this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2025

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271

I 3d printed a custom sized keyboard using open source software and hardware designs. (infosec.pub)

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

66 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

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[–] synapse3252@sh.itjust.works 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I will always upvote split ergo (column staggered) keyboards. Nice stuff, looks much much cleaner than the one i made and threw out 😂

[–] naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 month ago

I have improvements I will make on my portable keyboard for lappy, but I'm never going back.

They're a lot more comfortable.

[–] Dogiedog64@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago

Okay, Star Platinum.

[–] Rooty@lemmy.world 12 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

Man, 3d printing is punk as fuck, I love when people post bespoke shit.

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[–] Blaze@piefed.social 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Very cool! Can I crosspost to !mechanical_keyboards@programming.dev ?

[–] naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Nobody needs permission to post a link to something somewhere. What horror happened to you?

[–] Blaze@piefed.social 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Oh, I've seen it happen before, such as here: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/45667427?scrollToComments=true

Thanks anyway, I'll post right away

[–] naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 month ago

There are always lunatics, you'd go mad trying to please everyone. It's one thing to not promote harassment. But if you put something into the stormwater drain of the information superhighway it's flowing everywhere with the rest or the shit.

You'd get further cursing the rain for falling on you.

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[–] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I love those keycaps 😍

[–] naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 month ago

https://www.printables.com/model/396950-xda-keycap-set

[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Super neat. What are those knobs for?

What kind of switches did you choose?

[–] naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Knobs are for knobby things. QMK is extremely configurable. Sometimes they are volume, sometimes seeking, sometimes mouse x and y, sometimes scroll wheel, sometimes keyboard arrows, mostly decorative.

MX browns. I am distinctly not obsessed with keyboards. I just like being able to use computers in postures that don't hurt.

[–] shnizmuffin@lemmy.inbutts.lol 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

sometimes mouse x and y

The anti-trackball.

[–] naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 month ago

I have a trackball, but for pixel perfect placement etc. The knobs help me draw badly with more precision.

[–] Ajen@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What did you program your knobs to do? All of the above?

[–] naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

indeed. Layers like an onion or an ogre.

[–] beeng@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 month ago (8 children)

AFAIK you shouldn't need wrist rests, dactyl should allow you to rest on table nicely!

(I have a Scylla)

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[–] Fillicia@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 weeks ago (3 children)

Purple dactyl represents

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[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Looks so good. One day I will build a Dactyl as well, one day.

[–] naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago

Pretty easy with that cosmos thing I linked. you can literally drag and drop buttons and shit. Pretty neat!

The most time consuming part was cleaning up the keycap prints as that involved removing support material and a brim for each. Soldering was around 4 hours work.

[–] beastlykings@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Very cool!

Honest question, does using a keyboard like this make you forget how to use a standard one?

I know op did it for the pain, so it's a moot point. But if I did it just because it's cool, and to avoid injury in the future, would I mess up my normal keyboard abilities?

[–] naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I also switched to colemakdh with a series of layers and qmk tricks. My typing is quite slow so far, around 30 wpm, I was never an amazing typist but I haven't noticed difficulty with standard qwerty layouts.

It's not like you get confused between a harp and a guitar, or a spoon and a knife.

[–] lando55@lemmy.world 3 points 4 weeks ago

I see you've played knifey spoony before

[–] pupbiru@aussie.zone 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

for me, switching to dvorak about 10 years ago has made me absolutely useless at typing qwerty… i get used to it after 5min, but much slower than i used to be and wow is it paiiiiiin (both literally in my wrists - the reason i switched, and figuratively in that i feel like im fighting the keyboard for every word)

… or perhaps you mean the differences in physical layout

[–] naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago

I haven't noticed difficulty. Maybe because the layout is so different, maybe I will with time, or maybe I'm just ~~better than you~~ lucky :p

[–] gusgalarnyk@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (3 children)

As someone who runs an ergodox ez with a custom key layout and who goes in to work from time to time using normal QWERTY keyboards (both English and German configuration), you do not lose anything. It's incredibly easy to switch between every config you have.

I also think most people would appreciate a split keyboard setup because it's so much better for posture and health and comfortability. Would highly recommend.

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[–] swelter_spark@reddthat.com 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (3 children)

I use Colemak on phone and Qwerty on desktop, and never think about it.

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[–] voracitude@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

I normally use a Kinesis Advantage 2 (but in qwerty, unlike OP), and I can go back to a standard layout qwerty board with just a small adjustment period - I keep hitting "x" when I mean to hit "c", sort of thing. But it's an adjustment I can make "mid-stream" so to speak; I just use the board and get used to it again as I go.

[–] henfredemars 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Way cool. That looks really professional, too.

[–] naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago

Thank you, if I have produced anything decent it is entirely owed to those who went before and were selfless enough to leave directions.

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 3 points 1 month ago

What the hell is this madness?

[–] TwoBeeSan@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Respect for your tism.

[–] vala@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Too many keys

[–] ThrowawayPermanente@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The funny thing is that it's not even enough keys, you need to use layers

[–] vala@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

Yeah that was part of the joke. Guess it didn't leave well.

[–] naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Sorry your childhood sucked and you never learned how to talk like a decent human being.

[–] vala@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Lol ok. First off, that wasn't mean.

Second, it was an opinion.

Third, it was a joke.

To explain the joke, keyboards with less keys than this exist and it's a common meme for people to comment "not enough keys" when people share images of them.

Thought this was a keyboard community. Didn't realize it was 3d printing.

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[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Found a Planck user

[–] Thrashin_Victim@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Reminds me of something from the Neverhood Game.

[–] gusgalarnyk@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I moved to Germany and had to sell my 3d printer for the move, but when I pick up a new one finalizing a custom dactyl keyboard will be one of my first projects. I use an ergodox ez right now (they're amazing do check them out if you want a pre built solution), but I want as many thumb keys as I can possibly handle so I want to upgrade to a custom solution.

This is really cool to see, thanks for sharing!

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