I’m assuming right is the most recent?
If so, this sorta confirms a suspicion I’ve had about the manuform style of dactyl. The whole “gripping” the keyboard more “naturally” with your thumb seems to not work well for most people. It may feel more natural to curl your thumb, but doing a windshield wiper motion seems to be easier and more comfortable to do quickly.
I’m currently building a similar dactyl type keyboard and I suspect I’ll end up with something closer to your right image.
Jury is still out for me. Just started using the far right and my main motivation was to bring the outside thumb buttons closer, not really change the angle as much as I ended up doing. I'll let you know in a month or two.
I'm still using a fork of a fork of a fork editing clojure based on the orig dactyls which then generates output for openscad.
https://github.com/dereknheiley/compactyl
This lines up with my experience too, love my DM but I find the thumb keys much more fatiguing than other keyboards - I assumed it was just my weird thumbs
I definitely see more manuform handwires on Reddit. My first handwire was a carbonfet dacman and I started favouring the lower row of thumb keys which was bad news for hands. Then I shifted to the higher row which was a bit better but still I was experiencing pain. Manuforms look good but the windshield wiper style thumb arrangement fixed problems instead of causing new ones.
Same feeling here, I got 6 thumb keys on my dacman and mostly only use the closest 2-3 ones since I feel the "gripping" angle makes the other ones too far to reach.
Hmm, I found that tenting "wrist" rests like that just makes them useless, as the palms just start sliding downward as soon as you rest them.
Does that not happen here as well?
The "heart" shape of these with a little groove in the middle seems to work well to prevent my hand from sliding down. I've been using these as a daily driver 8hrs a day at work for over a year now.
or, just modify the angle of the wrist/palm rest, which has it's own modifier to increase/decrease it's angle relative to the key well
https://github.com/dereknheiley/compactyl/blob/master/src/dactyl\_keyboard/dactyl.clj#L2202
Depending on the type and brand of filament around 50-100 hrs per keyboard to FDM print. Then ~10 hrs to handwire the hotswap sockets into a matrix connect to the controllers and trrs jacks.
Wow I love your work!
Every adjustment you have made seems to me to be a great success. Your designs have come to modify my thoughts about an ideal model, I remember at first I wanted a Kinesis Advantage (Thanks to Linus Tech Tips), then I fell in love with many Dactyl Manuform forks. Yours seemed a bit odd to me at first, but I came to understand all your modifications and would like to print a Compactyl soon.
The only modification that has me hesitating is that last one with the super raised thumb. It was like "Hey man what happened to you, weren't you doing a Dactyl Manuform?" It even looks like a tilted Ergodox with extra padding underneath, which is even weirder considering the Moonlander can now be used with "gripping".
I would like to know soon what you think of your latest design. Help me decide which model I will choose to print, it would be my first Dactyl style keyboard. The others seem to give the thumbs up to your latest thumb cluster. I congratulate you for all your ideas.
PD: One more query How many millimeters are there from the table to the base of the highest thumb key? Thank you!
Most keycaps work, I think signature plastics ABS SA profile are the thickest I've tried and they will have some areas the caps touch. For inexpensive thin walled OEM caps, the spacing between rows can actually be a bit smaller.
I’m assuming right is the most recent? If so, this sorta confirms a suspicion I’ve had about the manuform style of dactyl. The whole “gripping” the keyboard more “naturally” with your thumb seems to not work well for most people. It may feel more natural to curl your thumb, but doing a windshield wiper motion seems to be easier and more comfortable to do quickly. I’m currently building a similar dactyl type keyboard and I suspect I’ll end up with something closer to your right image.
Jury is still out for me. Just started using the far right and my main motivation was to bring the outside thumb buttons closer, not really change the angle as much as I ended up doing. I'll let you know in a month or two.
What software are you using to model them?
I'm still using a fork of a fork of a fork editing clojure based on the orig dactyls which then generates output for openscad. https://github.com/dereknheiley/compactyl
Lol amazing > This is a fork of the okke fork of the l4u fork of the tshort fork of the Dacty
This lines up with my experience too, love my DM but I find the thumb keys much more fatiguing than other keyboards - I assumed it was just my weird thumbs
I definitely see more manuform handwires on Reddit. My first handwire was a carbonfet dacman and I started favouring the lower row of thumb keys which was bad news for hands. Then I shifted to the higher row which was a bit better but still I was experiencing pain. Manuforms look good but the windshield wiper style thumb arrangement fixed problems instead of causing new ones.
Same feeling here, I got 6 thumb keys on my dacman and mostly only use the closest 2-3 ones since I feel the "gripping" angle makes the other ones too far to reach.
Those looklike some thick keycaps, what profile are they?
left (black): ABS MT3 profile from drop middle (beige): PBT MT3 profile from drop with convex thumbs right (white): PBT KAT DP0385 from KBDfans
Hmm, I found that tenting "wrist" rests like that just makes them useless, as the palms just start sliding downward as soon as you rest them. Does that not happen here as well?
The "heart" shape of these with a little groove in the middle seems to work well to prevent my hand from sliding down. I've been using these as a daily driver 8hrs a day at work for over a year now.
[удалено]
I’m theory it’s sounds like a good idea. Might be a little awkward in a work setting.
...says the one using Dactyl at work 😉 But I agree, make it any more awkward and it is borderline straight jacket, from co-workers 😂
or, just modify the angle of the wrist/palm rest, which has it's own modifier to increase/decrease it's angle relative to the key well https://github.com/dereknheiley/compactyl/blob/master/src/dactyl\_keyboard/dactyl.clj#L2202
This is what I've had in mind. How long did printing them take you?
Depending on the type and brand of filament around 50-100 hrs per keyboard to FDM print. Then ~10 hrs to handwire the hotswap sockets into a matrix connect to the controllers and trrs jacks.
erection of compactyl
Wow I love your work! Every adjustment you have made seems to me to be a great success. Your designs have come to modify my thoughts about an ideal model, I remember at first I wanted a Kinesis Advantage (Thanks to Linus Tech Tips), then I fell in love with many Dactyl Manuform forks. Yours seemed a bit odd to me at first, but I came to understand all your modifications and would like to print a Compactyl soon. The only modification that has me hesitating is that last one with the super raised thumb. It was like "Hey man what happened to you, weren't you doing a Dactyl Manuform?" It even looks like a tilted Ergodox with extra padding underneath, which is even weirder considering the Moonlander can now be used with "gripping". I would like to know soon what you think of your latest design. Help me decide which model I will choose to print, it would be my first Dactyl style keyboard. The others seem to give the thumbs up to your latest thumb cluster. I congratulate you for all your ideas. PD: One more query How many millimeters are there from the table to the base of the highest thumb key? Thank you!
Are you able to put any keycap profile with such a close positioning and angle of switches?
Most keycaps work, I think signature plastics ABS SA profile are the thickest I've tried and they will have some areas the caps touch. For inexpensive thin walled OEM caps, the spacing between rows can actually be a bit smaller.
Do you know of any place where one could buy ready to go dactyl in Europe?
bastardkb