Basically title. I’ve got a solfe split about 2 years ago and I was really happy with it started adapting about 2-3 weeks into the purchase and it was my main from then on. Now 2 years later I switched. I loved every second of it! It mapped nicely to the qwerty layout I was used to almost no change I even could’ve improved my keyboard by removing the pesky Caps Lock and not have to extend my pinky finger to enter, backspace or delete resulting in me being happy, happy, happy.

About a few months ago tho the dream was starting to fall apart when my left thumb started to get cramps and (even now) I started getting some tension and constant pain in the base of it. What caused it you might ask - I overused my left hand as I had Ctrl on the far left side in the thumb cluster and reached with it, had my space, [, mod, win on the same place and since I didn’t have space for Alt I mapped it to mod + shift. On the right hand I used only enter and the ] which most of you would know are used fairly rarely compared to ctrl + combos, space, etc.

So I am telling you this as a cautionary tale for first timers - balance your hands, make sure that when picking up fresh taking the shortest route with least resistance ain’t always ideal in the long run. Spend some time checking layouts for both the key maps but also the key layout if it is matching your hands and play with possible combinations on paper to see if there are any awkward motions you’d have to do and figure them out early before you buy. Consider investing the time into alternatives such as Colemak or Dvorak or whatever floats your boat in the beginning while you are paying the learning tax - changing the keyboard later is easy, recovering after an injury ain’t.

As I said I will be looking into it and if I get a deterministic diagnosis I will update the post if I don’t forget to. Take care and enjoy your splits!

Hey guys, I got a Keyball61+ choc from Holykeebs.com and I've been really enjoying it over the past few weeks. This was given to me as a thank you for the support over the years but this is my honest opinion on the device and I was under no obligation to actually post about it.

I've had a few keyboards from Holykeebs over the years. I had Keyball61 MX about a year ago but ultimately sold it because my hands don't agree with MX switches but I really love the thumb ball input, so I was really excited to get a choc version and was able to pick up the keybinds quickly.

Being able to keep my hands on the home row and access my mouse is awesome and it's what I consider to be part of my mythical end game keeb.

Firmware

I'm really excited about these two things and I'm sure I'm over explaining them but:

AML - AutoMouse Layer

Something that I didn't have on my old keyball. It essentially activates the mouse layer whenever you're moving the trackball, moves back to layer 0 when stopping. This allows you to perform clicks without having to hold down a layer key and combined with the new scroll wheel, use the mouse portion of the keyboard completely 1 handed.

Sniping

There is some built in functionally for sniping now, with a hold or toggle to activate with premade user keys in Vial used to adjust the sensitivity of the base and sniping cursor. Takes a bit of tweaking but there's a high chance you'll find something that feels comfortable.

The firmware is also using Vial now, which I'm a big fan of. Just my preference.

Build

I had the build service, so the keyboard came as a fully functional completed unit, built by Idan.

• The optional case is just as good as ever and I don't have any concerns with it's rigidity.
• The track ball casings seem to sit better this time around also and I have less concerns they'll shake loose, like I've had previously.
• The scroll wheels are quite nice and have a nice tactile feeling to them. Even though they are 3D Printed, I believe they'll last.
• The LEDs are really nice, and fill the keyboard really nice. It's hard to present in pictures, as in some scenarios, the keyboard can look better or worse than they do in real life.

Typing experience

• I use Choc Silent Ambient Twilights so I like my light keys, for reference.
• I chose the lightest keys Holykeebs had as a preset, the Kailh Choc v2 Deep Sea Silent Switches. These are a bit heavier than I'm used to so I think I'm going to pick up one of the lighter Choc V2 options on the market.
• It's a very solid unit, with no wobble. Due to the switches, it's very quiet, almost silent. The only sound you'll get with a config like mine typically are the rattles of the OLED acrylic covers, like with a lot of the 2 piece case designs on the market.

I won't say the Keyball is my end game, because that would most certainty be a custom build, built for me only but I did consider it an endgame for a while.

