Reddit user DekuNukem’s old microwave keypad stopped working one day, so instead of chucking the whole microwave away, they’ve given it a new lease of life by replacing the keypad with an RGB mechanical keyboard. Surely this must now be the loudest and brightest microwave in the world – although we’re not sure if this actually cost them any less than buying a replacement.
They could’ve gone for some silent mechanical switches, but instead went for Gateron Greens, a loud, clacky tactile switch – something to announce to everyone you live with that you’re microwaving leftover pizza at midnight. At least the RGB backlighting will make the microwave easier to locate in the dead of night. Honestly, we’re surprised Razer hasn’t already made one of these.
Initially, as a quick fix, they wired up some simple buttons onto a circuit board, but this isn’t exactly the neatest approach. That’s when DekuNukem moved onto a clean construction with the mechanical keypad they were already working on, a ‘duckyPad‘. There’s a small OLED screen built in which they programmed to show what the buttons on the keypad correspond to for the microwave’s controls.
With the mechanical switches, you should be able to enter your required cooking times at record speeds.
Installed a RGB mechanical keyboard on my microwave! Who says it has to stop at *computers*, right? from MechanicalKeyboards
DekuNukem has a very technical build log with many images you can use to emulate their feat of genius on GitHub. As you can imagine, it isn’t a simple task anyone can try at home, so don’t go tearing up the best gaming keyboards unless you’re prepared to dive into lots of wiring, soldering, and trial and error.
Here’s a fun fact, though – the ARM chip powering the keypad is many times more powerful than the 4.2MHz Toshiba chip the microwave runs off. We’re excited to see what the next household item to be outfitted with mechanical switches will be, as it’s only a matter of time. Perhaps someone will butcher their landline to make everyday calls as obnoxious as possible, or slap a mouse scroll wheel on the thermostat for optimum heating controls. The possibilities are endless.