Having done a board with similarities to your proposed layout, I think that you might benefit by a few more keys under your alphas that could be hit by either your thumbs or fingers. There's room and radial thumb fan establishes the minimum footprint anyways.
Also, I can't overstress testing the radial keys placement. I got mine right after a lot of adjustments and while it works for me, it wouldn't necessary fit all hands.
As suggested above, now is the time to also test the angles for the effects they have on both wrist pronation and ulnar deviation. The plan looks good overall.
I'll be looking forward to see this progress.
Nice. It’s a good idea to make the stagger a bit more aggressive than on the Ergodox for a flat keyboard. What are you going to make your keyboard out of? Have you tried prototyping it?
Having done a board with similarities to your proposed layout, I think that you might benefit by a few more keys under your alphas that could be hit by either your thumbs or fingers. There's room and radial thumb fan establishes the minimum footprint anyways.
Also, I can't overstress testing the radial keys placement. I got mine right after a lot of adjustments and while it works for me, it wouldn't necessary fit all hands.
As suggested above, now is the time to also test the angles for the effects they have on both wrist pronation and ulnar deviation. The plan looks good overall.
I'll be looking forward to see this progress.
Welcome to Geekhack qisqaqas! I find your layout to be very sensible. If I were you I might want to add an additional modifier key unless you intend to use keys that do different things when you "tap" vs. "hold" them.
I would suggest you print the layout on paper and try mock-typing on the paper prototypes. The one thing you might want to adjust could be the angle of the halves - which would depend on your shoulder width.
Good looking layout, I like the stagger and general placement a lot. Like a 60% Atreus :)
I agree with kurplop here. You can print out the layout and test type on the paper to see how the thumb key placement works for you. As for the splay angle, with a connected board you can move it closer / further away to change the angle of the hands to the board, so it's best to find the most comfortable distance and the most comfortable angle at that distance for you.
I found having an arrow and edit cluster in the space at the bottom of each side to be really handy, but you may have to adjust your outer thumb key angles / positions to fit them.
One thing I didn't mention the budget (I have the memory of a gold fish :) ). Main goal is to be cost effective. Signature Plastics offer 54 1x1 keys for 25$, and thats all I can work with. Kind of a challenge, but I like it.Personally I’d recommend ditching the top corner pinky keys, which are a nasty stretch to reach, and adding a couple extra thumb keys with those switches.
...Main goal is to be cost effective. ...
...Main goal is to be cost effective. ...
I don't think that's possible when making your own custom keyboard. I mean you can save by harvesting switches from cheap 2nd hand boards, etc, but compromising on the design in order to save $10 on keycaps is a false economy. You're putting all the effort into making a custom board, so it's best to make it as "complete" and close to perfect as you can.
You are right. Where will you put these keys? I found space for only one in the thumb cluster. And another one could fit on the middle. But I'm a bit unsure about this. Time to prototype! :cool:One thing I didn't mention the budget (I have the memory of a gold fish :) ). Main goal is to be cost effective. Signature Plastics offer 54 1x1 keys for 25$, and thats all I can work with. Kind of a challenge, but I like it.Personally I’d recommend ditching the top corner pinky keys, which are a nasty stretch to reach, and adding a couple extra thumb keys with those switches.
I wonder why no one ever considers deliberately using different keycap heights for simulating the different finger lengthsI’ve considered it at length. Basically, to do it right requires completely tooling a very complicated set of keycaps, with several different heights and angles, as there’s no easy/obvious mix of existing keycaps that does a particularly good job.
...You can’t really produce curved PCBs...
...You can’t really produce curved PCBs...
Oh really?
http://www.adafruit.com/products/1894
:D
One problem with curved PCB's is they still require soldering by hand since in most cases they can't be wave soldered and aren't pick and place machine compatible, so if the component count is small it's still better to hand wire. Another problem is hole drilling is more difficult to do accurately due to the flex.
But curved PCB's are definitely possible.
This stuff is pretty fun for projects, too: http://www.adafruit.com/products/1518
I don't get how the pricing works, but I assume you're not going to be able to just call up any company and place an order for a PCB that you want curved? Then the next steps will be getting the casing and the plate, and I quite doubt that's so easily done. Rather than wait several years for someone to do a Kinesis style group buy, I think most people should just get keycaps of different height profiles to simulate some PCB curvature
If you do make it Bluetooth compatible, I think I'd want to purchase this as my last keyboard.
Firstly, that looks like 3D printing? I am very ignorant, but as far as I understand the common form of 3D printing is the prototyping type that uses plastic that melts at 65C. It would be much better to print using some more resilient plastic.
It is 3D printing. The FFF materials mostly melts at above 100C, and above 90C bending can cause permanent deformation on some material.
Is that 3D printed case the same as this?
https://github.com/adereth/dactyl-cave
It is 3D printing. The FFF materials mostly melts at above 100C, and above 90C bending can cause permanent deformation on some material.
Do you have a name or description for this kind of 3D printing? When I asked more than a year ago the (possibly ignorant) people at the shop said there was only 1 kind, 65C prototyping, available.
