This was the first thing I designed and printed on my 3D printer. 

This device holds the keypad at a 30 degree angle for a more neutral hand position and better ergonomics. I can't find the video now, but someone was showing a setup where they played osu on a vertical keyboard. I thought you could get a pretty decent result with just 45 or 30 degrees of angle, so I made this. 

For people unfamiliar with the game, OSU is a rhythm game where you aim the cursor with one hand and tap with the other. The game only allows two inputs, so two keys (You could play with more, like four, but it all gets mapped to two inputs). It sounds very straightforward, but with any game with competition and an “optimal” strategy, it ends with a competition to see who has the best mechanics. You can look up osu handcam videos to see how much strain your hands and wrists are subjected to. There's a reason why so many players quit due to hand/wrist injuries. 

This device made a measurable difference in my play. The extra comfort was a given, but I pretty instantly gained another ~5 bpm to my streaming and increased my stamina by a good amount (I went from playing pkk's Uta to practice stamina to choking an fc on it and never trying to fc it again). Going back to playing on a flat surface now feels uncomfortable. 

I thought there would be a significant increase in noise, but the silicone feet on the uWu do a good job of dampening noise and the desk mat takes care of the rest. It's not much louder than playing on a desk. The angle means it sliders around, but I just put a loop of duct tape on the bottom. It retains it's stickiness no matter how much I reposition it and it doesn't leave any residue on my desk mat. 

Because this was one of the first things I tried to make, almost every design choice is something I would now do differently (but probably still not correctly). 

Here are a few:

1. Why did I do a 30 degree revolve? There's a big bump of extra material on the side that didn't need to be there.
2. Every edge is exclusively fillets. 
3. Why is the cable bypass designed so it's the only thing in the entire model that needs supports?
4. I think I printed this at 35% grid infill. It took so long to print, and for what?
5.  Some of the radii on the rounded edges don't match up. I think I noticed at the time but couldn't figure out how to fix it. now I would just use the offset function and be done with it. 
6. I should make a recessed area for rubber feet on the bottom.

I've also made a design for the Sayodevice, but since I didn't have access to wootings excellent models of their products that they post online and I was similarly inexperienced, that one is significantly worse. You have to tape the Sayodevice directly into the part to stop it from sliding around. 

I think angled work surfaces for better ergonomics is something I want to explore further. Custom mice, angled tablet surface, a split keyboard design (I think it might be just better to buy that one), custom tool handles, etc. 

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.