The Dactyl-Pivot Keyboard

This is a fork of Dactyl Manuform keyboard, which in-turn is a fork of the Dactyl Keyboard

Motivation: Closer Thumb Keys

For many people, Dactyl's thumb cluster sits too high. The Dactyl Manuform fixed this issue by using a thumb cluster that is lower on the z axis, and also curves downwards. Unfortunately, the Manuform thumb cluster ends up too far away from the home row, requiring stretching of the thumb to reach the thumb keys.

In normal keyboards, the thumbs rest on the space bar. The tip of the thumb is actually 1.5 to 2 rows below the home row, between key B and the space bar. Comparing with the original dactyl, the manuform variant's thumbs keys are much further away, mostly more than 2 rows below the home row.

Features

A pivoting thumb cluster.
Adjustable tenting.
No more hollowing sound caused by the big case.
Greater flexibility to key placement. We don't need to worry about installation clearance.
3d printing of these cases takes less plastic, reducing waste.
When customizing the design, each part can be experimented on separately, leading to faster prototyping and less waste.

Two versions

In this repo, we try to bring the thumb keys back closer to the thumb resting position -- 1.5 to 2 rows below home row, at the same time keep the thumb cluster low and curves downwards, reducing stress on the thumb. During this process we created two versions:

dactyl-closed.clj

This file describe a fulled enclosed case just like the Dactyl Manuform. We managed to bring thumb keys much closer to the home row. Unfortunately, not quite close as we want, due to clearance issue between the thumb cluster and the finger keys plate. We have to leave enough installation clearance for installing and soldering key switches below the plate. This forced us to leave gaps bewteen the thumb cluster and the finger keys.

dactyl-open.clj

This file describe an open frame and multi-part design. This design not only allows us to bring the thumb keys closer to the home row, it offers other benefits:

A pivoting and adjustable thumb cluster.
Adjustable tenting.
No more hollowing sound caused by the big case.
3d printing of these cases takes less plastic, and less time.
When customize the design, each part can be experimented on seperatedly, leading to faster prototyping.

Generating a Design

Setting up the Clojure environment

Generating the design

cd into the root of the project
Run lein repl
Load the file (load-file "src/dactyl_pivot/dactyl.clj")
This will generate or regenerate the things/*.scad files
Use OpenSCAD to open a .scad file.
Make changes to design, repeat load-file, OpenSCAD will watch for changes and rerender.
When done, use OpenSCAD to export STL files

Tips

License