Longer palm pads with tenting?

I’d love to buy this keyboard – it seems so perfect. The only issue is that I need longer palm rests than the included ones (looking for around 10cm). I see that there are some custom ones from the community that I can get printed, but I’m wondering if there will ever be an official version?

Short of that, I’m wondering if the custom ones will work with the riser 60/80. The way the palm pads are secured look like they might not support an extended palm pad when the keboard is tented.

Any feedback welcome! Thanks!

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I am making my own wrist rests right now, which extend a centimeter or so longer from the keyboard towards me. I don’t know if I should call it longer or wider, I think it’s what you want. I have the UHK60, and it’s perfectly doable to attach longer wrist rests, they just attach with 4 screws. Also, there’s no issue with the riser. There might be an indirect issue with the riser if the blocks become too extended, that the keyboard might start tipping just because of how the weight distributes when you rest your hands.

What I’m making is replacement blocks for the original wrist rest, for the UHK60. I don’t think they have redesigned it since then. I don’t know anything about the UHK80 wrist rest design. but I suspect there’s nothing which can’t be solved with a bit of glue or a drill and some screws. Once you accept power tools as an option, the sky is the limit, but that requires you to buy the official wrist rest or new blocks yourself. The wrist rest is just a metal plate with some holes drilled into it and some wood screwed on. On the UHK80, the wrist rest is integrated, so no additional purchase needed there, but the blocks attach with a different mechanism, hence the glue and/or drill requirements.

I hope this answers your question? Otherwise, feel free to ask follow-ups.

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Oh, another note:

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This is how the UHK80’s new wooden palm pads attach, btw. They’re held in with little plastic retention tabs. I was kinda hoping they would have some sort of plate with tabs built in, and then the wood could be screwed onto that (similar to the UHK60). The wood would probably end up a little too thin/brittle that way though. I was hoping I could replace the wood with leather, but :man_shrugging:.


Idk if those tabs would be strong enough to support an extended version. They’re more than sufficient for the official pads though. For a larger size, you’d probably need to make a lip/brace to hang over the bottom edge of the case. (You’d likely want to for aesthetics anyway.)

@kareltucek It’s hard to tell from the Etsy pics, but it kinda looks like your extended pads might have a bit of an overhang? Do you think using similar tabs would be sufficient to hold your extended version?
(Also, I see you can’t ship to the US. Don’t blame ya though. :face_with_diagonal_mouth:)

Overhang: yes. It is 2 cm, with another offset bar to not look too weird or diysh.

As for tabs, I don’t know - I don’t have any of the new palm rests. I wouldn’t trust one in the middle of the top edge. Two or three would probably be fine though. I don’t know if 5mm is thick enough to install them either.

As for attachment, I have finally decided to actually modify and install them onto one of my uhks, so we will see. Given the lever ratio (the overhang 2cm vs the 7cm that are supported), a surprisingly little force is needed to keep them in place.

I am open to US shipping, but so far didn’t bother to figure out how to do that, especially not in a way that would be reasonable w.r.t. customs, taxes, etc… and given that, it doesn’t seem fair to list it on a buy-with-a-few-clicks platform. So atm it is on a per-customer-agreement basis I guess.

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Thanks to all of you for your thoughtful answers! I was initially thinking i wanted the uhk 80, but I think I’m going with the 60 because otherwise I’m guessing the tenting will be unequal…

@Firngrod

I agree that “wider” is actually what I mean – stretching more from the keyboard toward the user. Did you mean “screws” or bolts for attaching the palm pad to the keyboard? (if they were screws i’d think you’d have only one shot at it and couldn’t replace them later, i haven’t seen this in person).

Your concern of tilting makes sense to me since there is little weight above the keypad. So then I need supports for the pads, which sounds ugly and short-lived (at least if I were to do it). So maybe this is a dead end.

Has anyone else had experience with the keyboard collapsing toward the user because of the cantilever issue?

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On the 60, the screws can be redone any number of times no problem. Definitely not a one-shot situation. The rests have a metal back plate with holes in them through which screws screw into the wood. If you make your own rests, you can choose the screws and the holes into which they screw.

