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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: bmilcs on Fri, 25 March 2016, 18:35:56

Title: ERGODOX: Interest peaked, experts wanted ;)
Post by: bmilcs on Fri, 25 March 2016, 18:35:56
Hey folks,

My interest has peaked. I've been looking at building a custom and doing my fair share of google searches and I believe the Ergodox is calling my name. I'm very comfortable soldering at this point and am excited about building one.

For those of you who use or know about them:

1) What case options do you recommend? I do not want to get one 3d printed. I would ideally like to buy a nice looking, full hand case. I use a Glorious PC Gaming Race wrist pad and am not sure if the full hand will be comfortable or not. What do you think?

Acrylic would be cool but I want solid, all-day every-day keyboard. With that in mind, I surprisingly want to do PCB mounted switches so I can have a little give as I learn to stop bottoming out.

2) I have 3 key sets from group buys coming in the next few months. Should it be difficult trading or sourcing a Ergodox kit with one of these?

3) Is there a character limit on the macro functionality offered by the controller?

I'm sure I'll have more questions but any help is appreciated.
Title: Re: ERGODOX: Interest peaked, experts wanted ;)
Post by: inanis on Fri, 25 March 2016, 18:41:58
Where is @TP4Tissue? That is the guy you want.
Title: Re: ERGODOX: Interest peaked, experts wanted ;)
Post by: yinzer on Fri, 25 March 2016, 18:53:29
1) Profet23 makes great cases. I usually deal with him on Reddit, but I'm like 90% sure he's on GH too as the same username.

He made this case for me.
(http://i.imgur.com/Wfv9w8w.jpg?1)

2) It depends, mainly on the key profile. If it's DSA, it'll be super easy to get matching modifier keys from PMK. If it's SA, it will be a little harder to match, but possible, also from PMK. I think you can safely rule out cherry profile keys. As far as I know, there isn't a cherry profile set that would have all of the correctly sized keys that match the ergodox's needs.

3) I'm certainly not that much of an expert to answer this question accurately. As far as I know, no. But I admit that I haven't really gotten very far into messing with the firmware beyond customizing my layout.

Also, quick mod: Don't go for PCB mount. I have yet to see a PCB mounted ergodox that didn't have a low-quality case.
Title: Re: ERGODOX: Interest peaked, experts wanted ;)
Post by: bmilcs on Fri, 25 March 2016, 19:03:44
Quote from: yinzer on Fri, 25 March 2016, 18:53:29
1) Profet23 makes great cases. I usually deal with him on Reddit, but I'm like 90% sure he's on GH too as the same username.

He made this case for me.
Show Image
(http://i.imgur.com/Wfv9w8w.jpg?1)


2) It depends, mainly on the key profile. If it's DSA, it'll be super easy to get matching modifier keys from PMK. If it's SA, it will be a little harder to match, but possible, also from PMK. I think you can safely rule out cherry profile keys. As far as I know, there isn't a cherry profile set that would have all of the correctly sized keys that match the ergodox's needs.

3) I'm certainly not that much of an expert to answer this question accurately. As far as I know, no. But I admit that I haven't really gotten very far into messing with the firmware beyond customizing my layout.

Also, quick mod: Don't go for PCB mount. I have yet to see a PCB mounted ergodox that didn't have a low-quality case.

That is one killer case. =) I will have to see what he can do.

So, it looks like keycaps are going to be my issue.
Title: Re: ERGODOX: Interest peaked, experts wanted ;)
Post by: AKmalamute on Fri, 25 March 2016, 19:04:17
I had a stainless steel case made exactly because what I love about a good keyboard is having no give whatsoever. You can use the Litster .dxf files but you'll want an adapter -- I can give you the thing that JDcarpe wrote up, which I also had cut in SS but rubber or silicone would make a kind of sense too.

As to keycaps ... There are a few custom kits that go through that have an Ergodox kit (there's a thread in /keyboard keycaps/ right now about it) but I just bought extra (extra-cheap) kits and stole their backslashes because that satisfied me.

So I think I'm not your target audience. As Iannis says, TP4Tissue is the local Ergodox zealot, but others who use macros can probably speak up to the normal limits (and since it's programmed by you, there are ways around that, too)

Edit: it's piqued, btw. Not peaked and destined soon to trough, which is different.
Title: Re: ERGODOX: Interest peaked, experts wanted ;)
Post by: yinzer on Fri, 25 March 2016, 19:17:35
Quote from: bmilcs on Fri, 25 March 2016, 19:03:44

That is one killer case. =) I will have to see what he can do.

So, it looks like keycaps are going to be my issue.

What sets are you in on? Being an ergodox user exclusively has taught me to be a little creative with issues like that.
Title: Re: ERGODOX: Interest peaked, experts wanted ;)
Post by: derb2k2 on Fri, 25 March 2016, 19:36:38
"piqued"  :(
Title: Re: ERGODOX: Interest peaked, experts wanted ;)
Post by: ApocalypseMaow on Fri, 25 March 2016, 19:40:08
paging DR. TP
Title: Re: ERGODOX: Interest peaked, experts wanted ;)
Post by: bmilcs on Sat, 26 March 2016, 07:47:05
Quote from: AKmalamute on Fri, 25 March 2016, 19:04:17
I had a stainless steel case made exactly because what I love about a good keyboard is having no give whatsoever. You can use the Litster .dxf files but you'll want an adapter -- I can give you the thing that JDcarpe wrote up, which I also had cut in SS but rubber or silicone would make a kind of sense too.

As to keycaps ... There are a few custom kits that go through that have an Ergodox kit (there's a thread in /keyboard keycaps/ right now about it) but I just bought extra (extra-cheap) kits and stole their backslashes because that satisfied me.

So I think I'm not your target audience. As Iannis says, TP4Tissue is the local Ergodox zealot, but others who use macros can probably speak up to the normal limits (and since it's programmed by you, there are ways around that, too)

Edit: it's piqued, btw. Not peaked and destined soon to trough, which is different.

Thank you for educating me :)
Title: Re: ERGODOX: Interest peaked, experts wanted ;)
Post by: bmilcs on Sat, 26 March 2016, 07:47:50
Quote from: yinzer on Fri, 25 March 2016, 19:17:35
Quote from: bmilcs on Fri, 25 March 2016, 19:03:44

That is one killer case. =) I will have to see what he can do.

So, it looks like keycaps are going to be my issue.

What sets are you in on? Being an ergodox user exclusively has taught me to be a little creative with issues like that.

Quote from: yinzer on Fri, 25 March 2016, 19:17:35
Quote from: bmilcs on Fri, 25 March 2016, 19:03:44

That is one killer case. =) I will have to see what he can do.

So, it looks like keycaps are going to be my issue.

What sets are you in on? Being an ergodox user exclusively has taught me to be a little creative with issues like that.

Nantucket, Pulse and Granite. I imagine  I can just order blanks that match right? Find the color code and I should be oK?