The process

How? I made a tailored mouse prototype in roughly four steps.

Step 1: create a clay model

The idea here is to create a model that feels nice to use. Nicer than your mass produced off the shelve mouse. I felt drawing this directly in 3D software would not be the most efficient as it would be hard to tell what sculpting actions would result in "the right feel".

A very rough first clay try of the mouse shape — The photo above is of a very rough first try.

Clay shrinks and cracks as it dries. What you created is not what you get after the drying process. Type of clay matters. Heavy "regular" clay is nice as a very rough and strong basis to stick your nicer "paper clay" onto. Paper clay cracks much less as it dries.

The clay mouse model and the hand it is tailored to — The mouse and the hand that it's tailored too.

Step 2: 3D scanning and modelling

The shape was digitized and digitally sculpted further. After some experiments with crazy wire frame shapes, I decided I liked the plain and simple closed shell the most.

Raw 3D scan of the clay model converted from point cloud to mesh — The raw 3D scan after converting the point cloud to mesh.

Blender mesh converted to quads using Instant Meshes — Converting the Blender mesh to "quads" using the software "Instant Meshes".

The 3D scan after digital smoothing in Blender — The 3D scan after digital smoothing in "Blender".

A render of the mouse after smoothing, made in Blender — A render of the mouse after smoothing. Using Blender.

An experiment into 3D printable organic looking shapes — One of the experiments into 3D printable organic looking shapes.

Another wireframe experiment with a more coarse exoskeleton — Another one with a more coarse exoskeleton.

Step 3: mechanical CAD work

3D modelling is generally done using 2 different types of tools, simply put: surface modelling (for sculpting/artists) and solid modelling (for engineers). After the artsy bit comes the practical stuff: where do the screws and circuit boards go?

Here I switched from surface to solid modelling, so that I could use the model in mechanical CAD software. This CAD software makes it easier to work with real world dimensions and to add circuit boards, screw holes, switches and all that stuff in the right places.

For the insides (electronics) I wanted to use an existing Logitech MX Master S3. The design of this mass produced mouse is perfect, except: it's one size fits none. So let's fix that!

A rendering of the mechanical CAD of the mouse shell ready for 3D printing — A rendering of the mechanical CAD ready for 3D printing.

Step 4: 3D printing & assembly

It took me two 3D printing iterations to get everything to fit together in an acceptable way. I was able to make everything fit with some longer cables, a bit of duct tape and some soldering.

First 3D print of the custom mouse shell

Fitting the Logitech MX Master S3 electronics into the printed shell

Soldering and re-routing cables inside the custom mouse

The tailored mouse next to mass produced Logitech mice for comparison — The big one is the mouse that's tailored to my hand. The others are Logitech designs for the average hand that you and me most likely don't have.

Next up: a tailored keyboard

My next hobby project is an ergonomic keyboard based on the Dactyl Manuform. The generator for my design lives on GitHub: dactyl_manuform_keyboard_generator_python.

Contact us

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