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geekhack Community => Input Devices => Topic started by: edogast on Mon, 10 January 2022, 05:20:56

Title: Has anyone put keyboard switches as mouse left and right click yet?
Post by: edogast on Mon, 10 January 2022, 05:20:56
So I was thinking if anyone has done this before? Like having mechanical switches as a mouse's left and right input. How would you even get started on something like this? any ideas? Can I just buy a cheap mouse and potentially just solder the mechanical keyboard switch onto the mouse somehow?

https://i.imgur.com/ueJPuETl.png

(https://i.imgur.com/ueJPuETl.png)
Title: Re: Has anyone put keyboard switches as mouse left and right click yet?
Post by: fohat.digs on Mon, 10 January 2022, 08:16:58
For one thing, keyboard switches are very large and tall compared to mouse switches.
For another, travel distance is much greater.
Title: Re: Has anyone put keyboard switches as mouse left and right click yet?
Post by: suicidal_orange on Mon, 10 January 2022, 10:35:06
As fohat says, the travel makes keyboard switches a bad fit for a mouse.  They could work if the hinge was at the front of the mouse with a big lever pressing a key switch which was at the back, but you'd need a custom case for that.

Electrically all a switch does is complete the circuit so you could use the internals of any mouse and just handwire the switches to the holes.
Title: Re: Has anyone put keyboard switches as mouse left and right click yet?
Post by: jennyluce on Wed, 12 January 2022, 02:00:27
Quote from: suicidal_orange on Mon, 10 January 2022, 10:35:06
As fohat says, the travel makes keyboard switches a bad fit for a mouse.  They could work if the hinge was at the front of the mouse with a big lever pressing a key switch which was at the back, but you'd need a custom case for that.

Electrically all a switch does is complete the circuit so you could use the internals of any mouse and just handwire the switches to the holes.
this would be great, he can get a case customized as per his wish.
Title: Re: Has anyone put keyboard switches as mouse left and right click yet?
Post by: Handke on Wed, 12 January 2022, 02:28:44
To make the travel distance smaller you can use:

cherry mx speed

o-rings

pre-compress the switch (using gmk silencing clips). They press a little bit the top part of the stem (the protruding rectangle), thus making the travel distance smaller. Surely you can think of something that has a bigger groove than those clips, to further press the switch inside the housing. Or you can 3d-print a small plate / gasket that will be added on the top of the stem, and be kept in place by the clip (the hole will be cross shaped to prevent rotations and to tighten the placement).


(https://massdrop-s3.imgix.net/product-images/gmk-sound-dampening-brackets/FP/iNyqoecZQgmtaCUJKDUz_AI7B9670_copy_productcard_20170614120012.png?bg=f0f0f0)

Or use different switches, cherry makes 3 other types of mechanical switches, with mx mount.
Title: Re: Has anyone put keyboard switches as mouse left and right click yet?
Post by: Findecanor on Wed, 12 January 2022, 10:32:39
Coincidentally, only a few days ago a guy posted on Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/MouseReview/comments/rx4b5p/gaming_mouse_with_mx_switches/) about one he'd made:


The innards are from an existing mouse, with the buttons put in the front.
Title: Re: Has anyone put keyboard switches as mouse left and right click yet?
Post by: smollchungus on Thu, 17 February 2022, 08:37:13
What i did is make a macropad with a trackball sensor in it, and mapped 2 keys to left and right mouse button


(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/850039254640885790/918413919335354368/IMG_6478.jpg)
Title: Re: Has anyone put keyboard switches as mouse left and right click yet?
Post by: Tastenplatte on Fri, 25 February 2022, 02:04:44
Quote from: smollchungus on Thu, 17 February 2022, 08:37:13
What i did is make a macropad with a trackball sensor in it, and mapped 2 keys to left and right mouse button


Show Image
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/850039254640885790/918413919335354368/IMG_6478.jpg)


Is this selfbuilt or can I buy it somewhere?
Title: Re: Has anyone put keyboard switches as mouse left and right click yet?
Post by: smollchungus on Fri, 25 February 2022, 02:06:34
Quote from: Tastenplatte on Fri, 25 February 2022, 02:04:44
Quote from: smollchungus on Thu, 17 February 2022, 08:37:13
What i did is make a macropad with a trackball sensor in it, and mapped 2 keys to left and right mouse button


Show Image
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/850039254640885790/918413919335354368/IMG_6478.jpg)


Is this selfbuilt or can I buy it somewhere?

its a prototype for a gb im planning to run!
Title: Re: Has anyone put keyboard switches as mouse left and right click yet?
Post by: YayItsKate on Tue, 12 April 2022, 10:45:00
Quote from: smollchungus on Fri, 25 February 2022, 02:06:34
Quote from: Tastenplatte on Fri, 25 February 2022, 02:04:44
Quote from: smollchungus on Thu, 17 February 2022, 08:37:13
What i did is make a macropad with a trackball sensor in it, and mapped 2 keys to left and right mouse button


Show Image
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/850039254640885790/918413919335354368/IMG_6478.jpg)


Is this selfbuilt or can I buy it somewhere?

Run it and let me know when! It's adorable :)

its a prototype for a gb im planning to run!
Title: Re: Has anyone put keyboard switches as mouse left and right click yet?
Post by: butre on Tue, 12 April 2022, 11:30:37
kailh black stem, jwk bottom, outemu no slot top, gmk silencing clips, and a ball bearing down the pole hole might make a passable mouse switch.  maybe a kailh speed copper stem if you need the tactility that a mouse usually has.

I feel like omron has already perfected the mouse switch personally.
Title: Re: Has anyone put keyboard switches as mouse left and right click yet?
Post by: Maledicted on Tue, 12 April 2022, 11:31:37
Quote from: suicidal_orange on Mon, 10 January 2022, 10:35:06
As fohat says, the travel makes keyboard switches a bad fit for a mouse.  They could work if the hinge was at the front of the mouse with a big lever pressing a key switch which was at the back, but you'd need a custom case for that.

Electrically all a switch does is complete the circuit so you could use the internals of any mouse and just handwire the switches to the holes.

I think choc jades would be a good fit. I have a bunch just lying around since they are apparently a different generation than the board I was going to swap them into. Yui also made a thread about how they fit into perfboard pretty easily (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=115334.0). I kind of want to do the same thing with some car key fobs that have particularly terrible buttons ... but I'm lazy, and don't know how to use CAD or a 3D printer, even though I have an old small one lying around I got for free.

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to just click an actual keyboard switch and know your car is locked or unlocked due to tactility without watching for the lights?