Datamancer's Steampunk Laptop - a sneak-pique

[Datamancer]

Oh, a wacom? I love those things. Mine's a garish translucent blue color with visible circuitry, much like those gaudy 80's phones with the neons inside them. I never thought to mod mine, but that's a great idea. I'll have to tuck that away for a future project.

Have you ever seen those $2000 lcd wacom tablets? Oh man, I would eat a baby for one of those things.

[Ashflex]

That is truly amazing, I wish I was lucky enough to have it sitting upon my desk.

When I read your My Space bulletin saying "IT'S ALIIIIIIVE MWAHAHAHAHA" I was watching Frankenstein and it was just at the point the monster awoke! was a freaky moment indeed!

Keep up the great work!

[Lilithgow]

I want one. I want it now. But unfortunatly, I'm lacking...everything I need for one.

[CapnHarlock]

The big Wacom pads are wonderful. If you are cheap frugal, like me, the >$100US AceCAD and Adesso
units are still workable alternatives.

This is a $40 AceCAD Flair II with the addition of some acrylic paint and an old fountain-pen cap (I will eventually cloth-cover the cable, too)

[rollerboi]

I can't breathe. Truly, you've outdone yourself. Hats off to you, sir.

[Honky-Tonk Dragon]

Datamancer--
Have you checked out this fellow who built his own Cintiq?
Beyond my skills... but I wouldn't be surprised if you could hack it.

[Talyn]

wow! are those keys just painted to look that way or what did you do to those?

[WisconsinPlatt]

Wow.  Can't say much more.  Wow.  The bar has been raised.

[Vincent M. Dantes Esq.]

Dear god! How did I miss this earlier? I can't really say anything that hasn't already been said, but I will still add that I am most impressed. Sensational work! This is easily both the cat's meow AND the cat's pajamas. And even the bee's knees!

[Datamancer]

Datamancer--
Have you checked out this fellow who built his own Cintiq?
Beyond my skills... but I wouldn't be surprised if you could hack it.

Whoa! That's awesome. I was actually more intrigued by the companion videos of the lcd projectors. I had access to an overhead projector a while back and wanted to do something like that for a steampunk display, but the opportunity slipped from my fingers.

[Datamancer]

wow! are those keys just painted to look that way or what did you do to those?

The main QWERTY keys are scrapbooking alphabet charms. For the other keys, I got a piece of raw copper and antiqued it by scuffing it up with a piece of sandpaper (100 grit, if memory serves), then painting it black and wetsanding the black paint off of it. The color still wasn't a perfect match so I went back and forth between teh copper sheet and the keys, adjusting the finish until it looked right. So basically, I made the two metals meet in the middle. I antiqued the bright copper sheet down, and scuffed the antique copper up.

Here's a single key charm ("D") layed on the sheet after the antiquing process...
 


and an in-progress pic showing the resulting color match...




I also did the same thing to the copper tacks on the wrist rests. The only small copper tacks I could find were like small nails. They had a big flat head on them and a thick nail shaft. I filed each head down to the proper size, rounded them off, filed the shafts to about half their diameter, then rubbed a little bit of black paint into the filing scratches to match the rest of the antiquing.

[Jake von Slatt]

Kudos Doc! great work as always!

Jake.

[ShinjiTheGale]

fantastic, simply fantastic

[Johnny Payphone]

hehe.  When I heard the maniacal screams coming from your laboratory I knew you were up to something and chuckled to think what was about to be unleashed upon the world.  I am particularly pleased that the laptop is only "portable" in an old-fashioned definition of the term, like those great old "portable" televisions or a "portable" car phone.

Perhaps you can cheat the gears in a simpler way?  They need only jitter and twitch, not spin all the time.  Puffs of air from the fan?  Teeny flat gears that don't stress the brass?  If I had clockworks on my computer I would wire them to the hard drive light.  But I don't, and a case mod seems to be the nixie clock of steampunk.  Dammit I gotta start ripping apart old typewriters I guess... 

[Smaggers]

Ermm.  Hello.

I've been lurking round for a couple of days, but I had to break cover to add my congratulations.

That Sir, is a thing of great beauty and an inspiration.



Co-incidentally, (and it really was), it was I who built the cintiq.  It is however sadly lacking in the walnut and brass department. Perhaps I will address that at some point.

edit - No, I must address that at some point.
  

[phineas sheridan]

marry, that is a wonderful device!!

i feel my love for this device outweighs the lack of skill and funds
i would love to see it for realz

d

[Proffessor Varne]

Sigh, simply a beautiful project!
I hate not having time to do those kinds of things. I think it's time to re arrange my schedule so I can make projects that will one day be as good as yours.
Again truly beautiful work. And thanks for sharing some of the construction details, my project idea book is getting more entries!

[Datamancer]

hehe.  When I heard the maniacal screams coming from your laboratory I knew you were up to something and chuckled to think what was about to be unleashed upon the world.  I am particularly pleased that the laptop is only "portable" in an old-fashioned definition of the term, like those great old "portable" televisions or a "portable" car phone.

