deskthority

After a year+ of starts, stops, redesigning, delays, missing fingers, etcetera, I finally finished, what I would call, my CAD friendly ergonomic keyboard. Check out the pictorial chronology here: https://youtu.be/FI37j5bLnKY

Awesome!
Looks really interesting, i would. Love to try that layout out..

Impressive. Makes me want a milling machine.

I a curious about the weight and your keymappings.

looks really nice

Thanks for your questions and kind words.

I hoped the milling action would whet some appetites. It's hypnotic; almost sensual.

Here is an early map I made. It's incomplete and only about 90% accurate but gives you an idea where I'm gong with it. Some of the final keyring assignments will be decided later by trial and error. Most of the 2nd layer key assignments will be on the right half. Well suited for me since an accident in April left me with a few shortened fingers on my left hand. I weighed it today. It is seven pounds. The bottom walnut and aluminum cover weighs three pounds and the working half the other four. I could have dropped almost 2 pounds from the bottom cover but since it will be mounted to a keyboard tray arm the extra weight won't matter. Considering its fairly small footprint (15" wide), it feels very solid. By comparison, I kept my AlumaPlop down to a pound and a half. Same aluminum body but designed for portability.

The reason I went with such a radical departure from traditional switch and cap design was because of the smaller vertical spacing between keys I wanted. Losing a half inch of distance between five rows of switches makes it much easier to reach the top and bottom rows.

The twelve switches around the trackball will allow most CAD functions to be executed with minimal hand movement.

wow...no words man, really???? U are a monster! Just wow! I`m feeling so noob XD

Thank you for sharing this. I enjoyed the video a lot. This is a truly incredible project. Well done.

You are a boss. Looks amazing.

That's a beautiful board.

I want to say something really nice about the keyboard and I know it cost you a chunk or two out of your hand, but it's clearly the result of a work of love, passion, vision... but every time I re-write it, it sounds like I'm trying to say that it was worth sacrificing your fingers to it, and it's not quite what I have in mind.

Can't wait to see your next project!

Well done video and great looking board! I cant get into ergos personally, but I can definitely appreciate the effort put into this. amazing!

I'm sure it sounds redundant to keep saying thanks for all of your kind words, but you should know that I appreciate every encouraging comment. Thanks for taking the time to send them.

hoggy wrote: That's a beautiful board.

I want to say something really nice about the keyboard and I know it cost you a chunk or two out of your hand, but it's clearly the result of a work of love, passion, vision... but every time I re-write it, it sounds like I'm trying to say that it was worth sacrificing your fingers to it, and it's not quite what I have in mind.

Can't wait to see your next project!

I understand what you mean and I would gladly trade the keyboard for my fingers. The accident actually happened while I was building a custom sized table and chair for my granddaughter who has dwarfism. My daughter feels bad when she thinks that I lost my finger tips because of that. I understand her thoughts but I would gladly lose a lot more than my fingers for them.

This really was one of the most impressive ground-up builds I've ever seen. Such craftsmanship went into this, and you clearly are a master of many things.