My homemade ergonomic keyboard
Posted: 07 Nov 2016, 01:29
Just for the fun of it I designed and made my own ergonomical keyboard.
It's just a hobby project and a prototype so don't take it too seriously.
It's inspired by the Truly and Ergodox keyboards but with my own quirks.
The big idea is that I can hold down Shift with my thumb whilst still typing so that I don't have to swap little pinkies whilst typing several capital letters in a row.
The FN key acts an another Shift layer which allows for a very compact keyboard with all the keys in easy reach (so once learnt I shouldn't have to look at the keyboard like I have to now).
There's also a built in number pad and a mouse layer.
The layout is Dvorak because I've taken the view that if I'm going to change one thing I might as well change everything. The keys are flat so I can change the layout if I decide too. The hard to reach top layer is duplicated on the FN layer for ease of access.
The keys are from Pimpmykeyboard and the switches Cherry MX brown. The microchip is a Teensy 2.0.
The Shift and Space key have been lowered about 2mm so that I don't hit them when hitting FN and Enter.
I just followed the instructions of these 2 webpages:
http://gizmodo.com/i-built-a-keyboard-f ... 1649325860
workshop-f7/how-to-build-your-very-own- ... t7177.html
So far I'm loving this keyboard. Finding the number keys is far easier as is the Del key and the arrow keys.
The only downsides so far are a lack of leds for Capslock and Number pad, having to press one more key for some shortcuts and learning Dvorak.
- keyboard_1.jpg (834.43 KiB) Viewed 1035 times
- keyboard_4.jpg (837.22 KiB) Viewed 1035 times
- KL-1-D-Angled.png (186.09 KiB) Viewed 1035 times
- Keyboard_5.jpg (857.58 KiB) Viewed 1035 times
It's inspired by the Truly and Ergodox keyboards but with my own quirks.
The big idea is that I can hold down Shift with my thumb whilst still typing so that I don't have to swap little pinkies whilst typing several capital letters in a row.
The FN key acts an another Shift layer which allows for a very compact keyboard with all the keys in easy reach (so once learnt I shouldn't have to look at the keyboard like I have to now).
There's also a built in number pad and a mouse layer.
The layout is Dvorak because I've taken the view that if I'm going to change one thing I might as well change everything. The keys are flat so I can change the layout if I decide too. The hard to reach top layer is duplicated on the FN layer for ease of access.
The keys are from Pimpmykeyboard and the switches Cherry MX brown. The microchip is a Teensy 2.0.
The Shift and Space key have been lowered about 2mm so that I don't hit them when hitting FN and Enter.
I just followed the instructions of these 2 webpages:
http://gizmodo.com/i-built-a-keyboard-f ... 1649325860
workshop-f7/how-to-build-your-very-own- ... t7177.html
So far I'm loving this keyboard. Finding the number keys is far easier as is the Del key and the arrow keys.
The only downsides so far are a lack of leds for Capslock and Number pad, having to press one more key for some shortcuts and learning Dvorak.