r/ErgoMechKeyboards

Hey everyone,

I made a short video to explain a concept we’re exploring: a macro keyboard built on top of our Smart Surface technology.

At èlevit, we work on sensorizing materials. Basically, we turn materials like carbon fiber, decorated glass, ceramics and composites in general into reliable touch surfaces. Most of our work is in automotive, smart home and robotics, where the goal is to take reliable data directly from the surface of a product.

Now we’re trying to understand if this technology could make sense for a consumer product. The concept is a premium control made from real carbon fiber or decorated glass.

What we’re exploring:

• touch buttons with finger guides, so you can distinguish the keys by touch + resting positions for the fingers
• dynamic haptic feedback
• customizable dot-matrix icons under the surface
• modular elements, buttons + slider

For now, we’re mainly focused on the hardware, but we also have software ideas and we’re open to suggestions.

I’d love honest feedback.

What feels strong? What feels wrong? And what should we change to make it truly useful, not just cool-looking?

Found these in Dollarama after looking for something quick and cheap to give me the tilt I needed, these ended up working great and thought I'd share them here.

I just finished my Masters thesis, and my beloved 20% is looking a little worn. But that just means it's battle tested!

I've been daily-driving this off and on since 2023. It's not perfect, but it is good. Everything is right where I want it. Kailh choc pinks (linear, 20gf) to make the chording easier.

I've included my keymap. Light blue squares are chords. Any time there are multiple things per key, the bottom one is single tap, then double tap (or triple in a few cases).

Some of my favourites:

• Lots of tools for text navigation within easy reach
• Single key press for paired brackets/parens/etc

I included pin breakouts for the Pimoroni trackball, but just never got around to actually installing it.

Uses the waveshare RP2040, and I initially tried getting it up and running with kmk, but the tapdance was a bit too much for it at the time. Just using zmk now because it's what I'm familiar with.

(terrible quality, sorry) typing video here. No sound because my webcam's microphone made it sound terrible.

Hi! We updated the HandymanAI lens. A Lens that helps you with your engineering projects. There is new beta transformer training module, new conversation panel features including infinite scroll and various other small UI improvements. Any feedback on if this is useful or what you think we could add would be great.

Lens link: https://www.spectacles.com/lens/02a10bf1c6ee40e08f1f0c55a8584c53?type=SNAPCODE&metadata=01

Previous update: https://www.reddit.com/r/Spectacles/comments/1s9c218/handymanai_update_3/

The classic Microsoft ergo keyboard elite. It's still my favorite but they are going extinct rather soon. I use it mainly for the arrow keys. Some people play with WASD.. but it's the same because of the cross pattern. I would love to have options on brown keys , to red key versions to feel the difference. And maybe a little lighting would be nice. So comfortable, the other keyboards Microsoft had didn't stand a chance

here is the Link to the Repository.

I have 3D Models for each switch, along with all the major types of switches. If you do find this cool or useful, i would appreciate it if you starred it. ❤️

About a month ago, I made my first post about this keyboard. Now, after spending quite some time searching for the ideal layout and configuration, I feel ready to share my (somewhat humble) opinion.

I really like this keyboard. Over the past month, I’ve swapped keycaps multiple times, but eventually went back to my old, familiar set. I’m currently using two types of switches - lighter ones for the main keys and slightly heavier ones for the modifiers.

Firmware-wise, I’m running a heavily modified ZMK based on Townk repo.

Some of the key improvements:

- Built against upstream ZMK on Zephyr 4.1
- Standalone &molock behavior module
- Vendored shields
- Vista508 widgets ported to LVGL 9
- Reshuffled base-layer thumb cluster, and more

A couple of downsides I’m currently dealing with:

- The keyboard occasionally freezes at random moments. It seems like the central part hangs. I’ve experimented with power settings, disabled experimental features, added a watchdog, implemented counters and displayed them on the screen for debugging - with mixed results so far. Still investigating.
- The central unit’s battery drains noticeably faster, which is quite odd. I might eventually try replacing the controller to rule that out.

Despite these issues, I’m very happy with the keyboard. Even though I own some great boards - Corne42, Piantor Pro, ZSA Voyager + Trackball - I keep coming back to the Rolio46.

If anyone’s interested in my ZMK config (supports both Rolio46 and Corne42), here’s the repo.

Link to the previous post.

