naevaTheRat comments on I 3d printed a custom sized keyboard using open source software and hardware designs.

I 3d printed a custom sized keyboard using open source software and hardware designs. (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 1 year ago by naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/3dprinting@lemmy.world

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/45765963

The design is based on the excellent Dactyl keyboard, generated with https://ryanis.cool/cosmos/ and it runs the excellent qmk firmware. It is handwired:

and I have also made a palm support using inkscape and openscad

All printed on a reprap prusa i3 derivative.

This helps me use my computer with less pain, so I want to call out all the wonderful projects and people who contribute to them which made it possible.

Total cost? $60 aud, amortised filament ~15 bucks worth maybe? and a lot of my time haha.

[–] naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com [S] 2 points 5 months ago (6 children)

I am maybe slightly faster than I was on qwerty once you account for accuracy (more accurate on this). I actually had some injury issues that stopped me practicing or writing much in general, but I would say I vastly prefer colemakdh and ergo keyboards to type on anyway.

I spent a lot of time fussing around the symbols layer (brackets, logical operators etc) and that's been a huge comfort gain for coding.

Keycaps have held up fine, the ridges accumulate dead skin a bit and need regular cleaning to not look disgusting. I actually have a resin printer now and since I've settled on my layout have been meaning to print some embossed smooth keycaps.

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[–] verw@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 point 5 months ago* (5 children)

Oh that's great! I moved to colemak about a year ago due to hand/wrist/finger pain, and it's helped a lot. My average typing speed is probably about the same as it had been with qwerty. My highest typing test speed (which isn't very important) with colemak hasn't reached my highest qwerty speed, though.

My qwerty speed now? Garbage. I even have to look to type lmao

I really need to switch to an ergo split keeb though, because switching to colemak alone hasn't eliminated all of the pain. I've been inspired by your post and might (ADHD lol) get around to building one soon!

That's good to hear. Ew, hands are nasty, aren't they? If I actually end up doing this, I think I'll try printing the caps, but might end up buying some in the end. Thanks for the info!

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[–] naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com [S] 2 points 5 months ago (4 children)

I would strongly recommend it. After switching I can barely tolerate normal keyboards as I now notice how much strain I'm under using them.

Just the ability to move around with your postural changes is so great. It's very easy to make your own and I thoroughly endorse it.

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[–] verw@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 4 months ago* (2 children)

I did it! Thank you for the inspiration and encouragement!

I was gonna use Cosmos for the case, but when I went to download my final design, it kept erroring 🙃 So, I went with Skeletyl instead. It's designed around a PCB, but I hand-wired it instead.

I took inspiration from a Joe Scotto video and got away with using one microcontroller by connecting the two halves with a network cable (plus one extra wire because I needed 9 total). I can only include one image in this reply, but might make a post about the build with more photos.