll wheel, some have three buttons, most don’t.

Paint: I will be providing primary colors of spray paint to coat your project with, the paint that I am buying is the paint used to cover plastic patio furniture and is only available in darker colour tones. If you plan on doing any detail work with your keyboard you might need to pick up some modelling paint from a hobby supllier. You can always add the detail paint later if you want.

LED’s: I’ve ordered a couple hundred LED’s of various colours, I think we have Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Purple, white, UV, etc. It breaks down to about 8 per person, I might have extras if you mess any up or overload them but be careful with them

Dremels: The school has a few dremels to use, so you can plan on carving in either an engraving into your device or a relief or emboss. Why have someone elses logo on your product when you can have your own. 

Glue guns, saulder, sauldering iron, wire, sand paper: All provided, I’ll have enough to satisfy most resonable needs.

Extras you might want: Its easy to encorporate objects from real life into your models, I’ll show you a couple examples in class. Things like lego, toy cars, ornaments, all make great ideas for potential mods.

What is required of you.

Design Description: Description of your project and outlining all the features.

Design Plan: What are the steps involved in designing your device. List the steps you will use to design your project and the estimated time required for each task.

Supply List: List all required materials you we need an quantity each item (some may just be estimates).

Design Diagram: You will also be required to submit a design drawing of your device. I’m not looking for amazing artwork however being able to read all the features from the diagram is key.

Hope this helps you get started in your planning. I’m very excited to get started on this project.

Mr. Vaughan