Many of the larger components of our computing setups are easily turned into projects or reused in other computers, but what happens to peripherals once an upgrade arrives? Whether you decide on a new slim mechanical keyboard or mouse, it's all too easy to toss the device it's replacing into a drawer as a spare. But with a little bit of thought and some tools, those peripherals can get a new lease of life as a gift or gadget to be enjoyed further.
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1 Turn a keyboard into a credit card holder
Membrane keyboards can easily be turned into a funky wallet that saves space
If you've upgraded to a mechanical keyboard, chances are you'll have a membrane keyboard kicking around. That's the mushy feeling keyboard that came with your computer, and while you might be tempted to toss it out, there's a cool craft hiding inside to keep your credit cards safe. The circuit sheet that makes the membrane keyboard work is awesome looking, and also pretty tough.
That makes it a slimline and hard-wearing alternative to using leather or other fabrics for a slimline wallet for your cards, once you've cut it down to size and glued, taped, or otherwise fastened the pieces together.
2 Make some cool thumbtacks
Old keycaps make for great bulletin board accessories
Keyboard keycaps are always a popular choice for geeky crafts because nothing quite shows how much you love computing. This awesome and low-effort project reuses those keycaps as thumbtack ends, which is nice because nobody likes pushing thumbtacks onto bulletin boards, so the added surface area of a keycap is a welcome addition.
Plus, if you have a couple of old keyboards lying around, you can make enough thumbtacks to write short messages on the board, reducing the amount of paper you'll use. You'll want some map pins with bobble heads for this one, a hot glue gun, and probably a drill to make the holes in the keycap stems large enough. Just make sure you use more protective gear than the guy in the instructable, and you'll be passing notes in no time.
3 A Powerglove
Turn the insides of an old mouse into a novel input device
Ah, nothing says hardware hacking is quite like making a power glove to control other devices. Well, except making a cyberdeck, but you can do that too and then use the glove to control your mouse cursor. All it takes is the innards of an old, wireless, battery-powered mouse, some wire, and a suitable donor glove, and you can be in the future of control devices within a few minutes.
If you really wanted, you could extend this with soldering the wires properly, using neoprene gloves to cover the hardware fully, and maybe even finding a way to use a rotary encoder so you can scroll with the glove as well. But as it stands, turning a basic two-button mouse into a cool gadget is a fun exercise, and you might find you prefer controlling your computer this way.
4 Make some geeky cuff links
Turn some key caps into stylish accessories for your wrist, not for your fingers
Most keyboard key caps have a hollow tube underneath them, which makes them perfect for many different crafts. With a few small accessories and some glue you can make bracelets, necklaces, or my favorite, a pair of geeky cuff links for that special person in your life. Plus, you get a whole keyboard worth of options to choose from, whether you prefer using the classic L and R options, or End and Pause, or any of the other 1U keys. We don't suggest you use any of the longer modifiers because they'll be awkward when worn, but any other key is fair game.
5 Turn a printer into a Useless Box
Get your Arduino ready because this project is delightfully useless
One of my favorite gag gifts is given life in this DIY project using old printer parts and an Arduino to program it into irrelevant fun. A useless box is not quite as useless as it sounds, but has the sum total of being completely useless when you try to disturb its peace.
With the mechanism from an old inkjet printer, this useless box will open itself when you flick any of the switches on the top. But instead of staying open, it'll flick out a finger and put the switch back to the off position, which makes it useless but very, very entertaining. You'll need some coding skills to program the Arduino necessary for this one but it'll be worth the effort.
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6 Build a retro gaming machine
Turn an old keyboard into a cool retro arcade stand for your smartphone
Keyboards can be used for many DIY projects. They have an existing microcontroller and USB interface, making it easy to turn them into another input device. YouTuber Daniele Tartaglia is known for his DIY skills, and this awesome retro gaming joystick is a fantastic build. It uses the USB connection and PCB from a membrane keyboard that's turned into an arcade-style joystick, to control emulators on a smartphone.
It's a good reminder of how versatile some microcontrollers can be, and with some basic soldering skills and a voltage probe, you can make your own joystick. It doesn't keep the enclosure of the keyboard or the membrane itself, but you can use parts of those for other projects.
Old peripherals still have plenty of use left in them
These half-a-dozen projects are just the tip of the iceberg if you really want to be crafty. You could put a Raspberry Pi inside a keyboard if there's enough space and turn it into a cyberdeck worthy of the edgerunners of Night City, or adorn other items of clothing with keycaps to show how much you love keyboards. Whatever you come up with, it's always better to reuse old hardware if you can, to keep it out of the scrap heap.