this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2023
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ErgoMechKeyboards

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Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards

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Keep it ergo

Posts must be of/about keyboards that have a clear delineation between the left and right halves of the keyboard, column stagger, or both. This includes one-handed (one half doesn't exist, what clearer delineation is that!?)

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¹ split meaning a separation of the halves, whether fixed in place or entirely separate, both are fine.
² ortholinear meaning keys layed out in a grid

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I just finished this fun little keeb which I based off the Hummingbird, but I made it hot swappable, dropped the pinkies down more, made the thumbs more reachy, and spaced it for Chosfox CFX keycaps (tighter than standard Choc spacing).

It has a top plate and sound-dampening silicone gasket, as well as foam on the backside of the PCB.

Everything is open sourced on my github

tern top

tern quarter view

tern bottom

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Super clean! I've had Egret bookmarked for a bit as inspiration, and tern is now being bookmarked as well. Keep up the great work!

[–] crankin 3 points 1 year ago

Thanks Hazel! The feeling is mutual, I've had your badwings boards bookmarked myself for a while now.

[–] Choco617 3 points 1 year ago

Incredible, excellent work!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Really clean, great work.

[–] jhelvy 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is beautiful. Exactly the layout that I've been wanting too - 23332 for the fingers and 2 thumbs. I think this is the ideal balance between too few and too many keys while remaining super comfy.

[–] crankin 1 points 1 year ago

Thank you very much! I sent you a PM

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Looks great! Is there a builder YouTube channel that shows the design / execution of something like this? If no, maybe you've got an opportunity knocking!

[–] Choco617 1 points 1 year ago

The classic resource is ai03's guide, successfully used it myself a couple years ago to design my current daily driver in KiCAD.

[–] ryncewynd 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I guess this relies heavily on home row mods?

So far I've never had a clean typing experience with home row mods 😢

I love them, I just keep getting accidental triggers no matter what configuration I use. And eventually I have to disable them.

Would love to have them work perfectly but maybe that's just not possible due to just... That's how it is

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I use a 30 key keyboard and do not use homerow mods. It is definitely possible. I use mods on a layer. Callum (sticky) style mods on a layer are also an option. You can see my layout here: https://github.com/jcmkk3/zmk-config

[–] jhelvy 1 points 1 year ago

I've had similar experiences and have had much more luck with combo mods. This article describes the idea and it works well. I use a slight variation in that all of my combos are one shot so you're not having to make weird finger contortions to reach things, just hit the combo and then the letter. https://jasoncarloscox.com/blog/combo-mods/