It's the Klor by Geist: https://github.com/GEIGEIGEIST/KLOR

I'm probably going to mount it further back? I don't quite know yet but I'll figure it out. It has been really fun and I hope this even slightly helps with my rsi. :)

There have been keyboards that are portable and there have been keyboards that have integrated pointing devices, but to date there haven't been any keyboards that combine both features. With this new design I intend to change that.

I'm reaching the end of the design phase on my new keyboard, Androphage. It's a folding unibody split keyboard with 44 keys and a finger trackball in the center. When the keyboard is closed, all the more delicate components --- switches, keycaps, screen --- are protected inside the rugged SLS nylon case. Additionally the trackball is secured in-place by the folding base of the keyboard.

Additional Renders

• Front View

• Top View

• Key Layout

Highlights:

• Unibody with fixed 15° split angle* and 10° tent angle.

• 44 keys: 3x5, plus 4 thumb keys, row 5** middle and ring finger keys, and key that can either be a very tucked thumb key or a row 5 index finger key.

• Rugged SLS nylon case.

• NRF52850 microcontroller and ZMK firmware for Bluetooth, dongle, or wired connectivity.

• Dual-sensor 34mm trackball is capable of 3-axis control, i.e. twist-to-scroll à la Kensington SlimBlade.

• Trackball uses ball transfer units (BTUs) as bearings for maximum smoothness.

• Nice!View or similar screen for layer, pairing, and charging status.

• Low power consumption microcontroller and trackball sensors (PMW3610) paired with a 300 mAh LiPo battery for days or weeks of battery life.

• USB-C charging and connectivity.

• Compatible with Kailh Choc V1, Kailh Choc V2, and Gateron Low Profile (KS-33) switches.

• Designed for Chicago Steno or KLP Lamé keycaps but can potentially be adapted for other low-to-mid-profile keycaps.

• The custom hinges are SLM stainless steel for maximum durability.

• There is space inside the base for storing the charging cable.

• Unfolded dimensions: 290 x 135 x 62 mm

• Folded dimensions: 148 x 135 x 45 mm

* Measured between the centerline of the keyboard and the axis of the index finger key column.

** That is, two rows below the home row, equivalent to the modifier row on an ANSI/ISO keyboard.

Interest Check

I'm getting ready to start building a short run of prototypes. To defray some of the cost of prototyping I'm looking to sell some of them at cost --- I'd roughly estimate $300. It will probably take 3-4 months for me to source all the components, assemble, test, debug, etc. before I'm ready to ship. I'm not taking orders or payments at this time, just checking whether there's interest.

Your feedback is appreciated if you have any suggestions for improvements to the design.

Open Source

This project is licensed under the CERN Open Hardware License, Strongly Reciprocal 2.0. The source code is available at https://github.com/Silcantar/androphage.

I bought the corne v4.1 from alix.

Board: Corne v4.1 prebuilt only because of the price.

Keycaps: Idk I just found them laying around. I believe the white caps might also be from alix and the black keycaps are from amazon that I originally got for my Wooting.

Switches: The board came with switches that kind of look like Graywood v4s.

Layout: I use the Colemak layout and I have not changed the layers that much but I might soon.

I've had this keyboard for around 5 ish days now and I've enjoyed it very much. It looks amazing, feels even better and has fixed my wrist pain!

The main reason that I bought the Corne and was even looking into split keyboards in the first place was because my wrists and left pinky were dying from the uncomfortable position that my hands were in and how weirdly I had to move in order to type the enter key.

I actually bought a split keyboard before this from the same seller, the "Borne" It was just a Corne with an extra number row. The Borne felt amazing with silent pinks and made me realize how good the thumb clusters and extra layers were! However, I had two gripes with it, both of which are completely personal preferences. One, the silent switches felt weird and mushy which I get a lot of people like but they are just not for me and unfortunately I did not have any extra switches to use. Second, I didn't like the look of the number row and I did not want to use it and I wanted a more minimal keyboard. So, I packed it up and returned it and got a Corne v4.1.

The experience of switching over wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. it took me around 3 days to switch my muscle memory of using my pointer finger to press the c key to now using my middle finger like you should. It took me another day and a half ish to learn how to use the numbers, symbols, and the arrow keys.

Overall the experience typing is amazing and I will remap the period and comma keys onto the number layer and I think I would want to try a 36 key layout some time in the future.

11/10 keyboard, thank you for reading my post!