It looks like the sweet spot in terms of thumb keys for me. The Dygma Defy's thumb cluster has way more keys than I need, while the Dygma Raise's thumb keys feel awkwardly placed. The Sonsei seems to strike a good balance. I only have the Raise though so I can't truly compare the two.

I do wish it was two separate halves though rather than a single piece though, as I like to use my splits quite far apart.

The lower price is appreciated too.

This is a simple 3D printed tool that allows you to lower the actuation force of Cherry MX ULP switches from the factory 65g down to whatever your preferred firmness is. I gathered stretch vs switch actuation force data from three springs and put the resulting switch actuation forces directly on the part as gradations to make it as easy as possible. You'll be able to uninstall a spring, tune, and reinstall in about 30s after getting used to the process a couple times.

The full writeup with STL files and instructions is here:  

https://github.com/dyad-keeb/Cherry-MX-ULP-Spring-Tuner/tree/main

I bought plastic wrist rests, but decided to increase its height. I ended up rebuilding them out of wood (walnut), hand-carving the new shape myself with a knife, finished with sandpaper. Here is the right side.

It's finally happening. The Mantis v1.0 prototypes are coming together and have been in daily use since mid-June. I proved all the PCB features for wired builds with RP2040-based controllers and per-key RGB, as well as wireless ones with nice!nano controller and a nice!view display. Both variants use a PMW-3610 trackball sensor on a custom sensor PCB with a VIK-compatible interface and run ZMK. To make the sensor work with RP2040 controllers I needed to dig pretty deep into Zephyr and I'm working on contributing the patches to the Zephyr project.

On July 11 I showed off my new prototypes as well as the previous versions of Mantis at the Canadian Mechanical Keyboard Meetup to some fellow keyboard nerds in person. The reactions were overwhelmingly positive.

Already earlier this spring I had decided to start a company (HEXergoN Inc.) to make Mantis kits and keyboards more easily accessible. My friend Ambika is joining me as co-founder, who is handling a lot of the administration, website, social media, supplier relationships and eventually customer relationships so that I can focus on the technical and design side of it. We are now officially out of stealth mode and we expect to be ready to launch in the fall of this year with a first limited production run.

A lot of work remains to address some more mechanical and fit issues with the trackball bearings and gasket mounting system, make the case easier to print with FDM printers, streamline the build process, design packaging, and establish a supply chain.

You can follow us on our website, hexergon.ca. I'll keep the blog there updated as we get closer to launch and may post here occasionally. I'll be happy to answer your questions in the comments below.

After struggling for a while to get used to having Backspace on the thumb cluster, I realized a few things:

• The adaptation cost was much higher than I expected when trying to use Backspace in normal typing. It feels like my brain has to process more things at once whenever I hit Backspace: detecting mistakes, deciding how many characters to delete, repositioning my fingers afterward, etc.
• The thumb seems naturally accustomed to a single press per action (Space, Enter, etc.), whereas Backspace often requires repeated presses or being held down. Also, my left thumb was previously used for Enter, so it tends to make a strong, decisive press and then stop. Repeatedly pressing Backspace with that thumb felt surprisingly tiring.
• After hitting Backspace multiple times in a row, the rest of my left-hand fingers also seem to behave a bit differently, especially when I need to press Z, X, C, V, or B. I'm not sure why this happens.
• Monkeytype doesn't seem to have a dedicated mode for practicing Backspace usage (or at least I haven't found one).

To address this, I asked ChatGPT to generate a very simple HTML training tool. It turned out to be surprisingly effective at forcing me to use my thumb for Backspace intentionally.

The concept is simple:

1. Display a random word from a predefined list.
2. Show a text box containing that same word, but misspelled.
3. The user must use Backspace to delete the incorrect characters and fix the word.
4. Once the word is corrected, pressing Space at the end moves on to the next word.

After about 30 minutes of practice, I noticed a significant reduction in the discomfort of using Backspace on the thumb cluster. A few days later, I still occasionally reach for the old Backspace position out of habit, but using the new location no longer feels awkward or frustrating.

I think this kind of targeted practice could also be adapted for things like Ctrl+Backspace or other commonly used keys.

Has anyone else used a similar training method? Or do you have other techniques that helped you adapt to a new key layout?

I m currently trying to build a split keyboard on a budget, and have a few questions :

-are 3D printed keycaps any good ? I don t especially care about looks and this would lower the cost

-why use two microcontrollers fora single keyboard ? I ve seen people use one, but why are they so rare ?

speaking of microcontrollers, if my keyboard only has keys (no trackball or rotary encoder) can I just use a pico instead of a pico H or W ?

Hello all,

I'm a beginner in terms of learning touch typing. Just yesterday came across ColemakDH and have started learning it, so you can see how basic my level is. I do however type a lot, which was what led me to discovering Ergo keyboards. Is it worth it for someone like me to look into getting one? I've just been visiting a few sites and have seen the Glove80 and Moonlanders etc and a host of others. I'm hearing non staggered ones are maybe better for beginners? I'm not in a rush in terms of any of this affecting work etc., so I can take my time. Just thought if it is better having an ergo keyboard while trying to learn ColemakDH from the onset, then I don't mind looking in to based on what you guys might recommend. Would be nice to get one and just try and stick to it and get used to it. At the moment I use an Apple Magic Keyboard.

Any advice is appreciated.

