The Coolest Steampunk Mouse You'll See All Day

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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The Coolest Steampunk Mouse You'll See All Day


A chap by the name of Paradox has designed and built what could very well be the world's greatest custom-built mouse, a Steampunk design with wood and brass construction that incorporates a real mouse skeleton.

On display at his blog, the mouse features a wooden base mounted to a body made of brass tubing and I-beam shaped pieces, while vintage typewriter keys emblazoned with alchemy symbols serve as the buttons. The scroll wheel is covered by two hollowed clock gears and a thin strip of brass, and remains fully functional as both a wheel and a fifth mouse button.

After that, it gets a bit weird. The builder just happened to have a complete mouse skeleton in a box (hey, don't ask me) and decided to incorporate parts of it into the design. The mouse skull was affixed to a large gear which was then placed over the device's circuit board, and an LED was inserted through a small hole drilled in the skull, making it glow when the mouse is moved. The creature's spine was laid into the mouse "rib cage," running the length of the device, while the rodent's shoulder blades were attached to the front, where the wire connects. Finally, a pair of 9mm shells were attached to the back for added decoration.

Tying up the package is the mouse pad, made from scrap Victorian wooden trim, brass trims and rivets, and mini wood corbels purchased at a local hobby shop. The whole package took roughly 22 hours to assemble at a cost of $40-50, using just a bench grinder, a Dremel, coping saw and a lot of sew a bantha [http://jbweld.net/index.php].

You can see this awesome Steampunk computer mouse in all its glory at neo-Victorian keyboard and monitor [http://thetentacleparadox.com/blog/2008/12/08/the-paradox-mouse-steampunk-computer-mouse/], an earlier project that actually inspired the construction of the mouse. This stuff is not to be missed.

(Thanks to Boing-Boing [http://www.boingboing.net/2008/12/10/jawdropping-steampun.html] for the hookup.)


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NeedAUserName

New member
Aug 7, 2008
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Alas, only 100 years to late... That thing wouldn't have looked out of place in a Victorian Household... Hell he could probably leave it in a Victorian Museum and no one would know that it wasn't an exhibit.
 

PsyberGoth

New member
Nov 9, 2008
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thats cool as, except the whole actual dead mouse bits. even if they're fake, that's still creepy.
 

Blind0bserver

Blatant Narcissist
Mar 31, 2008
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After looking at this guy's entire steampunk setup I, well, I'm just going to say it: I want to rob this man blind. This stuff of his looks amazing and I want it. This guy could make a hell of a lot of money of he custom made stuff like this for people.

Oh, and if that guy went out and killed that mouse just so he could use the skeleton for this, that makes it all sorts of epic.
 

Sylocat

Sci-Fi & Shakespeare
Nov 13, 2007
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Wasn't there a full computer setup designed with a steampunk theme a while back? Or was it just a custom keyboard that looked like a typewriter?
 

Limos

New member
Jun 15, 2008
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I don't even care about the practicality of this setup. It's fucking sweet and I need it.
 

Siuss

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Nov 3, 2008
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Sylocat said:
Wasn't there a full computer setup designed with a steampunk theme a while back? Or was it just a custom keyboard that looked like a typewriter?
http://www.neoversum.com/neoworld/files/page3_blog_entry4_1.jpg

Yes, there are many, some boring, others pure sex. ^^ My favorite so far, put that mouse on it, and bam, I love you.

http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=steampunk+computers
 

ThaBenMan

Mandalorian Buddha
Mar 6, 2008
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That's fucking awesome, I love it. I would never actually use it for fear of breaking it, but it's an amazing piece of art. The other stuff he made is really cool too.