Curating what's been there helped me find some ideas less common or at the edge of the keyboard/cyberdeck scenes, and inspired me finally start prototyping. Stay tuned.
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There's definitely other things I've found but didn't post if it felt too keyboard-focused (plenty of other subreddits doing that), or too boutique & cyberdeck-y (i.e. not everyday use).
I did something similar to this last year, but without the travel goal (just trying to get myself to move around and work outside more). Instead of mating the keyboard to the base, I attached some larger magnets to the bottom of the keyboard by setting them into a custom aluminum bottom plate (also from SendCutSend) and made a flat desk surface out of ferromagnetic steel.
https://ianthehenry.com/posts/kyria-build/bespoker-aluminum-...
One advantage of this is that I can move around the keyboard halves freely, angling them differently throughout the day. Which is also sort of a disadvantage, but they stick pretty well in place if I'm not trying to mess with them. I can also attach some other things that I slapped magnets on (mostly a mechanical pomodoro timer that I use for writing).
https://i.imgur.com/S0bstNs.png
I experimented with some alternate keyboard mounting strategies, but didn't find anything that made a big difference.
https://i.imgur.com/ohNWhhS.png
This is my second magnetic keyboard lap desk prototype. My first was far too heavy, so to reduce weight I just bent a piece of sheet steel around a piece of cork (the sharp bends add a lot of rigidity). I think the next one will be tented a bit... SendCutSend does bending now; I bet I could laminate steel to a thin aluminum frame...
I'm now waiting on my thumb cluster PCBs from china as well as my corne-style column stagger cores. I've also moved from raw header pins to JST SH 4 and 6 pin connectors to connect the raw row and column signals to a central board.
The intent is to play around with angle, position, splay, etc until I find something I like. The magnetic parts make it a lot easier (and cheaper!) to make changes.
I bought an inexpensive 12"x12" magnetic steel bulletin board from Amazon for the base.
I actually ordered a plain steel plate first, but I realized that given that I needed them in a different position to travel compactly than the wide position I like for typing, I wanted them to snap in consistent positions so it wasn't finicky to line up exactly how I liked them.
I used a piece of undyed vegetable-tanned leather that I treated with neatsfoot oil and left in the sun for a few days. The oil takes it from pale pink to an ugly, mottled liver color, but as it rests in the sun it develops that warm, rich tan. (This is sort of off-topic but that board was my first time "finishing" leather myself, and I like the look and feel of it so much that I've done it for all my leather projects since.)
Thank you for sharing your new workstation, Tristan. This one looks quite a bit less intimidating than the last one--I think I'll finally start dabbling in the DIY keyboard world.
One thing I need to figure out/work on is how to turn the output from any of the DIY designs into PS/2 signals. My desktop setup requires that.
Currently using the PS/2 version of https://www.ergodirect.com/product_info.php?products_id=450, which has been discontinued for a while. If this keyboard dies, DIY might be the only option for an ergonomic PS/2 keyboard.
Converting PS/2 signals to USB is trivial.
USB to PS/2 is a different story. Only a small subset of USB keyboards support it. They keyboard basically needs to send PS/2 over USB.
The most difficult part for me was getting the screw holes lined up for VESA mount. I didn't have access to a 3D printer, so I was just cutting wood panel and drilling holes by hand.
Also PVC was too unwieldy. Making the necessary hinge joints was hard because of how much space the pipe took up.
Hmm, now I want to revisit my design. If only I had more time.
Also, I now have access to 3D printers, laser cutters, and a CNC machine at the STEM lab of my local public library. It's actually a shame how underutilized this place is. I was there during open hours, and no one was using any equipment except for the 3D printer. There is also a recording studio.
Use a blind hole transfer punch. You can make your own with the right sized bolt and a grinder.
https://www.amazon.com/TTC-Blind-Hole-Spotter-Diameter/dp/B0...
I can use it sitting down like a traditional desk, or standing up. Occasionally I bring it all the way down and squat in front of it. Surprisingly challenging.
It packs rather slim but it’s not as fancy as the Amazon version
0 https://www.amazon.com/TRIPODSY-Portable-Standing-Adjustable...
I am so happy with the set up that I am currently weighing up buying a second one despite the price and storing it away in case it all kicks off in Taiwan in the next couple of years and my Moonlander breaks. Sad that we have to consider such things now but possibly prudent.
