Necessity of Keyboard Pad and Suggestions for Buying

Introduction

Mechanical keyboard gives users a completely different sense of percussion and feedback from thin film keyboard, from fingers to ears. With the rise of the brand of mechanical keyboard and the increasing promotion of e-commerce, now an original factory switch (cherry switch) mechanical keyboard is much cheaper than two or three years ago, but it seems that compared with the film keyboard’s portability, price advantage, preexisting card position, mechanical keyboard has been a niche commodity. This paper does not talk about computer hardware, or mechanical keyboard, but talk about something more peripheral – mechanical keyboard pad.

A keyboard pad is a computer accessory meant to aid in the process of typing. Many times, due to the slick nature of desks and the composition of most computer keyboards, which are mainly plastic, there is the potential for the keyboard to slip.

I started to fall in love with mechanical keyboard pad about five years ago, mainly experiencing various switches, but finally I fell in love with the red switch, which is generally better adaptability. The two mechanical keyboard at home and one at work are all red axes. I also introduced these keyboards and posted it on the website about two years ago.

This paper is divided into two parts. The first part explains why the mechanical keyboard should be accompanied by a palm rest. The second part explains the differences between the palm rests of different materials I have used and which kind is more recommended.

Necessity of Keyboard Pad

(1) The mechanical keyboard keys are high and the slope difference is obvious

The main body of the keyboard has a certain thickness, and the key cap also has a certain height due to the non-short key path or low key cap, which is much higher than the usual thickness of 2.5cm thin film keyboard, resulting in a lot of changes in the Angle of the wrist joint when typing. Therefor, the keyboard pad is very important.

In the case of Corsair k66, I threw it away for company use. In contrast to the perfectly flat keys of a typical film keyboard, mechanical keyboards are usually ergonomically designed, with different key heights similar to those indicated by the red lines above.

When the main body is directly attached to the desktop for use, the height from the six lines of keys to the desktop is measured. The height from “space line” to “F1 line” is 2.8cm, 2.8cm, 3cm, 3.2cm, 3.6cm and 3.7cm respectively. And, the mechanical keyboard in the footpad will have a support frame optional pad “butt” to produce a certain slope. The user can choose according to their own adaptability, then the slope will be further formed as follows:

The “butt” of the keyboard is raised by 1.1cm, and the corresponding key lines are raised from the “space line” to the “F1 line” to 2.9cm, 3.1cm, 3.4cm, 3.7cm, 4.1cm and 4.4cm respectively. I am also used to using this padded keyboard for typing, and the posture is more comfortable.

(2) Everyone has different typing habits, my habit is to keep the wrist close to the bottom

Whether the keyboard needs a keyboard pad or not, this varies from person to person. Depending on the ergonomics involved with keyboards, the slope of the keyboard will vary. Some people use keyboard pad to keeping their wrist under and bending forward to exert force.

Press your wrist to type

Your wrist will be in a little bit of a “wrist press” shape, a little bit like when you shoot the ball, so your wrist is actually under pressure all the time. And I observed the typing habit of colleagues around me, and this type of typing habit is the majority, probably because the forearm on the table will cost relatively less effort, and the keyboard pad would be helpful.

And if you have a good piano foundation, or calligraphy practice habits, your wrist strength control can be better to achieve suspension typing, in this situation you do not need keyboard pad, because even with the pad your wrist is still hanging. I tried to type in this way typing for half an hour and I feel tired.

Type by hanging your wrists

In addition, typing is related to desktop height, seat height, sitting posture and other factors. Besides, the first teacher will teach you to put the four fingers of the left hand on “asdf” and the right hand on “jkl”. Beyond that, people don’t always follow the rules when they’re actually typing. If you think carefully about your personal typing habits, is it more or less not so completely standardized? For example, I often used to press q with the ring finger of my left hand and p with the ring finger of my right hand. It can’t be ruled out that the game design of wsad button leads to the habitual ring finger q.

(3) If you do not use the palm rest, you may form a “keyboard wrist” for a long time.

There is an occupational disease, called “keyboard wrist”, that is, the disease of carpal tunnel syndrome, which usually by unreasonable wrist joint activity. Basically you will feel pain on the wrist for one or two hours typing. In long time it will accumulate fatigue disease (and the mouse may produce similar impact).

Let’s take a look at the Angle of the wrist:

My hand is about 19cm long (the distance from palm support to finger), and the palm part is about 9cm long. My fingers are slightly bent when typing, and the linear distance is also about 9cm. The linear distance between my fingers is about 15cm from the palm support point in line 1234, and 1234 is 4.1cm away from the table after supporting the foot pad. So simply calculate the Angle geometrically. In the absence of a keyboard pad, when you type with your palm pressing against the table, the actual palm and the table form an Angle of nearly 50 degrees, that is, the wrist is always under the pressure generated by the 50 degree Angle.

(4) After adding the keyboard pad, it will relieve the pressure Angle of the wrist joint

The keyboard palm rest is usually about 2cm high, so when the wrist fulcrum is padded 2cm high, the Angle between the palm and the horizontal table is reduced by 8°, as shown in the geometric diagram above. Also take into account that the arm will rest on the edge of the desk.

The palm support of my desk is projected to the edge of the desk at a distance of about 13cm, so the forearm is at an Angle of 8.8° from the table top. So the actual Angle between the palm and the forearm is about 33°, that is, when typing the wrist is “pressure wrist” -like angle is about 33°, compared to no palm support when the angle is 50°, the pressure on the wrist is much smaller, the natural “keyboard wrist” played a important role in prevention and relief.