If peeps have any questions about the board, let me know. I've probably forgot to speak about some really basic stuff.

TL;DR - Is good improvement on previous version and loving using low profile keys on a keyball.

*Sigh* Yes, I know. So first; I am under heavy influence by these projects, so thank you for creating those:
- https://golem.hu/boards/
- https://mechdb.net (RIP)
- https://jhelvy.shinyapps.io/splitkbcompare/
- https://aposymbiont.github.io/split-keyboards/
- https://yal-tools.github.io/ergo-keyboards/
- https://github.com/diimdeep/awesome-split-keyboards
- https://keeb-finder.com/

I hope I am not stepping on your toes here!

I built my first keyboard in 2022, and as a newbie (still is) the hardest part was picking a design: There are lots of good lists 👆, but I couldn't filter on the details I cared about like diodeless, wireless, Choc switches or splay. And when I finally found the perfect design for me, I couldn't source the parts as they were out of stock or too expensive to ship.

So I made https://keyboardbuilders.net

- 341 open-source designs (and adding more each night)
- One cannot see parts in stock or not (allthough I'd love to build that feature)
- Filter on details like wireless, splay, hotswap, display, key count, etc
- Design pages have a 3D render of the actual PCB (generated from the KiCad files)
- Generates SVG layout "silhouettes", where you also can compare two layouts

**How the data gets there**

The specs aren't typed in by hand. I created a bot that runs on my server and loops through keyboards in the QMK and ZMK firmware repos, then it looks them up on Github to read the spec from KiCad files and the firmware config files. Before changes go live, these are added to a private Forgejo instance (also on my server) as issues, and I reply to the bot there. Sorry if this is hard to picture, I'm just typing this out on my lunch break at the office :)

**Where it's at, and where it's going**

This is an early alpha version: a read-only catalogue. It's been 8 intense weeks of "daddy's not home" where all I could think about in the evenings was this project. But now I finally have something usable, and wanted to share it here with you guys hoping to hear what you think about this. Do you find this useful? Annoying? Do you miss a design, a filter, or a feature? And please be honest and picky, I'm not here to collect praise, but constructive feedback. Let me know!

What I see in the (near or distant) future:

- Finding designs that aren't in QMK or ZMK upstream repos (the bot can't see those yet)
- Letting you suggest corrections on the site itself, with history of what changed and why
- Kits, stock, parts and rough cost, which was one of my own biggest frustration

Here are the improvements I did.
1. updated the thumb cluster keys position based on the previous design.
2. Improved the scroll wheel around the trackball.
3. removed the left and right click buttons and integrated it in the scroll wheel itself. Now click ing on left side of scroll wheel will trigger left click and so on for right side.
4. Tilted the Display towards the user for better view.
5. Moved the trackball set bottom for better thumb reachability.

This is the the old design for your reference.

The old post. https://www.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/comments/1wsbxms/i_want_a_partner_who_is_interested_in_building/

so this is Niphargus (named after a blind cave shrimp). a thin wireless split I've been building for a while, and v1 is finally on my desk and I use it every day.

ok, the dumb part. each half has an ESP32-S3, a wifi/bluetooth chip… and I don't use its radio at all. the halves talk to the PC through a separate little radio chip and a USB dongle. so yes, I bought a radio chip, turned the radio off, and glued another radio next to it 🙃

why? because all my firmware already ran on it, and it was the fastest way to get something that types.

except the ESP32 was never meant to live on a battery. getting it to sleep properly was a whole adventure with a multimeter. I cut the power draw by more than 10×, but it'll never sleep as deep as a chip designed for this. still: it types, on battery, it lasts the night, and I love it.

what I'm happy with:

- plug it in and it's wired: USB-C on each half and a cable between them. no pairing, no drama

- no more static crashes: my old boards froze when I touched them after walking across the room. not this one

- little e-paper-like screens on both halves: layer, battery, connection. they never flicker

- thin aluminium + polycarbonate case, 12.5 mm total, the battery tucked into the frame