For anyone interested: https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/platform/
Where 'ianthehenry mentioned here[1] they've made a desk surface out of steel, I pretty much fainted reading it.
(Worst related working experience in my life was, a few jobs back, customers' brand new headquarters built in the "modern" style of carpets + glass + aluminum. There, every single surface would shock me when I touched it with my bare hands - even glass window panes were out to get me.)
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[0] - Any of the several chairs I tried. So it's not just about the chair, I think.
I actually liked having a steel top desk - I learned (conditioned myself) to put my hand on top of the desk while standing up, so the charge would let itself out of my hand gingerly rather than building up and blowing up my phone when I reached to pick it up. So I put a piece of aluminum tape and wired it to a grounded case (like my PC or directly to an outlet ground) and learned to put a finger on it every time I stood up.
I also use a lot of heavy duty staticide on fabrics. https://www.aclstaticide.com/products/heavy-duty-staticide
In some places I've had to use remote KVM extenders, which are HIGHLY susceptible to ESD pulses from office chairs. A few times every hour the screen blacks out for a second, usually returning to normal, just because someone stood up. D.C. Smith wrote a few papers [0][1] on it that bolstered the ESD-safe industry.
Apparently so are HDMI cables. A HN thread few months ago clued me in on this, and this solved a weird issue I had with my work laptop: it would randomly bluescreen; at first, once a month, but after a year it was closer to once or twice a week. There was no obvious pattern to it, except it almost always happened within a minute of me getting up from the chair. I suspected it was overheating, but ensuring it's cooling properly didn't help. The problem went away when I stopped using and actually unplugged the external display, and now it seems very likely it was the cable picking up ESD from the gas piston of my office chair.
If that's a big problem for you, it's possible to wear some resistor as a gadget and discharge via this resistor to some grounded thing. It'll limit electricity flow and you won't feel anything.
- shoes sole
- floor material (especially carpet)
- relative humidity
Combinations of all three explain all discharges I've endured :)
I put them side by side, and shake the table to see which one is more sturdy. The original wins by far. It is also lighter, smaller, and better designed in general, IIRC closing the lid is safer on the Roost. (The Roost I have is V3.)
I am not 100% certain Nexstand is a copycat of Roost though.
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-laptop-stand...
Closing the lid is fairly safe on my old one cause it hits the rubber discs, but leaves a ~1cm gap. I'm generally pretty happy with it and I've had it the best part of a decade now; my only gripe is that it doesn't adjust as low as I'd like sometimes.
If I remember right, I paid something like £60-70 + Duty (to UK).
The new Roost v3 looks sturdier while the Nextstand looks like my OG Roost, which I note they've now discontinued looking at their site.
https://willfennel.com/posts/2022/10/26/cheap-ergonomic-keyb...
I experimented with double keyboards and thought it required the modifier key to be used on the same keyboard as the other keystroke, which basically raised the bar too high for me.
These tend to be location specific but try to find regional resellers of the PCBs.
Also worth checking out r/mechmarket, i.e. https://redd.it/wvf9dz
I’m going to try this keyboard setup deal with the track pad in the center.
(I am not sure there is a good solution outside avoiding the mouse by using a mouse layer or something like Shortcat on the Mac.)
[1] See e.g. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK72285/
I tried using the expert mouse between my ergodox splits, but the movement was even more awkward as I had to bring my elbow closer to my abdomen. YMMV.
Over the years, adding variety/variability has helped me more than many specific solutions. Seems obvious in hindsight given the R in RSI :D
I also haven't had trouble using a trackpad, centered relative to whatever monitor/screen I'm using.
Good luck!
I have hopes for Framework but they are still missing at least two of those points. My current laptop is missing the no numberpad point. I had to compromise and that was the least painful one.
The tricky thing about these kind of ergonomic ortholinear designs is that no one mass produces a cheap rubber dome version, so getting one is a somewhat serious financial investment, on top of it being a serious time/effort investment to get used to typing on one.
Traditional keyboards are what everyone already has kicking around; so that's what people get used to typing on.
The case panels on Asus' Chakram X mouse (on way to a mostly tool less 15 second microswitch replacement).
https://thume.ca/assets/postassets/travelwork/case-open.jpeg
Didn't Eminem sing a song about the affliction of hairy palms?