Adjust the wrist from pressing the wrist to buckle the wrist, the power of the fingers will become weaker and weaker. Personal understanding is like playing basketball, the hand shape of the wrist should be full, so that the whole body force can be well released into the basketball through the fingers. If the palm rest is too high, it will be more difficult for the fingers to strike the mechanical keyboard with the weight of pressure grams. Therefore, the specific height of the palm rest can be adjusted around 2cm according to the personal habit.

Suggestion for Buying Different Keyboard Pads

There are representative of the four different keyboard pads which are probably the mainstream palm rests that can be bought on the market at present. As for some special materials, I will not mention much, such as stainless steel.

(1) Original palm rest, usually plastic + rubber material

① Adaptability:

General original keyboard pad, usually with the keyboard ergonomic design, so it can be used for most users to wrist fatigue problems. For example, the palm rest of this original mx6.0 keyboard is originally a slope from 1cm to 2.3cm in height. You can choose the appropriate wrist fulcrum according to your own habit. The original palm rest fit is good for this keyboard, but poor support for other keyboards, and it is basically limited style.

② Price:

It could not be better, If the original keyboard is equipped with a palm rest, but there are also some keyboards sold without a palm rest when buying, but you can find similar original matching on Taobao, especially Corsair k6x series, the price is about 60-100 yuan.

③ Advantages and disadvantages:

The advantages are obvious. The original keyboard palmrest of the plastic skeleton can maintain a good state of support for a long time, and will not be weakened by permanent support. The appearance is perfectly matched with the keyboard.

The main disadvantage is in the rubber surface material. Your hands are easy to sweat, and the sweat stains will be obviously printed on the rubber surface slightly sticky. Some kind of better material rubber will not have greasy feel, but if it is the selection of inferior rubber, sticky sweat stains and it will be very sticky.

(2) The palm rest of foam and memory cotton

① Adaptability:

Memory cotton + foam palm rest, for mechanical keyboard adaptability is quite high, can be matched with almost all mechanical keyboard, but in the season is not suitable for the summer scene, because it will be really hot.

② Price:

This kind of palm rest is probably the most sales on Taobao, Jingdong, the price is not expensive, basically you can buy a 104 key keyboard palm rest with 20-30 yuan. I have bought one which is made of artificial leather surface, but you can also choose cotton or flannel. The price is basically similar.

③ Advantages and disadvantages:

The advantage is that the feel is really good, and can ensure that the comfort is continued. As for the material inside, it has not been disassembled, but the foam is elastic, soft and comfortable. Even after several years, it still has a good feel and resilience as a palm rest. It still has a nice bounce and a nice touch after a few years

As for disadvantage, first of all, it is necessary to say that it is not breathable, especially in the hot summer. The palm is really easy to sweat and accumulate sweat, and the area of the pressed down is still very large, so the durability of the surface is relatively high, at least the artificial skin will have some sticky feeling when it encounters sweat.

As the first picture of this paragraph, talking about the deterioration of artificial skin aging problem. Sweat and time baptism. Now everytime I use it. It will drop small crumbs, and will stick to the palm of a lot of debris. Also, it’s not clear whether the inner core is recycled cotton or not, and this kind of cotton feels more prone to bacteria and things like that, so it might be a health hazard.

(3) Wooden palm rests

① Adaptability:

Wood material is a good choice to make palm rest, but there are some problems. You can buy basically micro customization, for such as k66, mx6.0, G80-3000 and other non-standard 104 size and shape of mechanical keyboard, no matter the size, or size, look not very match.

② Price:

The price of wooden keyboard is polarized. Usually cork such as pine is the cheapest. You can casually choose around 20-30 yuan. And hardwood such as pear wood, sandalwood this is beyond 100-200 yuan.

③ Advantages and disadvantages:

The advantages are differentiated according to softwood and hardwood. The characteristics of hardwood are not easy to deformation, beautiful grain is similar to a decoration, relatively cool to use, and a lot of solid wood will have a slight herbal fragrance. And cork can provide nice support, the price is really cheap. The appearance is not as beautiful as hardwood but also has a good texture.

Let’s talk about the disadvantages. After using for a long time cork pine won’t be as smooth as it was, but that does not affect the usage, but the effect may be more appropriate, like the insole stepped out of your foot, and because of a certain water absorption characteristics, density is lower, the price is cheap and does not need maintenance. Hardwood maintenance is also a time-consuming thing. Every half a month may need a polishing, oil pan it, in order to ensure a bright appearance.

Conclusion

Again, summarize it in two parts:

1, palm support can slow down the typing “wrist pressure” Angle, so that the wrist force is reduced, so as to avoid some strain.

2. Personal recommendation on palm rest:

(1) If you have the original one , you can use the original. The durability may be poor, but it is not too late to buy a new when it is worn out.

(2)If you don’t have the original keyboard pad, and you have enough budget. I strongly recommend you to choose solid wood palm support. It can provide good support. The appearance is nice and getting you fresh feel, but it takes sometime to do the maintenance.

③ If you just want to use cheap palm rest temporarily, so pine, rice husk, cloth memory cotton are good choices, but try not to buy artificial leather material. From my perspective, considering the durable, comfort, desktop collocation I believe memory cotton is the best.

If you are going to buy a keyboard pad, I hope this article would be helpful to you. Also, I hope it will give you more understanding about keyboard pad. What’s more, how to choose a right keyboard pad is also important.