If the 3D printing method you're using uses temperatures above 100C I think it is resilient enough to try out.
I'll probably not go with your design, but at least it is useful as a model many people can use. EG if you post the files I'm sure many people will download and go to some local shop to try. Cost and customability should be far better than getting a Kinesis advantage.
The current budget is around 60 USD. Without the case. But that's wont be more expensive than 50 USD.
UPDATE:
The case will be made of full powder coated metal, with bent sides. I'll redesign the top plate so it will have some feet/ears (I dont know how do you call it, we say ears), a protruding leaf on each side which will be bent and it will form a box with the bottom plate.
I really like the idea of a travel friendly ergo board since I'd probably be toting my to and from work. I'm keeping a close eye on your progress!Thank you! I'll update as soon as I can progress with it. For now, I have to wait for the parts. I hate it. :) I'm really impatient. :D
With these new design decisions do you think you'll still be able to keep it close to the budget? building a custom ergo board and am trying to figure out my best options for the case. I like the idea of making the switch plate of aluminum or some metal but so far I don't think that I can keep it within my case budget (which is about the same as yours).I'm hella sure! New design decisions are made because of the costs. I'll try to keep it low as I can. Now it seems I'll succeed. A rough estimate is around 90USD in total. The maximum is about 100, but this is only an estimated price, I didnt pay customs for the keycaps, and the switches yet (27% VAT, and ~10$ for the customs service oh yeah). And still have to pay for the case too.
I know its too late but I wanted to mention that I was able to order the same pbt caps from signature plastics (pimpmykeyboard) but modified my order. I ordered the standard base set but requested to exchange all the bigger keys for 1x keys (1.5x Key plus 6.2x key is almost equal to 8 keys) so I got 62 - 1x keys for the same price.Oh boy! I didn't know they are that flexible. Nobody told that. Next time I'll be smarter then.
There is this mod on the Atreus that is interesting. The creator has mentioned that he will develop a later version with Alps/Matias capability Although another column would be nice.You got the problem with atreus. Too few keys. And Matias is not an option until I can buy keycaps for it.
Looking good! G'luck on the bending.Show Image(http://38.media.tumblr.com/1ae80f94f4eb071d851c8d72afbae579/tumblr_mlxbpxvTMB1s74p4so4_400.gif)
It wont be a good option for you because I live in Europe. The manufacturer did the powder coat painting, welding, bending, cutting, so I got two piece/ case. It was cheaper because the manufacturer is a friend of friend. But it wont be over 50 USD in normal conditions.
....
It wont be a good option for you because I live in Europe. The manufacturer did the powder coat painting, welding, bending, cutting, so I got two piece/ case. It was cheaper because the manufacturer is a friend of friend. But it wont be over 50 USD in normal conditions.
....
But it might be useful info for those of us who DO live in EU ;)
Great job on the board, looks awesome!
So cool! I love that it's a metal case and the minimal design. Plus the layout looks a lot like the keyboardio layout with I found insanely comfortable! Great job.
It wont be a good option for you because I live in Europe. The manufacturer did the powder coat painting, welding, bending, cutting, so I got two piece/ case. It was cheaper because the manufacturer is a friend of friend. But it wont be over 50 USD in normal conditions.
....
But it might be useful info for those of us who DO live in EU ;)
Great job on the board, looks awesome!So cool! I love that it's a metal case and the minimal design. Plus the layout looks a lot like the keyboardio layout with I found insanely comfortable! Great job.
Thanks guys! I didn't expect appreciation from such a great names like yours.
I talked with the manufacturer, they do not accept international orders. :-[ Tipical in my country... Sorry.
http://imgur.com/a/BKKkQ (http://imgur.com/a/BKKkQ) images here :)
and accidentally built another one. :)Show Image(http://i.imgur.com/SjKK0pe.jpg)
Looks real nice. I want one.
Qisqasqas can you please post the key layout that you are using? I mean where you put the modifiers etc?
@qisqaqas Thanks for posting the layout. Another Q: don't you have problem with the \__/ -like edge pressing on your palm in resting position? It might have been better to make it something like /_____\ and stick on palm rests or whatever. (That way it doesn't resemble an underwear either, LOL!)
BTW any chance you can make another piece and ship to India?
Hi!Looks real nice. I want one.
Thanks! I have some spare cases — just in case — if you want one, its possible.
Vid here ;) https://vid.me/O8BA (https://vid.me/O8BA)
Hi!Looks real nice. I want one.
Thanks! I have some spare cases — just in case — if you want one, its possible.
Vid here ;) https://vid.me/O8BA (https://vid.me/O8BA)
I'm sorry for what might have come across as a rude delay in getting back to you about a spare case of your travel friendly keyboard. I haven't been checking in to gh as frequently as I should.
If you still have a spare, I'm still interested if that's okay.
Kind regards
Chris
Read all the posts twice. Really like what you did. Congrats
Can you take a picture of how it is under the keyboard?
Can you take a picture of how it is under the keyboard?
I already did. You can found it here (http://imgur.com/a/BKKkQ) or in the #36.