Keyboard Builders' Digest / Projects
MooseDash and MooseChair
A modified ErgoDash and its armrest-mounted wireless iteration by Ataruno – with extensive documentation.
Published February 21, 2022
Ataruno does an exemplary job by carefully documenting his projects. Wether you check his Twitter account or his write-ups at note.com, you can find plenty of ideas and sources of inspiration.
After his leather keycaps, let's take a look at the MooseChair, which btw was part of last year's excellent Keyboard Advent Calendar initiation of the Japanese keyboard community – but I missed it somehow.
It all started out as a modification of the ErgoDash: Ataruno wanted tenting, easier trackball integration and some keycaps other than 1U ones in the bottom row. Basically, that's the background story of the MooseDash.
This was a Covid project of someone without any experience in PCB design. Thus, to progress gradually, the overall shape and layout are left unchanged to be able to use of the ErgoDash firmware files.
After experimenting with rubber feet and adjustable legs from Amazon, Ataruno decided to incorporate the tilting mechanism with M5 size screws into the board design, using an existing case with attached tilting screws as a reference.
When the prototypes were finished, the next step was to turn the keyboard into a "keychair" by:
- attaching the halves to the armrests,
- making the board wireless,
- featuring a trackball to be able to do mouse operations with the keyboard,
- and improving ergonomics by designing a 3D-printed case – of course this would result in handwiring in contrast to the PCB approach.
作りたいキーボードのコンセプト#自作キーボード pic.twitter.com/yHKhySVXr2
— あたるの⌨キーボード&技術アカ (@ataruno_key) September 13, 2021
Using these armrests, Ataruno tested the concept with a wired setup first:
椅子に分離キーボード置くの、思った以上に快適になりそう。
— あたるの⌨キーボード&技術アカ (@ataruno_key) August 26, 2021
完全無線化したいけどBLEmicro欠品中らしいので、せめて長ーいTRRSケーブル作って体の後側に回せるようにするか。#自作キーボード pic.twitter.com/KslUZDJYpF
As described in a separate article, the sensor part of a cheap mouse was scavenged to create a DIY trackball and Sekigon's BLE Micro Pro kit solved the wireless issue.
Finally, while I tried to link to various resources, if you are interested in doing something similar, you should really check out Ataruno's write-ups who covers many aspects of the design process in detail.
Published on Mon 21st Feb 2022. Featured in KBD #66 (source).
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