DIY Geeky Keyboard Pen Cup

While wandering the Goodwill store this week I came across a pristine keyboard. It was one of those wireless ones that became separated from that little USB receiver so, it’s pretty much useless now. I bought the thing for 3 bucks and turned it into this fancy dancy little pen cup.

This project is pretty simple and will look totes fantastic sitting on your desk.

What you need:

Old Keyboard

Tin Can (of peaches)

Hot glue gun

Optional – paint

Step 1

Locate yer old keyboard. I chose a black one, but you can use whatever keyboard you want. Maybe use a couple keyboards and mix and match the keys. Pop the keys out. Just a time saving tip – keep them in order otherwise you have to sort through them all. That should be obvious right? Maybe I just like doing things the hard way, but I mixed my keys together and ran my fingers through them like they were pure gold. Bad idea.

On the other hand, I did get to test my skills at remembering where all the keys go. I only messed up 3 keys. Beat that!! 

Depending on the kind of keys will determine the difficulty of getting them off. I couldn’t seem to pop them off the front, so I opened the keyboard up and used some needle nose pliers to pop them out from behind.

Step 2

Now that you’ve got your keys taken care of, you need a can. I used a standard size can of peaches with the easy open lid. This saved me from having that stupid little sharp piece that always happens when using a can opener.

Put all the peaches into a bowl and wash & dry the can. 

BONUS - You now have a tasty snack to munch while you work.

As an optional step, you can paint the can prior to gluing the keys to it. Mine is painted to help hide the gaps in the keys. I didn’t want the shiny tin can showing through, but it is entirely up to you. If you make a mistake and have to pull a key off it will peel the paint. The only thing you can do then is cry. I messed up a couple times and - after my tears dried - I saw that luckily the damage was minimal to the finished product. 

Step 3

Start gluing the keys to the can with the hot glue. Really just pile it onto the back of the key and then hold it onto the can for a few seconds. 

I started with the number keys but, in hindsight, I would have put the F keys along the top. I had room for another row of keys and I think it would have looked better. I wound up having to space my rows out a bit more than I wanted because the can had room for 6 rows of keys. Who knew?

You probably won’t be able to fit all the keys in a row around the can. Just leave out the boring ones. I put the other fun keys along the bottom with the arrow keys.

Tada! That’s all there is to this nifty little project. You are now the proud owner of a geeky pen holder cup thing. Display it with pride.

I would love to see your geekiness at work. Let me know how it turns out!

Disclaimer: I am not trying to force you to eat peaches. For goodness sake, if you would rather have pears (though I don’t know why anyone would want pears) then go right ahead. If you burn your fingers while using the glue gun that isn’t my fault. Maybe you should take a glue gun safety class.  Also, my cup isn’t sponsored by Microsoft. I just really like the Windows key. Remember when Macs used to have an Apple key? Good times.