Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 Mini
I love this keyboard very much. I use it everywhere, especially at work. All
keys are where they belong, no changed layout (hey Logitech, are you nuts rotating the pageup/insert block?).
Unfornately the keyboard has a big drawback: it is veery wide.
If you want to reach out for the mouse your arm has to travel nearly
30 centimeters.
As i never use the numpad, but sometimes use the mouse i opted to simply remove
that damn numpad. If i need one in the future i can connect one of those
cheap usb-numpads. Here is how i did it.
Remove all screws from the bottom, remove the fake leather padding and
the spacebar, remove all screws indicated below.
Remove all keys on the left side of the keypad.
Saw off the keypad part, saw along the left edge of the keypad. Use a sharp knife to remove any splinters.
Cut off the silicone matting.
Cut the back of the keyboard, use the front as a template.
Fold the flexible circuit board around the edge and use double-sided tape
to keep it in place.
Remove the fake leather from the plasic, cut the plastic to the right lenght,
re-glue leather.
Modify and glue the front plastic spacer as seen here.
Done. (btw: on the right: mouse with auto-fire (top) and wheel-mode buttons (left))
Moved zoombar and added a mini-trackball in the middle to further increase
coding speed
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Comments
[ Guyn | 16.02.09 10:48 ]My 4000 is sooo gonna lose its numpad!
[ Guyn | 20.02.09 00:06 ]Did it. Took me about 1 hour, but it was totally worth it.
[ Georg | 17.09.10 13:16 ]Hi,
I hope you read this comment, as this mod is almost two years ago. Last week I thought about doing the same modification to my 4000. But when I looked at the bottom side of the keyboard, I saw that the right foot is located under the numpad. Doesn't the keyboard wobble around, when I remove the numpad?
[ mnt | the codeninja, 17.09.10 16:22 ]I added two adhesive food pads to solve that minor problem.
[ Georg | 17.09.10 18:01 ]Thanks for the tip. I'll try that.
...minor problem :-)
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