undertheradar
[H]ard|Gawd
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Okay nevermind... delete.
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Anyone here hack/DIY a keyboard from parts?
- Thread starter undertheradar
- Start date
Hi Undertheradar,
I made a split keyboard recently from a couple of cheap wireless ones.
It might seem wasteful to have used two, but I wanted to avoid wiring them together (Its mounted on the arms of my chair) and to do it tirelessly (with one) would have needed an extra wireless board.
I have no idea why split keyboards are not more common, or why there does not appear to be a wireless one in production.
Anyhow, it is easy enough to do with standard membrane ones since you can fold or roll the extra membrane to avoid having to cut it. This does limit you when it comes to moving the relative positions of keys.
It worked perfectly for about 6 months until I spilt coffee on half of it
If soaking it in water doesn't work I'll be working on version two, I'm thinking a track ball/pad on the left half would make the pieces more equally sized
I made a split keyboard recently from a couple of cheap wireless ones.
It might seem wasteful to have used two, but I wanted to avoid wiring them together (Its mounted on the arms of my chair) and to do it tirelessly (with one) would have needed an extra wireless board.
I have no idea why split keyboards are not more common, or why there does not appear to be a wireless one in production.
Anyhow, it is easy enough to do with standard membrane ones since you can fold or roll the extra membrane to avoid having to cut it. This does limit you when it comes to moving the relative positions of keys.
It worked perfectly for about 6 months until I spilt coffee on half of it
If soaking it in water doesn't work I'll be working on version two, I'm thinking a track ball/pad on the left half would make the pieces more equally sized
undertheradar
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2004
- Messages
- 1,792
pb125, thats pretty much what I had in mind... just use a couple USB keyboards. The thing is, I would prefer to use them vertical or 'tie fighter' style for ergonomic reasons. While I could mount them to the side arms of a chair, that would also mean I would be strapping the chair to the desk unless I go wireless, but I really would rather not (lag). So I would like to mount a couple regular keyboards in a vertical manner on the desk (tried on the edge, but it means reaching for the mouse is a PITA). Going vertical means a very tall keyboard though. My monitor is about 10" above the desk, but still... keyboards are a good 18+ inches and would be blocking the screen. So Im thinking I will at least cut a regular keyboard in half, mount it on a block, and figure out some way to reconstruct the broken connections from cutting.
It's supposed to be good for reducing rsi/cts etc.
http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/96/6.20.96/keyboard.html
Plus I saw this:
http://www-ksl.stanford.edu/people/kpfleger/ergo/
and fancied having a go myself.
http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/96/6.20.96/keyboard.html
Plus I saw this:
http://www-ksl.stanford.edu/people/kpfleger/ergo/
and fancied having a go myself.
undertheradar
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2004
- Messages
- 1,792
Rather than alot of techno babble, the simple visuals on this page sum it up rather well if you prefer...
http://www.ergocanada.com/products/keyboards/safetype.html
http://www.ergocanada.com/products/keyboards/safetype.html
Hi Undertheradar,
I made a split keyboard recently from a couple of cheap wireless ones.
It might seem wasteful to have used two, but I wanted to avoid wiring them together (Its mounted on the arms of my chair) and to do it tirelessly (with one) would have needed an extra wireless board.
I have no idea why split keyboards are not more common, or why there does not appear to be a wireless one in production.
Anyhow, it is easy enough to do with standard membrane ones since you can fold or roll the extra membrane to avoid having to cut it. This does limit you when it comes to moving the relative positions of keys.
It worked perfectly for about 6 months until I spilt coffee on half of it
If soaking it in water doesn't work I'll be working on version two, I'm thinking a track ball/pad on the left half would make the pieces more equally sized
Could you provide some details on how you did this? I'm really interested in doing the same kind of thing. Thanks.
undertheradar
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2004
- Messages
- 1,792
He did it rather easily, I have tried similar with two USB keyboards as well... Those are two seperate wireless keyboards (he did manage to black out the opposite hand keys on either deck though as well). The left hand uses the left half of the left keyboard, and the right hand uses the right half of the right keyboard. I tried that myself as well, but I wanted them mounted vertical, and I wanted to keep the boards wired.
Perhaps there are some good 'low latency' wireless gaming boards out there, otherwise I prefer to stay wired for this reason. As a result, I had to mount my boards on the desk, and mounting them 'tie fighter' style doesnt work as well as I had hoped with 18" wide keyboards.