Perhaps you can cheat the gears in a simpler way?  They need only jitter and twitch, not spin all the time.  Puffs of air from the fan?  Teeny flat gears that don't stress the brass?  If I had clockworks on my computer I would wire them to the hard drive light.  But I don't, and a case mod seems to be the nixie clock of steampunk.  Dammit I gotta start ripping apart old typewriters I guess... 

I had considered a few things along those lines...like a stepper motor hooked to the hd light, as you said, or a very small clock movement or something, but I couldn't find anything readily available that fit within the 1 cm gap under the glass. I didnt look around TOO hard though. Unfortunately, I'm on a bit of a deadline so I couldn't spend too much time on any one element, considering all the other work there was to do.
We'll see though...sometimes solutions to problems like this just find me, or come to me in a flash, pulling me out of a dead sleep and over to the workbench at 4 AM.

[Datamancer]

Ermm.  Hello.

I've been lurking round for a couple of days, but I had to break cover to add my congratulations.

That Sir, is a thing of great beauty and an inspiration.



Co-incidentally, (and it really was), it was I who built the cintiq.  It is however sadly lacking in the walnut and brass department. Perhaps I will address that at some point.

edit - No, I must address that at some point.
  

Thanks, and welcome to the forums!

I quite enjoyed your page. That's the way I usually try to set up my project pages (the Espada Suena page is the best example), but I often just run out of time and attention span to keep up on the step-by-steps.
I thought your "hindsite updates" were a nice touch.

[Clym Angus]

That is as they say, a tasty little number.

This is one of those universe balancing moments.
For every act that makes one feel that the human race doesn't deserve to survive,
we are in equal messure supplied with another reason why that extinction would be a crying shame.

Nothing quite like seeing an artisan at work to restore ya faith in the human race.

[Smaggers]

Ermm.  Hello.

I've been lurking round for a couple of days, but I had to break cover to add my congratulations.

That Sir, is a thing of great beauty and an inspiration.



Co-incidentally, (and it really was), it was I who built the cintiq.  It is however sadly lacking in the walnut and brass department. Perhaps I will address that at some point.

edit - No, I must address that at some point.
  

Thanks, and welcome to the forums!

I quite enjoyed your page. That's the way I usually try to set up my project pages (the Espada Suena page is the best example), but I often just run out of time and attention span to keep up on the step-by-steps.
I thought your "hindsite updates" were a nice touch.

Thanks. The hindsight thing was because I suddenly found a bunch of people wanting to do the same thing so I needed to try to highlight the more boneheaded stuff I should have thought about. 

Anyhow beautiful work sir, It's got my fingers itching again.

[Mr. Ethan Grammatikidis]

The reactions which great cupidity can produce in the excitable human can be quite peculiar. ... Alright, I'll admit it, I nearly squealed with glee (or, to be honest, avarice) at the mere sight of your laptop, Datamancer! I think it was the cogs in the lid which produced the primary reaction, although the copper touch-pad produced a deal of wonder. I was disappointed to read it was only for show, I hope you are successful in replicating the effect without destroying the function of the pad. It got me thinking, perhaps a touch-pad could be made with it's copper grid on show, embedded in some transparent material. I believe it might also be technically plausible for a touch-pad to use a solid copper plate as an integral part of it's design, although the electronics would be substantially different.

[Datamancer]

That is as they say, a tasty little number.

This is one of those universe balancing moments.
For every act that makes one feel that the human race doesn't deserve to survive,
we are in equal messure supplied with another reason why that extinction would be a crying shame.

Nothing quite like seeing an artisan at work to restore ya faith in the human race.

haha wow! That's high praise! Thanks.
I didn't know I was balancing the universe over here. I guess I'll have to stop dancing in the shower from now on.

[Herr Döktor]

That is as they say, a tasty little number.

This is one of those universe balancing moments.
For every act that makes one feel that the human race doesn't deserve to survive,
we are in equal messure supplied with another reason why that extinction would be a crying shame.

Nothing quite like seeing an artisan at work to restore ya faith in the human race.

haha wow! That's high praise! Thanks.
I didn't know I was balancing the universe over here. I guess I'll have to stop dancing in the shower from now on.

NOOO! The shower dancing is the balance!

[Clym Angus]

haha wow! That's high praise! Thanks.
I didn't know I was balancing the universe over here. I guess I'll have to stop dancing in the shower from now on.

Typical creative person, always underestimating the importance of ones work.

Seriously though, there are a lot of reasons to be down about humanity in general. We have a small talent for destruction after all. I never seem to connect with people making, discovering or improving things much any more in day to day life. Inventions and break throughs "appear" as if by magic and they always seem like fairly distant things on the news. Spending time talking to and generally being around creative people who enjoy showing their work is (in some small way) to me a mild opiate.

It spurs me on to make things myself, and alleviates the mild depression brought on by viewing the darker side of the human condition. I hope this adequately clarifies my position.