Steampunk: RSS telegraph, keybard, etc.

posted Mar 31st 2007 11:25pm by Will O'Brien
filed under: misc hacks

[Jake von Slatt] has sent along a few of his projects, but his timing never quite coincides with mine. It’s about time I give this guy some coverage. His latest project was a pair telegraph sounders – he uses them to tap out RSS feeds from his linux box. The amateur radio code requirement in the US has been dropped, but this is probably a great way to practice your Morse code. His keyboard build is definitely one of the most original efforts I’ve seen.

Comments [9]

tagged: morse code, MorseCode, steampunk, telegraph

9 Responses to Steampunk: RSS telegraph, keybard, etc.

HaX80r says:

April 1, 2007 at 12:29 am

Almost missed it there. It’s 12:27 now, and this hack just loaded. March 31st was almost a day without a hack.

Very cool hack. Saw this one somewhere – engadget or Wired magazine or something.

Reply Report comment

James says:

April 1, 2007 at 12:51 am

That keyboard is A-Mazing.

Reply Report comment

ex-parrot says:

April 1, 2007 at 2:02 am

I’m planning on trying his electric PCB etch method. Also intriguing is that he managed to copper plate with copper sulphate (blue vitriol) using just a cotton bud. I don’t quite get the chemistry happening there, but I’d like to know more so I can replicate it…

Reply Report comment

twistedsymphony says:

April 1, 2007 at 11:20 am

That keyboard is awesome… I love steam punk stuff.

I’m mostly envious because I don’t have the patients to make things look pretty, most of my hacks are quite fugly, though functional.

Reply Report comment

Mr Jones says:

April 1, 2007 at 1:45 pm

wow! awesome old school techniques.

10!

Reply Report comment

Madd_matt says:

April 1, 2007 at 3:07 pm

That is honestly the nicest looking keyboard I’ve ever seen.

Hooking up a telegraph to a computer is a neat project too. It would be kinda cool to hook it up to your email so you could go real old school, and send+receive emails via telegraph

Reply Report comment

Wolf says:

April 2, 2007 at 10:52 pm

Man, and I though I could work with metal, the workmanship on the telegraph souders is nothing short of perfect. forget nice reflective finishes, my work isn’t even squared up.

Reply Report comment

Ender says:

April 7, 2007 at 5:42 pm

I cant wait until summer. As soon as I can get back into my buddys shop I am building myself one of those keyboards.

Reply Report comment

PKM says:

April 10, 2007 at 8:41 am

The keyboard is beautiful- a real functional work of art. ditto for the RSS telegraph sounder.

@4: from what I remember of my chemistry it’s a simple substitution reaction in solution-
CuSO4 + Fe -> Cu + FeSO4 (I simplify, but you get the idea). The cotton bud probably gets the solution down into the surface scratches on the iron so the coating is a little more durable, and there might be some more interesting stuff going on with the metals the iron is alloyed with- I’m assuming altoids tins are steel.

Reply Report comment