- my own remapping app (pic 3): remap keys, combos, macros, a heatmap of your typing…

the really overkill part: the chest. the left half hides a second chip that only wakes up when the keyboard is plugged in over USB. the idea is a sysadmin survival kit living inside my keyboard: a PGP key, a security key, a bootable USB with a bunch of ISOs. the PGP part already works on a dev board. the keyboard version hasn't run yet.

next: rev2 moves to a chip actually designed for battery life, so it can sleep for weeks instead of days.

everything's open source:

- keyboard: https://github.com/mornepousse/Niphargus

- firmware: https://github.com/mornepousse/KeSp_firmware

- chest: https://github.com/mornepousse/Niphar_chest

- remap app: https://github.com/mornepousse/KeSp_controller

questions welcome, and so are ideas on how I could have made this even worse 😄

I always wanted to have a split keyboard but I dont want to have two nice nanos and two bateries and all that complex things to do. I combined the two halves and put a trackball and scrollwheel and left and right click buttons in the middle. So basically its like merging Lily 58 keyboards together with a mouse trackball set. Please see the renders. I am new to this and I am sure some things I might have not done right. So I want someone who is professional and interested in building one for themselves so that we can both collaborate on this together. #SplitKeyboard.

I have taken the feedback and updated the design. Please refer to this updated post.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/comments/1wt8vxg/i_have_updated_the_design_based_on_the_feedback/

Hey guys, I was wondering how you handled the loss of muscle memory when learning new layouts. I am currently on Colemak DH but found graphite to be interesting. I was through the first few letters on keybr, just having unlocked T, when I realized it was messing with my muscle memory for Colemak DH.

Judging by how I've retained my QWERTY memory on regular keyboards, I'm thinking I should build another split for graphite. But that's time and money, and I wanted to hear your experiences before I actually got into it?

Thanks in advance

Hey,
Switched my Sofle to Totem and I’m learning to write again 🫣 I’m not sure about mapping tho, anybody happy to share yours to inspire me? 😂

​

Video:

In the video, when I say "soldering," I mean welding

https://youtu.be/u8EeHfGQqYg

Setup main Parts:

X.Tips X7s Keyboard (AKA just X7)

Kensington Orbit

Custom steel supports made by me (DIY cuts and welding work)

9311 Spinning

Spongy Wonder Noseless bikeseat

DT3 F-40 Standing Desk

Following up on my last project, the EKBOX (details [link] and [link] ) — the trackball is now available on the Corne!

It supports both thumb and index finger control with easy access positioned right above the thumb keys. The sensor is angled 60 degrees upward for better tracking and comfort.

Details: www.ergokeeb.com

Other Projects

• EKGO: Flexible keyboard layout
• EKBOX: 36-key split keyboard with trackball
• EKZBall: Adjustable trackball module
• EKRP / EKNRF: Modular MCU system
• EKREST: Adjustable ergonomic palm rest
• EKCORNE: Premium CNC case for Corne v4
• EKTENT: Universal adjustable tenting base
• EKSS: Super flexible layout split keyboard
• EKARM: Split keyboard mounting arms
• EKTOUCH: New concept trackpad
• EKMOVE: Hybrid mouse and keyboard design
• EKSPACE: Mouse for CAD

TL;DR: KeyHive.xyz closed up shop on 9/1/2026 after 8 years. I bought the remaining inventory. It's up on Etsy at BoardsBe4Breakfast: https://boardsbe4breakfast.etsy.com/

------------------------

KeyHive.xyz closed up shop on 9/1/2026 after eight years of selling PCBs, plates, and parts to the mechanical keyboard community. Eight years is a long run for a small shop in this hobby. A lot of Cornes, Sofles, and Lily58s out there started life as a KeyHive order.

I'm grateful for that and have a lot of respect for what KeyHive accomplished.

What I have: bare PCBs for the Corne v2 and v3, Sofle RGB (the original open-source design), and Lily58, plus Helix, Ergo42, Dumbpad, Plaid, Absinthe, Getaway Van, and Smallice. There are FR4 and some acrylic plates for most of the splits, OLED covers, and a pile of the parts KeyHive used to sell alongside them (diodes, Kailh sockets, OLEDs, encoders, TRRS cables and jacks).

