If you’ve ever wanted to add a trackpad to your PC, a company named Ploopy has come out with a very retro-looking design, and it’s entirely open-source. This level of transparency means you can build your own from scratch, if you have the time and a 3D printer.
If the Ploopy name is tinkling some bells at the back of your mind, that may be because it was responsible for the 3D printable headphones we covered just last year, and now it’s selling a 3D printable trackpad (via Hackaday) you can plug into any PC’s USB.
If you’ve ever used a trackpad to play a shooter, you might be wondering why anyone would actually bother making one. Other than just “Why not?”, a good answer is for drawing and productivity, and potentially mobility, too.
With a trackpad, not only can you use it for intuitive control in video and image production suites, but you can hook it up to a drawing app and use it to illustrate images. You can use a trackpad as you would a standard mouse or duplicate the placement of your screen so touching the corner of the pad hits the corner of the screen.
The reason you might want to replicate your screen in such a fashion is that you can map where you draw directly in your drawing program. This allows for a level of precision that is much tougher to get in even the best gaming mice.
If you would like to make your own, you can 3D print the parts for the trackpad via Ploopy’s GitHub, where you can then follow the instructions, or you can go to Ploopy’s store. Here, you can buy the kit and assemble it yourself for $100 CAD or buy it pre-assembled for $130 CAD. In both instances, you can select its colour, from black or grey, and don’t need a 3D printer.
The biggest reason to buy from the store, rather than printing it yourself (outside of convenience) is that the kit comes with a stylus you can use on the trackpad too. This stylus doesn’t appear to be in the 3D printing instructions, which is a shame because you can rather smartly tuck the stylus into the trackpad when you are done with it.
Ploopy is a very retro company, making mice with trackballs, the aforementioned pad and headphones, and a standalone Nano Trackball. This is a lot of effort for such an old-fashioned device but part of its charm is just how strange and unique it is.
If you’re looking for a fun project, and you’re a little bit of a geek (like me), this feels like a great way to spend a Tuesday night. If you’re on the hunt for a trackpad to use on your PC, even better.