This custom concrete keyboard chassis is a thing of beauty

Shawn Knight

Posts: 15,240   +192
Staff member

Most keyboards utilize a series of grippy feet designed to keep it firmly planted during use. A number of factors including size and placement of the feet as well as the material they’re made of and the surface of your desk or table are all instrumental in determining how well a board stays put.

Weight is also a significant contributor to the equation. More often than not, the heavier the board, the more likely it is to remain stationary... a fact that’s no doubt true for Reddit user ipee9932cd.

In the wake of not being able to find a suitable keyboard case, the Redditor did the next best thing – created one out of concrete.

He noted in the comments that he knows nothing about concrete. As such, he chose not to use any rebar for stability sake and thus, doesn’t handle it using just one edge. The chassis weighs around 12 pounds and was sealed with food-safe countertop sealer. A thin, smooth coating was left on top so he can polish and wax it.

While certainly not for everyone, the project is an excellent example of the sort of creativity that can be realized when thinking outside the box and could serve as a unique conversation starter for someone that works in the concrete / home building / remodeling industry. Just imagine what could be done with a scrap piece of granite or some other high-end building material.

Permalink to story.

 
PC protection check-points:

1. Physical robustness / Impact protection - FAIL (concrete cracks on impact/fall)
2. Protection against an electrical surge - FAIL
3. Water-proof - FAIL
4. Protection against EMP - FAIL
 
"12 pounds"

In future it would be handy to include a metric conversion so the rest of the world can understand.
Imo it's better having both lb & kg in the article to save people clicking off site to convert it themselves.
It's about 5.5 kg or so, not all that hard to do just divide by 2.1 to get kg. Just one dumb American who learned this years ago :p
 
"12 pounds"

In future it would be handy to include a metric conversion so the rest of the world can understand.
Imo it's better having both lb & kg in the article to save people clicking off site to convert it themselves.
It's about 5.5 kg or so, not all that hard to do just divide by 2.1 to get kg. Just one dumb American who learned this years ago :p

You may want to relearn that conversion ^^ You are very close, but your calculations will be off a tid bit if you're just using 2.1

KG = LB / 2.2046

I've been corrected too many times by my Danish colleagues on my conversions. I originally used 2.1 as well ^^
 
"12 pounds"

In future it would be handy to include a metric conversion so the rest of the world can understand.
Imo it's better having both lb & kg in the article to save people clicking off site to convert it themselves.

You mean everyone doesn't know off the top of their head that 1 pound = 0.453592368kg? (j/k)

That probably says something about me that I have it memorized (or that I have memorized that 1 foot = 30.48cm, & that the speed of light in a vaccuum is 299,792,458 m/sec)...
 
"12 pounds"

In future it would be handy to include a metric conversion so the rest of the world can understand.
Imo it's better having both lb & kg in the article to save people clicking off site to convert it themselves.
It's about 5.5 kg or so, not all that hard to do just divide by 2.1 to get kg. Just one dumb American who learned this years ago :p

5.44 kg, but 5.5 isn't too bad (you'd need a scale to notice the difference)...
 
"12 pounds"

In future it would be handy to include a metric conversion so the rest of the world can understand.
Imo it's better having both lb & kg in the article to save people clicking off site to convert it themselves.

About 5.5 Kilos. Consider yourself humored.

BTW, that was guess work without reading the rest of the thread, other than your post. It seems to me the reverse would also be possible.
 
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Maybe it's a keyboard for the Neanderthals among us
"wow, that person's from the stone age"
"I know just the keyboard for them"
 
You may want to relearn that conversion ^^ You are very close, but your calculations will be off a tid bit if you're just using 2.1

KG = LB / 2.2046

I've been corrected too many times by my Danish colleagues on my conversions. I originally used 2.1 as well ^^
Unless you are working with big numbers or are a scientist 2.1 will work just fine especially if you are just rounding the number anyway.
 
"12 pounds"

In future it would be handy to include a metric conversion so the rest of the world can understand.
Imo it's better having both lb & kg in the article to save people clicking off site to convert it themselves.
It's about 5.5 kg or so, not all that hard to do just divide by 2.1 to get kg. Just one dumb American who learned this years ago :p

You may want to relearn that conversion ^^ You are very close, but your calculations will be off a tid bit if you're just using 2.1

KG = LB / 2.2046

I've been corrected too many times by my Danish colleagues on my conversions. I originally used 2.1 as well ^^
Learned that in H.S. out of necessity. A key of weed=2.2 lbs.
 
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