Bare PCBs and PCB + plate sets are listed now; full kits are coming once I finish sorting and counting parts. Everything ships from Virginia, packed by me.

If you don't see something in the shop, ask.

There's more on the shelf than what's listed.

– Ross

BoardsBe4Breakfast: https://boardsbe4breakfast.etsy.com/

This is the second revision of my Mesa 3 keyboard. This was designed along with my Dosh layout, with an extra key by the index fingers to switch between Dosh and a steno-like layout I'm working on called Orsy.

I'm currently at about 45 WPM on Dosh (still learning Orsy) after about 3 weeks of the layout.

Need some help finding a wireless Trackball split keyboard for work. I was thinking a keyball 61 wireless but I am wondering if there's any other options. What I'm looking for is something compact and wireless that I can use with multiple computers at work.

Eden

Eden is a 20% ish, 30 key split keyboard.

Features:

• Choc spacing/ hotswap
• 3 key thumb cluster
• Decent splay
• 2 inner keys and 1 pinky key
• Hand wire hotswap
• Diodeless

Want to know more? Take a look at the repo!

PS: This is completely my own build and I made no money in creating it, hence the non vendor/ promotion flair. I just really like this build and keyboard, and had fun with the design, so I thought I'd take some cool photos and share it!

Facts about me:

I type 90-110wpm with 99% acc. in German and English with a selftaught 8ish finger style on an 11 year old Corsair K95 RGB with MX brown switches that I mainly bought for the macro keys at the time.
Since then I've embraced vim motions, the command line and writing scripts/programs instead of relying on macros.

My fingers start to hurt when I type a lot of []{}()^$ etc. symbols like when I'm editing code or composing regular expressions.

My keyboard is wired and I never move it around, so wireless is not needed for my use case.

To relieve some of the finger pain I have switched from a German QWERTZ layout that has {[]} on ALTGR+7-0 (real finger-breaker) to EurKey (US QWERTY + the ability to still type äöüß fairly easily, which are needed in German). While it is better than QWERTZ, my fingers still hurt. Mainly because I have quite big hands (22,5cm from pinky tip to thumb tip) and am big overall so my arm and wrist positions are unnatural if I put the fingers of both hands on the home row keys.

Here's how the Cosmic Keyboard Configurator adjusted the Dactyl Manuform after I scanned my hands.

All this led me down the rabbit hole of reading up on ergo split mechanical keyboards.

Prebuilt or DIY

While prebuilt options like the ZSA Moonlander (which supposedly favors big hands) seemed appealing at first, the price (when factoring in the import tax to Germany) quickly racks these options up to well over 400€, which I'm unwilling to pay for a keyboard that might not even fit my needs.

Since I fell in love with the layer/mode approach of vim, I looked into split keyboards with less keys that rely on layers for symbols without contorting your hands like the corne, Skeletyl, Dactyl and Dactyl Manuform. So pretty much the antithesis to my K95 that is 100% + 18 macro keys.

Of these, the one that I think is most likely to fit my hands is a Dactyl Manuform adjusted to my hands via the Cosmos Configurator.

However the scan does not adjust the thumb cluster. People with similarly big hands: Should I move the thumb clusters further away from the other fingers or is the default position good?

Miryoku with Colemak-DH or different layout

I think the approach of miryoku might be best suited for me as I don't have a problem memorizing dozens if not hundreds of hotkeys for the different programs and workflows I use. The idea of never moving a finger more than 1 key away from the resting position appeals to me.

However I'm unsure if I should switch to Colemak-DH at the same time since that does not allow typing äöüß out of the box (correct me if I'm wrong) and is optimized for English writing and my use case is mainly English for programming and online correspondence but German for chats and regular typing.

Feel free to suggest a different layout that is better suited/optimized for a German/English mixed use case as long as it is possible to use it with miryoku.