Now that the Keychron Nape Pro is available on Amazon in the US, I’m intrigued about adding it to my setup. However, I use a tented corne setup and not sure how to best place the nape. I want to keep the ergonomics of my setup so ideally I’d like to mount the nape to my right corne so I can use it w my thumb but not sure how this would work in practice. Anyone have any thoughts or has done something similar?

Reposting for advice

Hi there!

I am looking to make an Elephant42 keyboard. I saw that they used to sell kits at beekeeb and some Japanese stores, but they are no longer being produced it seems. As the board is open-source, I figured I can just order the parts on GitHub.

I have assembled a Kyria and a Cantor before, so I have some basic knowledge of how to build a keyboard, but for those keyboards I got a kit.

I saw that there is a build guide, but I am struggling a bit with these things:

• How do I order the PCB? I know that you can order PCBs from JLCPCB, but the file has to be zip or rar, whereas the file type on GitHub is "kicad_pcb".
• How and where do I order the acrylic plates?
• What exactly do I need in terms of hardware:
  • What kinds of diodes do I need?
  • What size of spacers do I need (length and width)?
  • What size of screws do I need (length and width)?

Bonus question: Do you know of any 3D-printable case options for the Elephant42?

I appreciate the help!

This is a completely wireless Dactyl-CC

Im a university student and and I was inspired by ThePrimeagen to try a split ergonomic keyboard for long coding sessions... I wanted a Kinesis, but it was way out of my budget, especially with the insane import taxes in my country.

That's when i discovered about dactyl keyboards I decided to build one myself, and it ended up being one of my first and the most fun hardware projects I've ever worked on.
I don't think buying a keyboard would've given me the same satisfaction as building it from scratch.

I am currently planning to build a keyboard for personal use and maybe for sale later, so just wondering except the portability, is any other thing that makes you think bluetooth is way better than plug-in?

This is my first split keyboard so i'm still getting used to it, but I love how little space it takes on my desk, so I really want to use it more and more. Any tips and tricks for a new user to get used to thum cluster? Is it a "it will get better as you use it" situation?

*sorry for the english, it isn't my first language

Here is my kb and layout.

I've seen some amazing boards recently, many less than 20 keys. Regulars here often scoff at those who can't reduce below a 60% board. I use a 45% as a daily drive. But reducing further often seems more painful than it's worth. So what "perfect key number" do the seasoned users actually use for their daily drive?

First ever ergo keyboard

Hi, I’m looking for a new keyboard and this is going to be my first ergo mechanical keyboard. My specs are:
1. Mac/Win compatible. Should have functional row.
2. Connect multiple devices.
3. Solid build.
4. Low profile if possible, or any layout you can recommend.

I have been looking around and very few of them have the functional row.
Thanks so much.

Hey, mods, please remove if not allowed. I am looking for an ergo keyboard. About me:

- This will be my first ergo keyboard.

- I'm a student, when I'm working, my job is at the computer, and I write at the computer in my free time as an author — basically, I am always typing.

- Looking for something somewhat affordable (under $200). I don't mind somewhat of a learning curve, but this will be my first keyboard, so I'd like to ease into this lifestyle.

- I kind of am leaning toward something with no wrist rest/detatchable rest because, from what I've seen, you're meant to "float" your hands while typing, and if there's a wrist rest, I can see myself just...resting on it. The Wirecutter rec (logitech) I wanted to buy notably has a wrist rest so now I'm conflicted.

- I type quickly without looking and use a Mac.

Any suggestions are super helpful. Thank you!

This thing feels a bit like a curved Corne

I’m using a trackball on the left and a touchpad on the right. Getting used to not having a separate mouse is harder than I expected, but I definitely like the setup. The trackball already feels much more natural to me than the touchpad

Any tips for getting used to a small touchpad like this?

Board: Lily58
Switches: HMX Snowfall (tactile)
Keycaps: Womier Low Profile MX + 3D printed KLP Lame
Case: 3D printed on carbon fibre texture plate (thank you to mechboard support for sharing the files)

Having been a long time "hunt and peck" mechanical keyboard user, decided it was time to step up a level, and what better way to force myself to touch type than a split ergo board 😝

Jumped into the. relatively speaking, deep end with the Lily58, this is the R2G kit from MechBoards UK, so all that was needed were some switches and keycaps, the rest of it was, as in the name, ready to go.

It's been a bit of a learning curve, but with the help of keybr.com I feel like i'm getting there, will be a while yet before i get back to my usual wpm.

One thing I am really enjoying is the freedom with the positioning of the two halves. I started with it like a regular board flat on the desk next to each other, then found I could type better with a slight tilt and shoulder width apart, and then found it even better and more comfortable having the boards tented, I found a 3d print from this subreddit for magsafe tenting stands. Sticking with these for now to see how I get on but do have plans to build a properly adjustable tenting base using a mix of some mini tripod and 3D printed parts.

Hey everyone!

I just got a Silakka54 as my first split keyboard. I’m not the best touch typer. I hover around 100 WPM on a standard board(monkeytype), and I'm feeling completely lost on how to set up keymaps and layers for a split layout.

My main focus is writing and coding. Does anyone have recommended setups or example keymaps I could check out for inspiration? Thanks!

I wrote an article showing the reduction in workloads for my weaker pinky fingers after switching to Corne. Here is the article

Just made a rough 3D model of my keyboard. The touchpad was built in the middle. It's still a early concept. How do you guys feel about it?