Parallel circut Ergodox PCB to Pedal?

[Questengine]

I've got TMK on my Ergodox and I've got one key that's a layer modifier, and I'm wondering if I could offload that keypress (or hold) to a pedal for my foot. If I solder a wire to both sides of the keyswitch hole in the pcb, run that pair of wires out of the keyboard and to the ground where I can fashion a pedal out of scrap wood and something conductive, like aluminum foil maybe, then that should work right?

The keyswitch and the pedal would be in parallel so either would work, though they'd both have the same function. 

It's not like I'm saving my self any effort, but it might be nice to have 2 full hands for 2nd layer keyboard work with neither having to hold anything down. Also it'd make me feel like a keyboard hotshot and that's pretty important!

I'll maybe mess around with the idea over break and let y'all know how it turns out. If anyone has any applicable experience or feedback, please share.

[Questengine]

Built most of this over break.  Just like I described in the original post.  Used a cat 5e cable because it had 8 well labeled wires that I could trace from keyboard pcb to pedal.  It was a bit worrisome pouring molten metal into my $200 keyboard, but it worked out fine in the end. The cat 5 comes out of the keyboard and immediately terminates in a plug.  I bought a jack for the pedal end at Lowes and though I've never done it before, putting the female cat 5 adapter onto the end of a freshly cut cable was super easy.
 



I read that aluminum foil would work for my pedals but as I built it I was constantly stopping to test and it never gave me any trouble.  Attempting to solder wires to aluminum foil was almost wasted effort.  I guess aluminum doesn't take solder?  I ended up mostly soldering to a fold or rough edge of the foil, using way too much solder and then covering the whole thing with hot glue.  Seems to work okay.

The actual pedals are made from some scraps of optix acrylic.  It's springy enough to give under pressure, but stiff enough to hold itself up otherwise.  I used 1/8inch scraps to hold down one end of the pedal and provide the fulcrum.  Didn't need too much  elevation, just enough to disconnect the circuit.




I still need to put a nice finish board over the whole thing.  Maybe this weekend.  It'll provide a place to rest my feet between the pedals as well as a way to feel my way around the pedals without actually touching them. 

And then the biggest challenge is incorporating them into everyday use.  It's handy having them, but it's going to take real effort to make it a habit to go to the pedals instead of a key, then keeping my hands closer to the home keys without having to wander off toward a modifier.

[Findecanor]

I think that you should make sturdier pedals that that. At least use real key switches instead of something you made yourself out of foil.

The debouncing routine inside the keyboard is made for proper key switches. It is likely that you would get multiple key presses each time you press down one of those pedals.  Exposed foil would also be more susceptible to short by mistake or build-up from grime and dust.

[tp4tissue]

I think it's fine as it is.. 

He's still figuring out if this will even be useful for his routine..  No harm in running it for a while..


If you build out an expensive version now, only to discover it's overly complex and useless..   that'd be a bigger waste of money.

[Questengine]

Yes, this is absolutely a prototype.  I can already tell that I want a clicky feedback sound from the pedals so I need go get my hands on some more switches soon.  I'll probably keep the acrylic pedals and just have them manually hit a switch, they still provide a large foot-friendly surface that works pretty much like a pedal.

[suicidal_orange]

You'll need something with a lot more resistance than a standard keyswitch considering how much heavier and stronger a foot is than a finger.

I'm surpried the foil works but looks perfect for a prototype - please keep us updated how you get on with them.

[ErgoMacros]

Looked at foot pedals a while back. "Foot activated buttons" are *expensive!* maybe $30 each.
 
Turns out there are foot switches that work with tattoo machines, cheap (like $3.60 each) and sturdy.
Example: https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Steel-Tattoo-Switch-Supply/dp/B0061V7P4Q

Never did connect them up, but looked workable.

[Questengine]

Have not integrated the pedals as much as I'd have liked thus far but that's mostly due to it being cold in my basement and I have my shoes on!  My pedals are gentle, delicate things, for sock feet, not rubber soled shoes.

The few extended periods I've had were surprisingly rewarding though.  The realization that I don't even have to leave the home keys really helps me keep attention on what I'm doing.  Seems like it was Michael Abrash who's had a lot to say about how any interaction with a computer should take less than 1/2 second, and how waiting 3-5 seconds kills productivity.  And I felt like I was experiencing some of this when I was reaching for the mouse less.

My most used pedal switches layers to TMK mouse buttons under my right hand home row.  There's a pretty reasonable acceleration for a held hey and getting the cursor anywhere inside of maybe a quarter of screen is very pleasant.  Moving more than half a screen takes a bit longer than I'd like so I end up using the mouse sometimes still.  I've built an autohotkey script to jump to different regions of the screen, (imagine a tic-tac-toe board on the screen and the cursor jumps to the line intersections) but I only have that at work, not at home, so I'll have to get that home adjust is for different screens.

There's other things I hope to do with the pedals, but eliminating use of the mouse is the top priority.  I'll always have a mouse because sometimes all you want to do is sit back and surf the web, but if I could go a solid hour, coding in Visual Studio and not have to reach for the mouse, that would be a real improvement.