I needed another corded mouse and this time around I thought of @PKL@mastodon.social and @pronk@mastodon.social instead of Logitech’s shareholders. These guys make open source mice among other open source hardware under the brand Ploopy. You can order one from them, assembled or as a kit, or you could print and build it entirely by yourself.
The mouse itself is pretty great. Coming from a long line of Logitech (MX518/G5/G500/G502), it’s a bit larger than what I’m used to but I think I’m getting accustomed to it.
Here’s another shot of it:
I’ve got to say “Ploopy” is one of the absolute worst names I’ve ever seen. Before I even saw the picture, I thought “I bet it looks like shit.”
It’s like an alien name out of Rick and Morty. 😂
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I’m sorry but that’s such a ploopy take. You can’t just judge something by it’s name 🙄
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After reading up it sounds like a decent product but they should definitely consider rebranding.
Those layer lines look like a perfect place for all sorts of shit to gather and stick to.
If one has sweaty hands - stay away from 3D-printed / soft plastic shell mice.
Is it comfortable in the hand? The surface looks super rough
All Ploopy’s stuff looks rough. I think they’re 3D-printing them. Maybe one day they’ll progress to something that gives a nicer result.
I was looking at their trackballs but the ambidextrous ones look awkwardly tiny and have rattly bearings, in addition to the rough finish. I support what they’re doing but I wish the products were a bit less prototypey.
Yeah, definitely 3D printed.
The whole point is that it’s open source and they want people to be able to print them themselves.
Theoretically, you can mold it to fit your hand but the tolerances and mountings make that a hassle.
As for the print itself? Most people just do a quick print and have the telltale ridges from layers. But you can futz with settings to improve the smoothness or just finish the print itself. At which point it is not going to be as smooth as injection molding but it will be more “different” than “bad”.
Stupid question from someone who’s never 3d printed anything - can you just sand these things smoother?
It depends how it was printed.
As a SUPER simplified basic: Any 3d print consists of walls/perimeters and infill. The walls are the exterior surfaces of the print. The infill is what is inside. And the vast majority of prints tend to be sparse infills. So rather than solid plastic beneath those walls, you mostly just have air and a mesh structure of some form.
So if the wall is thick enough (generally referred to as “number of walls”)? Sure. If it isn’t? You’ll just see the void inside the shell itself and make things much worse.
What is generally done to reduce “3d printed texture” is a mixture of smaller print layers (so the ridges are much thinner), printing with more walls, and actually lightly melting the exterior surface (either through chemicals or heat).
VKB are probably the kings of the mid-range sicko HOTAS market and I am like 90% certain they 3d print the shell of their sticks for the Gladiator (?). But they do such a good job that I genuinely can’t be certain. Whereas the vast majority of ploopy builds… aren’t that.
Looks like a bitch to clean. Gonna get all sorts of grease collecting in those grooves…
It feels good. I’m thinking of smoothing it with epoxy but it’s not necessary.
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Now do printers.
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I often wonder how difficult it would be to create an aftermarket control board for existing printers.
Yes please!
What is your experience with the scroll wheel? Some time ago I was interessted in a Ploopy but the non clicky scrollwheel put me off.
It’s alright. It’s not as nice as the flywheel/clickwheel on G502 but it’s alright. It doesn’t accidentally spin for me so far. I imagine one of the custom buttons could be used to enable/disable scrolling along with some script, if it becomes a problem.
I have the same mouse, and that scroll wheel is unusable. It requires a ton of effort to just scroll tiny amounts because the sensitivity is waaay too low and it cannot be adjusted. The rest of the mouse is really nice because it runs QMK.
I set up drag scrolling as a workaround for the shitty scroll wheel, which allows you to press a button (or a combination of buttons) and then use the mouse’s optical sensor as an omnidirectional scrolling device until you release the button.
I set that up on my Ploopy Adept hand trackball mouse as well. It’s my favorite mouse I’ve ever used.
I keep thinking I should give a ploopy a shot but I’ve increasingly grown to like/need vertical mice and, like most ploopy related efforts, it is mostly “you CAN do it” with nobody ever having even tried because it requires pretty hefty redesigns of almost every part to mount things correctly.
3D printed stuff looks so uncomfortable to hold.
Isn’t there severe issues with micro plastics doing this? Serious question. I’ve just heard in general on 3d prints that they’re more prone to shedding.
If you do the smoothing steps it can be OK, especially if you sand it in a sealed environment or with a HEPA vacuum handy to suck up all of the particulates. Once it is sanded you can do a short acetone treatment and the surface will be melted smooth. It can take some practice, but you can seal it up pretty well without sacrificing quality. Just be mindful of air quality and filtering at each step so you don’t undermine your goal.
Also, no matter what the microplastic impact on the environment is less than a mouse made in a factory thar doesn’t pay attention to any of its air quality standards.
Gotcha. Thanks for the type up!
need to take it real old, print it in abs and do a vapor smoothing in acetone.
You could also print this in a goo printer and not have the issue.
Interesting. I always wondered if the same rule applied to the ‘goo’ type as my friend has one.
They definitely don’t shed much when they’re new. They’re quite playable and don’t sand easily
Now you leave it in the sun for a year, they do get brittle, I suspect at that point you might be able to sand them on a table surface.
This is pretty cool. I make and 3d print pieces for my G502 to make it fit better for my hand/nubs. This seems like it has a lot of potential to design something better for me. That price is steep though but being disabled that’s nothing new to me.
I am also a big fan of the MX518 lineage mice, so I hope someone make a version that has that shape. When Logitech released an updated MX518 several years back I bought a couple of them, so I will be good for years hopefully.
This stuff is nice. Are there any plans for a vertical mouse for those of us with cranky old man wrists?
How do you like the mouse? I got their trackpad and it’s pretty good. I’m thinking about replacing my old Mx Master with their mouse.
I like it. The surface finish is obviously not as nice as the Logitech, but I like it. I’d probably like it better if it were smooth, which I might try achieving with some epoxy paint. The button feel is great. Better than my G502. Tracking is stellar. The shape is comfortable. The infinite/togglable scroll wheel on the G502 is sonething I wish it had but I can live without it. There’s also that special feeling, that someone decent made it, and that it can be infinitely repaired. If it’s not a stretch money-wise for you - get one. In the worst case scebario your money would have gone supporting open source hardware.
Does anyone remember the Microsoft Sidewinder X8 mouse? It had vertical thumb buttons instead of horizontal, and I loved that layout, but it’s literally the only mouse I’ve ever seen like it. But now that I know there’s open source mice out there, I might have to mess around and learn CAD so I can alter one of these mice to have vertical thumb buttons
I had the sidewinder keyboard with magnetic numpad that worked on either side. Loved that thing. Used the R.A.T. 7 Mouse
though, fucking amazing. Best thing mad catz ever put out.
Ew
