I found an album with photos of a keyboard meetup in Tokyo in September 2023. In it were several things that caught my eye, but one of them definitely stood out: a custom trackball designed by Kye Morris. Some real attention to detail went into the design, but also in the poster on the background – it’s really cool!
This post is part of a series on unique keyboards of which I’ve collected pictures over the years. All of the keyboards in the series were designed by fellow community members. At the time, I rarely collected context or the source, so information may be lacking at times.
Why is it special?
- Custom trackball mice are a relatively rare sight. Companies like Ploopy are making 3D-printed mice a little more mainstream, but even still, it’s rare to find a custom pointing device. Even more so when it looks as cool as this does!
- The clear case and removable top cover are really something. I suspect they’ve been resin-printed, but even then they probably will have taken quite a bit of post-processing to look as nice as they do.
- Ah, the component arrangement – and many through-hole components, too. It’s those details that can make a design more appealing, even if it doesn’t functionally add anything.
- The mouse buttons are actually microswitches, and the top PCB flexes a bit to depress them on the PCB below. I might’ve went with capacitive touch instead, but perhaps the tactility is nicer in this case. I’d mostly worry about the force required to press them; thin PCBs do still take a bit of force to flex.