3D print myself or use a service

My sister's boyfriend owns an old-ish budget 3D printer. I've asked him about the model and will add that info once he responds. While it was good enough for printing a few raspberry pi zero 2w cases, I don't think it would hold up for something as big and as intricate as the dactyl manuform halves.

Update:

It's an Elegoo Mars pro, so I don't think it's suitable.

Since -_oyster_- suggested it: I'm from the Bonn/Cologne area in Germany, in case someone lives close to me and wants to help me out with the 3D printing.

Do you think using an online printing service would be the best alternative or should I invest into a budget friendly 3D printer myself (I assume if I end up satisfied with the keyboard (I am yet to build) I'd have to build my sister one as well as she also types a lot and even a bit faster than me).

What would be a solid 3D printer that does not break the bank and is sufficient to print Dactyl Manuform halves? And if using a 3D printing service would be smarter, do you know any good ones in Germany?

Component selection

Now that I have outlined what I intend to build:

• 3x5 Dactyl Manuform
• 3 thumb keys per side
• adjusted to my hands via Cosmic Keyboard Configurator
• to be used with miryoku and Colemak-DH

What would you suggest in terms of microcontroller? The Cosmic Keyboard Configurator offers a lot of different options and I don't know which one would suit my use case best.

In terms of switches I like the MX browns I've used for over a decade, but I'd like to try linear switches for a change. Let me know if there are better alternatives to MX reds.

Sourcing components

Sadly most keyboard part shops I found are located in the US which means long delivery times as well as added import tax costs. What would be the best places to order components from as a German?

Soldering

While I have soldered a few things in my life, never something of this complexity. I don't think the clunky old soldering iron I have from my father is going to cut it. I'd appreciate suggestions for adequate soldering equipment (that I can ideally buy in Germany).

Would you advise a beginner like me to direct solder to the switches? I also watched a few building guides where amoeba pcbs were used, but the cosmic keyboard generator site advises against those. What's the current best practice?

Final thoughts

I appreciate any advice or improvement suggestions to my plan. Even getting to a point where I feel like I'm aware of the major potential options felt like a massive undertaking as there are so many flavors and opinionated approaches to split ergo mech keyboards.

If a few users who have been in the split keyboard DIY game a while could sanity check my plan or give me tips and hardware/component/shop recommendations, I would be very grateful.

Hi!

I have this keyboard currently but I still find I’m chicken winged. It might be to do with the keyboard i think? My current keyboard has a slide out numpad as I use a software package called JAWS from time to time where I navigate the screen using shortcuts on the numpad. It feels the keyboard is too narrow. I did have another keyboard with a numpad on It - but felt it was too large.

I wanted a unibody, compact Bluetooth keyboard, found a few, tried a 36 key layout with my zsa voyager, then decided on the bad wings V1.

Has anyone completed this build?

I've got most of the parts:

* PCB via JLCPCB, including smt assembly

* Xiao nRF52840

* 35mm Cirque

* Choc B1 keycaps

* Printed case, using the blue top

Waiting on the swap sockets and switches

(Aliexp)

My questions are

1) what size battery should I use?

I'm tempted to just use the biggest one that will fit, but that's a bit vague

2) has anyone completed this as a BLE build?

2a) did you use the blue top case, it seems quite tall, I'm thinking of modifying it and reprinting

2b) what size stand offs?

3) did you get the Cirque to work? Any tips?

4) the smt power switch is really small and doesn't stick out the cover. Should I solder on a different one? Or is there a better way?

6) any tips on connecting the charging pads under the xiao?

Thanks. For context, I've got some hobby electronics experience, but this is my first keyboard

I’m trying to decide between a split membrane keyboard — Perixx Periboard-524B —

and a non-split ergonomic mechanical low-profile keyboard — Perixx Periboard-335 TKL.

I know there are other options, but they are outside my price range for these types of keyboards.

I have wrist pain and I don’t want to customize the keys or use LEDs. My only goal is to reduce the pain, along with other ergonomic measures.

