3 ms·

An unconventional LEGO Technic beam sandwich keyboard case

86 points by fanf2 3y ago

qingcharles 3y ago
Off topic, but your email address is awesome. It's even worse than my real estate agent's which was this company: https://www.atproperties.com/chicagoland https://www.atproperties.com/chicagoland I imagine when they first went to set up the email on their domain their IT guy, "What have you done?!" Reminds me of this Fatboy Slim song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1SpFt7zJUM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1SpFt7zJUM
- TaylorAlexander 3y ago
  Also it’s so familiar now but that was the joke with slashdot.org
  - em-bee 3y ago
    i had to read your comment three times before i realized what you meant: /..org, of course.
    - pimlottc 3y ago
      That’s “aitch-tee-tee-pee-colon-slash-slash-slash-dot-dot-org” for the full URL
- fanf2 3y ago
  Wow thanks, that Fatboy Slim track is a new one for me, great fun :-)
- itronitron 3y ago
  I'm actually surprised they are allowed to hold onto that domain name as I was under the impression that Austria requires .at holders to be in Austria.
  - ryan-c 3y ago
    There are workarounds for most restrictions like that, e.g. there is a shell company in New Caledonia that owns `rya.nc` on my behalf.
  - fanf2 3y ago
    They are open to anyone, see under “delegation rules” towards the bottom of https://www.nic.at/en/good_to_know/legal-backgrounds/domain-policy https://www.nic.at/en/good_to_know/legal-backgrounds/domain-...
- woleium 3y ago
  I once came across a short list titled "email addresses it is hard to give out over the phone". I only remember this one: one1firstthenumberthentheword@gmail.com
owenversteeg 3y ago
M3 rivnuts can be press-fit into Technic holes! >I’m using M3 rivet nuts and machine screws. The outer diameter of the rivet nuts is 5mm; the inner diameter of the Technic holes is 4.8mm. Fortunately the beams are made from flexible ABS, so the rivet nuts can be squeezed in and make a firm press fit. They can be pushed out again with a brick separator.
- fanf2 3y ago
  That was fun to discover and I am pleased with the result! Oh, and the M3 wafer heads fit almost perfectly into the recess at the end of a LEGO Technic hole. The imperfection is the head is about 0.1mm too thick so it does not fit flush. https://dotat.at/graphics/lego-screws.jpeg https://dotat.at/graphics/lego-screws.jpeg
  - jacquesm 3y ago
    Very nice! I'm definitely going to use that.
mastermojo 3y ago
> what’s your email? > dot at dot at dot at > ಠ_ಠ
- stavros 3y ago
  I'm tempted to get an email address of dot@dotatio.io, but I know that'd be setting $36 on fire.
  - www_harka_com 3y ago
    Aaand it's gone. :D (Not me.)
    - stavros 3y ago
      Of course it is :(
- bombcar 3y ago
  Sounds like the pink panther theme.
- devjab 3y ago
  It would be sort of workable on my country. Where it would be something like: > dot snabela dot at punktum at “Snabela” (maybe its snabel-a or snabel a) means “trunk a” trunk as in an elephant’s trunk. Punktum is just the Danish word for period. Now I’m really regretting not getting a domain to utilise this fact, as I’ll only ever say my email out loud within my own country, and it would be hilarious to have a way that’s just as messed up as the authors. I guess it’s not too late.
  - jareklupinski 3y ago
    that's cute! in polish we say "monkey" (malpka) now i realized maybe other languages use other 'looks likes': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_sign#Names_in_other_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_sign#Names_in_other_languag...
stoolpigeon 3y ago
I've seen a couple of these keyboards that I assume are mechanical in the last couple days or weeks here. Serious question - do they not have function keys because that's just the models shown? Or is it normal for keyboards like this to not have them and if so why?
- bombcar 3y ago
  A subset of the keyboard hackers aim to imitate the happy hacker keyboard, which was sized to fit inside a 19 in rack slide out. This is one of them. Function keys are reached vi a modifier. There are others: https://www.modelfkeyboards.com/product/classic-style-f122-model-f-keyboard/ https://www.modelfkeyboards.com/product/classic-style-f122-m... F24 for life!
  - stoolpigeon 3y ago
    thank you - I appreciate it.
  - fanf2 3y ago
    Yeah, see also the recent discussion at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37004633 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37004633 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37003963 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37003963 One annoying thing about macOS is that it has a very limited collection of key codes. I tried using F24 for window placement but it was ignored, so I had to back off to F16.
    - bombcar 3y ago
      I seem to recall being able to use an add on utility to get access to the higher scancodes - mainly to prevent some from being “the same key”.
  - layer8 3y ago
    They must not be using Excel (and certain IDEs).
- tjoff 3y ago

