Hi everyone I'm not sure where to start or who maybe is interested as things have moved on and many new products have come to light. I want to place this up to allow others that feel the same way and see how they might be able to use simple everyday items to improve there devices more suited to there needs rather than a mass produced generic unit that is not totally useful out of the box. I'm not a fast paced gamer just a slow and methodical type but like many the keyboard just wasn't suited for my style of play or how I wanted to relax at the desk. Years of putting up with just the norm I decided to step into the realm of upgrading purchasing a Nostromo N52 which at the time was the only product that I could see suiting my needs. After using it things were not to my liking and I modded it to gain better button position and over all better use in game.
That served me well but as my type of games dwindled for the PC because more and more developers were moving towards the console market. Also games were getting to the point my beefy machine was no longer cutting it and I needed a big investment on a new rig. Nothing in the game market was appealing so I had no reason to upgrade so I stuck with what I had for the time being but it wasn't long before I dropped out of gaming. Over a decade passed and I was ready to get back into things a few games caught my attention but plugging that Nostromo N52 and getting it to function on old software and drivers was not great. Added to that the buttons were not as smooth as I recall so I decided to place it to rest and upgrade. Now I had the problem of choosing a new device which ended up being a Razer Tartarus Pro but once again it was far from ideal for my gaming style or needs. After using it for a while there were things that just were not right so the modding in me came out again taking a product for the masses and making it my own.
To make full use of the good amount of buttons on the Razer Tartarus Pro finger to button was a stretch and in most cases for the top row 1 to 5 was a reach which when gaming for me they became useless until modding. Also for my use the thumb pad was not to my liking just like the Nostromo N52 so that was again a must mod. I also found that the thumb pad was very sensitive in it's movement so I needed to dumb that down as I wanted a little more pressure before key inputs would take effect so that was a simple fix as you can see below. The other change was the scroll wheel I never used it for that purpose I only ever used the wheels ability to depress making a key stroke even with the N52 so that got a make over.
Because the Razer Tartarus Pro had such smooth button operations and through the software the ability to have 2 input commands on the one button that was a must to keep. I had to mod this thing to maintain full functionality while at the same time making use of all buttons even if they were out of reach so I needed to figure out how to make those buttons come to my finger tips and also have little finger movement to operate them. The other issue was ensuring the surrounding buttons had full use as intended and moving the buttons to suit the way my hand fitted the devise and have the buttons align to my fingers. Another need was to keep the lighting or lit numbers it looked good so I had to figure allot out.
How was I to achieve all this then the plan hatched it came clear LEGO was going to be my answer and the chosen pieces where going to be ergonomic having full function of all buttons and the ability to bring buttons to my fingers and move buttons for better operations. Added to this the LEGO pieces could adjust for height so I was able to game setting there final height position that was suited for me before gluing into position. The other thing about my chosen LEGO pieces was I could use them because of height adjustment to follow the curvature of my fingers. This allowed my finger tips to operate 3 buttons while different parts of the finger length was able to operate a further 2 buttons giving me a total of 1-5 key strokes on a single finger without moving the finger off one fixed key.
To fix the sensitivity of the thumb pad I removed the pad which with ease just pops off then using EPO foam I just made an insert. It was trial and error to start with to find the best material that offered the resistance I was seeking then of course experimenting with thickness. Made it to fit inside the hat pad then simply pushed back on until it locked into it's housing.
I also addressed the thumb pad making a custom fitting mould of my thumb and making it fit the pad in the correct location for the way I hold my hand on the unit. This new custom mould allowed me to make movements of the thumb pad with precision as it had 8 key commands locations if you need to program that many. I also had to ensure that the new custom thumb mould worked so it never interfered with the space bar key press and the shift profile key press above. All that was needed now was to make new button extensions so I had very little thumb movement to operate them.
The remainder of the button extension just needed to be made and placed into there respected location that fitted my finger position and minimal finger shift to active them. Also they had to be made to fit the correct height so as to allow easy access, fit and allow all keys to work as if this mod was not done.
My next task was to make good use of the thumb wheel not that I use it as a thumb wheel but I do use the depressed wheel activation key stroke to program in a key command. I made a plate then using the LEGO button positioned it so as I could use my upper part of my finger muscle to press down to active the key command.
This image shows how one finger now can operate up to 4-5 buttons without moving that finger tip off the D key because I tuned the LEGO pieces to be at the correct height underneath my fingers.
This image just shows I need to just dip my thumb knuckle to active and depress the space bar key on the device.
Image below shows how the selected LEGO pieces allow you to build in height adjustment in the button mod to fit your hand or reach.
Well I hope someone can benefit for this mod or see that LEGO can be used for other purposes to suit our needs. After placing this mod together I played my games for a while to adjust the height of each button and tuned them to my fingers then glued that position for a permanent height. The button base was placed onto Tartarus existing keys using 3M outdoor double sided adhesive tape.
Simon