Just for testing, just now I rotated one of the wrist rests and tried a comically long rest. The cantilevering is real, and I would not recommend this 8.5cm extension, but if you get the riser, it has a bunch of additional holes for adjusting the angle, and I would see it as pretty trivial to attach a stabilizing piece of steel. The steel would have to be pretty solid though. Or if you’re willing, you could just add an entire additional bottom plate/board, though that would add height, and with the riser, it’s already a pretty tall contraption. Alternatively, it’s possible to go all-in on making your own riser, such as this example: Module template CAD drawings - #10 by monguin

Here’s a picture of this morning’s experiment

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Yes - I sometimes have a tendency to rest my elbows on the uhk and lean on it with my full weight…

Looks even better than I expected. I like the little open spot in the front. I’d love to get an extended cherry version, but I’m “tariff-ied” of the potential extra fees :smirking_face:. I’m also in the middle trying to build a new PC at the worst possible time :roll_eyes:.

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Here at WTH-R-U Doing Labs, we take measurements VERY seriously.

The science is in;
In order to cause the UHK80 to tip toward the user, roughly 16oz of cheese, spaced at an additional 9cm (approximation) beyond the bottom edge of the palm rest is required.

(This kinda feels like it could’ve come from an xkcd comic that ended up on the chopping block.)

Seriously though, it doesn’t look like tipping is gonna be a problem.


Oh, in case you’re questioning my methods;

  1. Yes that’s a ruler strapped to a cheese knife (proper tools for the job).

  2. Rest assured, I did in fact stick out my pinky finger while balancing the cheese. (Sorry I cropped that out.)

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(Source: xkcd: Metric Tip)

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Well, now i want this keyboard just for the community that comes with it! Thanks to everyone for your helpful responses.

Sounds like the cantilever issue is a deal-breaker – I’m happy to employ a screwdriver, but beyond that I’m not very DIY-oriented.

As a last thought though, is anyone interested in putting together a permanent uhk-60-with-riser-and-no-cantilever-problem solution for me? I’m happy to pay for time and materials up to a point. Especially for a solution that does not involve structural cheese.

Now I’m wondering if some cantilevering might not actually be an ergonomic benefit as it gives another degree of freedom in that angling.

Where in the world are you located, roughly?

Nah.

As far as I have understood above comments, we all agree that there is no cantilever with reasonable extension (2cm or so), and reasonable load (palm weight, not body weight) ;-).

After a first day of tened use of the uhk80 2cm extended ones, I can confirm that they are stable with no issues. Simple double-side-nanotape solution works perfectly, even despite this version having only 1mm overlap instead of designed 3mm overlap on the (critical) top edge.

(Yes, I fell in love them pretty quickly.)



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Dangit Karel. Now I’m seething with envy :face_holding_back_tears:.

If structural cheese isn’t your thing; might I interest you in some palm rests made from uncooked ramen bricks, stewed in a fine cyanoacrylate and sodium bicarbonate reduction?

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I can see why there’s a cook in your nick, @pcooke9.

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10cm isn’t too far off from the original 7.5cm, so I wouldn’t worry too much about tipping. I happen to have some oak leftovers in pretty much the right dimensions lying around, I could try chopping a couple of blocks off to see how it works.

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Ahhh, I see I misunderstood this:

Just for testing, just now I rotated one of the wrist rests and tried a comically long rest. The cantilevering is real, and I would not recommend this 8.5cm extension

That was for 8.5cm BEYOND the frame. :rofl:

Ok, very excited to buy UHK. I have one last question to decide on uhk 60 vs 80: was my assumption correct that when typing on the UHK 80 with riser, your right is hand is slightly higher than your left because the UHK80 right side is wider? If so, is there any way to secure the left side higher up on the left riser frame so that both keyboard sides are equal hand height?

9.8cm wide, 1.8cm thick. Slightly tippy. Right at the limit. Comfy though, if I rounded the edges and lowered the thumb corners. Doesn’t have the slight wedge shape of the official blocks.

The 80 will be more stable.

Yes, the risers are adjusted independently.

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