86 points by fanf2 3y ago

Off topic, but your email address is awesome. It's even worse than my real estate agent's which was this company: https://www.atproperties.com/chicagoland https://www.atproperties.com/chicagoland I imagine when they first went to set up the email on their domain their IT guy, "What have you done?!" Reminds me of this Fatboy Slim song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1SpFt7zJUM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1SpFt7zJUM

TaylorAlexander 3y ago
Also it’s so familiar now but that was the joke with slashdot.org
- em-bee 3y ago
  i had to read your comment three times before i realized what you meant: /..org, of course.
  - pimlottc 3y ago
    That’s “aitch-tee-tee-pee-colon-slash-slash-slash-dot-dot-org” for the full URL
fanf2 3y ago
Wow thanks, that Fatboy Slim track is a new one for me, great fun :-)
itronitron 3y ago
I'm actually surprised they are allowed to hold onto that domain name as I was under the impression that Austria requires .at holders to be in Austria.
- ryan-c 3y ago
  There are workarounds for most restrictions like that, e.g. there is a shell company in New Caledonia that owns `rya.nc` on my behalf.
- fanf2 3y ago
  They are open to anyone, see under “delegation rules” towards the bottom of https://www.nic.at/en/good_to_know/legal-backgrounds/domain-policy https://www.nic.at/en/good_to_know/legal-backgrounds/domain-...
woleium 3y ago
I once came across a short list titled "email addresses it is hard to give out over the phone". I only remember this one: one1firstthenumberthentheword@gmail.com

owenversteeg 3y ago

M3 rivnuts can be press-fit into Technic holes! >I’m using M3 rivet nuts and machine screws. The outer diameter of the rivet nuts is 5mm; the inner diameter of the Technic holes is 4.8mm. Fortunately the beams are made from flexible ABS, so the rivet nuts can be squeezed in and make a firm press fit. They can be pushed out again with a brick separator.

fanf2 3y ago
That was fun to discover and I am pleased with the result! Oh, and the M3 wafer heads fit almost perfectly into the recess at the end of a LEGO Technic hole. The imperfection is the head is about 0.1mm too thick so it does not fit flush. https://dotat.at/graphics/lego-screws.jpeg https://dotat.at/graphics/lego-screws.jpeg
- jacquesm 3y ago
  Very nice! I'm definitely going to use that.

mastermojo 3y ago

> what’s your email? > dot at dot at dot at > ಠ_ಠ

stavros 3y ago
I'm tempted to get an email address of dot@dotatio.io, but I know that'd be setting $36 on fire.
- www_harka_com 3y ago
  Aaand it's gone. :D (Not me.)
  - stavros 3y ago
    Of course it is :(
bombcar 3y ago
Sounds like the pink panther theme.
devjab 3y ago
It would be sort of workable on my country. Where it would be something like: > dot snabela dot at punktum at “Snabela” (maybe its snabel-a or snabel a) means “trunk a” trunk as in an elephant’s trunk. Punktum is just the Danish word for period. Now I’m really regretting not getting a domain to utilise this fact, as I’ll only ever say my email out loud within my own country, and it would be hilarious to have a way that’s just as messed up as the authors. I guess it’s not too late.
- jareklupinski 3y ago
  that's cute! in polish we say "monkey" (malpka) now i realized maybe other languages use other 'looks likes': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_sign#Names_in_other_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_sign#Names_in_other_languag...

stoolpigeon 3y ago

I've seen a couple of these keyboards that I assume are mechanical in the last couple days or weeks here. Serious question - do they not have function keys because that's just the models shown? Or is it normal for keyboards like this to not have them and if so why?

bombcar 3y ago
A subset of the keyboard hackers aim to imitate the happy hacker keyboard, which was sized to fit inside a 19 in rack slide out. This is one of them. Function keys are reached vi a modifier. There are others: https://www.modelfkeyboards.com/product/classic-style-f122-model-f-keyboard/ https://www.modelfkeyboards.com/product/classic-style-f122-m... F24 for life!
- stoolpigeon 3y ago
  thank you - I appreciate it.
- fanf2 3y ago
  Yeah, see also the recent discussion at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37004633 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37004633 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37003963 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37003963 One annoying thing about macOS is that it has a very limited collection of key codes. I tried using F24 for window placement but it was ignored, so I had to back off to F16.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    I seem to recall being able to use an add on utility to get access to the higher scancodes - mainly to prevent some from being “the same key”.
- layer8 3y ago
  They must not be using Excel (and certain IDEs).
tjoff 3y ago