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https://github.com/nickcoutsos/dactyl-deskmount

A dactyl inspired ergonomic keyboard attached to the front of my desk for a lower profile and more desk space.
https://github.com/nickcoutsos/dactyl-deskmount

dactyl ergonomic-keyboard low-profile split-keyboard

Last synced: 10 days ago
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A dactyl inspired ergonomic keyboard attached to the front of my desk for a lower profile and more desk space.

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# dactyl-deskmount

---

![dactyl-deskmount.jpg](outputs/finished-product/dactyl-deskmount.jpg "Dactyl and desk mounting hardware")



_[(3D Preview of assembled keyboard)](outputs/preview.stl)_



_[(More photos of the finished product)](outputs/finished-product/)_



## Goal



Essentially, make a variant of the [dactyl-keyboard] that doesn't impose

significant extra height above my desk surface.



I previously designed and built the "[dactyl-flatpacked]", a Dactyl made from

slotted acrylic pieces instead of 3D printed, and ended up loving the keyboard.

Like most non-planar keyboards it has an issue with overall height. The lowest

row requires my wrist/palm needs to clear around 4cm, and unfortunate

combinations of desk-chair-user height can exacerbate things. Ultimately it has

taught me to properly float my wrists while typing, but I still wanted to see

what else could be done.



Another goal I had was to have a pure and simple OpenSCAD version of the dactyl

that wouldn't require the complexity of compiling and executing Clojure to

generate unreadable OpenSCAD code. This part started out pretty well but over

time I got tired of limitations around code organization and stopped trying so

hard to keep features modular while still having something aesthetically

pleasing.



I still stand by working directly in OpenSCAD, but if I were to start

over or dedicate significant time to refactoring I would look into more of the

community OpenSCAD libraries for things like generating hulls from profiles

instead of mimicking triangle hulls and such that I saw in the origin dactyl

code.



## Inspiration



Through the mechanical keyboard subreddit I came across a couple of keyboard

mounting designs that helped me see the possibility of using ball-and-socket

mounts.



**ElliotCable: [Ergovox]**



This ergodox keyboard uses RAM mounts screwed into the bottom of a standing desk

allowing for a fully vertical (or any angle, really) keyboard orientation.



**Martin Körner: [Georgi stand with trackball]**



This georgi uses ball camera mounts attached to a tripod, removing the desktop

from the equation altogether. With the tripod you can precisely control height

and the trackball mount is a nice bonus as well.



## Design Considerations



**Desk mounted via clamps**



The tripod stand is cool but I work at a desk. Unfortunately when I'm in the

office it isn't my desk so stability is sacrificed to avoid drilling holes.



**Camera ball mounts**



I don't want to go to all the trouble of building a keyboard only to wonder if a

steeper tenting angle would be better. I also get to control the pitch and yaw

if I like. I had a lot of misgivings about this. Ideally it would be positioned

so that the majority of the the force put into the keyboard goes straight

through the ball to avoid torque causing the ball to slip.



Unfortunately putting the ball mount directly underneath my hand would take up

room underneath the keyboard and cause problems for the sitting position. I made

the concession of offsetting the mount a little with the hope that by the time I

begin to see obvious slippage I will have found an angle I like and print static

arms to clamp onto my desk. Worst case scenario, I can print a more traditional

base and use the keyboard on my desktop like an animal.



**Keycaps and layout**



I use choc low-profile switches because I had them leftover from an earlier

iteration I didn't end up liking. I designed and printed custom variations of

the 2u keycaps (because, quite simply, I like the Dactyl's thumb cluster) and

deep-dished homing keycaps.



The same positioning algorithm from the original Dactyl is used but with a

slight outward pivot of the pinky columns, and removed keys:



* no number row because I hate it

* pinky keys removed from row 4



Were I a braver person I would remove even more keys (the entire pinky columns)

and learn to love QMK combos but I never properly made sense of the config

options like `PERMISSIVE_HOLD` and `IGNORE_MOD_TAP_INTERRUPT` which made for a

bad experience in the past.



**LEDs**



I want to have visual indicators for things like Caps Lock (because I find caps

lock useful) and potentially notifications pushed from the host via Raw HID.

Admittedly I do think a few subtle lights can add to the keyboard's aesthetics.



## Mounting hardware



* 3d printed desk clamps

  * I include a cutout for 1/4"x5/16" tee-nut.

  * a 1/4"-20 x 1 1/4" hex bolt (with 3d printed knob and swivel plate) are used

    for tightening.

* 1/4" ball mount (I used a [ball mount tripod adapter] from AliExpress)

  * This attaches to my 3d printed clamp via a couple of m4 screws

* 3d printed keyboard bottom mount attached to the top of the ball mount via

  another tee-nut.

    * at the beginning I set out to use heat-set inserts like I've seen on many

      other projects but couldn't find a source for the right kind in a useful

      quantity.

    * I'm finding tee-nuts to be incredibly useful in 3d printed projects when I

      want to securely fasten things to a single screw.

* 3d printed keyboard plate attaches to 3d printed mount via m3 screws.

  * the design uses three m3 mounting holes on the keyboard plate matching up

    with three holes on the mount (one on the far edge of the thumb cluster and

    two at the top and bottom of the index finger column).

  * there are two more unused screw holes on the pinky finger column in case I

    want to re-design a more robust bottom mount.

* another 3d printed mount hanging underneath the thumb cluster holds a 24-pin

  wide IC socket for the pro micro controller. Ribbon cables conned the socket

  pins to the keyboard matrix and TRRS socket. A stripped micro USB connector

  connects from a sturdier micro USB socket breakout board to the pro micro.



## Pre-rendered parts



All printable pieces are pre-rendered (for my specific setup) and available in

[outputs/pre-rendered/](outputs/pre-rendered):



* [bottom-mount](outputs/pre-rendered/bottom-mount.stl)

* [choc-keycap-1u](outputs/pre-rendered/choc-keycap-1u.stl)

* [choc-keycap-1u-index](outputs/pre-rendered/choc-keycap-1u-index.stl)

* [choc-keycap-2u](outputs/pre-rendered/choc-keycap-2u.stl)

* [clamp-knob](outputs/pre-rendered/clamp-knob.stl)

* [clamp-swivel-plate](outputs/pre-rendered/clamp-swivel-plate.stl)

* [led-diffuser](outputs/pre-rendered/led-diffuser.stl)

* [plate](outputs/pre-rendered/plate.stl)

* [socket-mount](outputs/pre-rendered/socket-mount.stl)

* [table-hook](outputs/pre-rendered/table-hook.stl)



[dactyl-keyboard]:https://github.com/adereth/dactyl-keyboard/

[dactyl-flatpacked]:https://github.com/nickcoutsos/dactyl-flatpacked/

[Georgi stand with trackball]:https://stenoblog.com/georgi-stand-with-trackball/

[Ergovox]:https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/8ib8pi/something_a_little_different_the_ergovox/

[ball mount tripod adapter]:https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000183944867.html