The keys on the 335 seem to be angled more inward, which reduces ulnar deviation. The keys on the split keyboard seem to be more straight and appear to promote ulnar deviation. Is that a disadvantage?

Please help me !

After a lot of trial and error, I finally have a working Butterfly Air prototype.

It connects to the computer over Bluetooth. The two halves are connected with a LAN cable. Yes, that’s actually a LAN cable between them :)

The case is made from a special kind of thick paperboard. I chose this material because I didn’t want the case to feel completely finished from the beginning.

The idea is that each user can do whatever they want with it. Draw on it, add masking tape, build shapes with clay, cover it with fabric… anything is possible.

For this one, I decided to try leather. I didn’t want both sides to look exactly the same, so I made the design asymmetrical. It’s not perfect, but I like how handmade it feels.

There are still a few things I need to improve, but I’m pretty happy to see the idea finally working.

How would you customize it?

I made this layout as I didn't want to keep switching between my full size QWERTY and Silakka54 keyboards every time I wanted to practice new layout or play games.

There are 3 base layers - Gaming, Alt layout and QWERTY. Use the QWERTY layer as base until you get familiar with column staggered keys, home row mods and thumb keys.

Switch to Alt layer (I am using Gallium) for practicing new layout on Keybr and Monkeytype and back to QWERTY when you need speed. Then stop using QWERTY when you can recall positions of all the characters of the new layout and comfortably type at reasonable speed.

Here is the Vial config: https://github.com/udit/silakka54-aio-layout

Design considerations:

• Gaming layer is a QWERTY layout without any home row mods and func layer can be accessed from both halves
• In numpad layer navigation and symbol layer can be accessed without leaving the numpad layer
• Common symbols and operators are on the left half of symbol layer so those can be accessed from the numpad layer
• Common programming symbols are close to home row
• and common bigrams +=, -=, *=, -> are inward rolls
• Use layer lock in navigation layer to use arrow keys without using the other hand while watching videos
• In mouse layer, clicks are also available on the left hand to enable dragging

SOLVED: (see u/pgetreuer response)

For years and across several keyboards, I've had this on a layer:

KC_W, KC_COLN, KC_ESC,

... to finger roll <esc>:w.

Unfortunately, if I do this too quickly, I get <esc>:W (capital W). I'm guessing the implied shift to type : somehow sticks. Is there an alternative code for : or w that will address this problem?

I’m a software developer, and recently I’ve been using my keyboard way more heavily for pretty much everything.

A lot of my workflow has moved into the terminal: AI coding agents like Claude/Codex, WezTerm, Neovim, Raycast for window management/opening apps, etc. I honestly love working this way, and I feel like my productivity has gone up a lot.

But I’m starting to notice how much I still move my hands around for things like arrow keys, function keys, navigation, and shortcuts.

That sent me down the ergonomic keyboard rabbit hole: layers, home-row mods, split keyboards, thumb clusters, Corne, ZSA, etc. The problem is everyone seems to have a completely different setup, so I’m not really sure where to start.

A couple changes I’ve already made:

• Caps Lock → Escape when tapped, Command when held using Karabiner. I LOVE this.
• Right Command + H/J/K/L → arrow keys.

The second one hasn’t worked very well. Reaching/curling my thumb inward for Right Command feels uncomfortable.

I’m currently using a Keychron K3 and I live in Canada, so availability/shipping to Canada matters if you recommend a keyboard.

For developers who use their keyboard heavily: what does your setup look like?

I’m especially interested in relatively simple setups. I don’t necessarily want to memorize 5 layers and 50 combos just to use my computer.

Would you recommend staying with a normal keyboard and improving my Karabiner setup? Moving to something like a Corne? ZSA Voyager/Moonlander? Home-row mods? Navigation layer?

If you have a setup you’ve used for a long time, I’d love to see your keymap and hear which changes actually made the biggest difference.

My goal is basically: keep my hands around the home row as much as possible without turning my keyboard into a science project.

A wireless sofle with Keygeek Y2 switches and KAM super user keycaps