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This will hold your LittleFingers keyboard at a good typing angle for side-lying people using the sling or pillow arm rest. Get an Esselte Ergonomic Clip or an Ergonomic Curtis Clip document holder. Cut off the part of the L-shaped plastic that goes on the monitor corner (after removing any sticky taped Velcro-if it has any) so that it's 1.7 inches long. Remove any document clips and hacksaw or jigsaw the long paper-holder section so it has a 2.7-inch little arm sticking out and a ½-inch-wide strip next to the hinge that's been sawed 1.6 inches downward along the hinge. Cut a piece of ¼-inch or thicker plywood of an appropriate tapered shape with a 7-inch-wide and 1-inch-deep depression on the upper edge and use tiny bolts or screws to attach it to the plastic of the recently modified Clip. Cut a 3.5-inch piece of two-by-two and screw this to the 1.7-inch part of the L-shaped plastic, leaving 3/16 inch of space between the side of the hinge and the side of the two-by-two (it's best to have a scrap of plywood to use as a spacer here). This space is because it clips over the edge of the plywood back of the laptop/flat screen holder. I glued two 3 ½-inch pieces of 3/8-inch molding (not on the pictured version—it came later) onto the front of the plywood back of the laptop/flat screen holder as position guides. They were put on either side of where it clips over the plywood; they keep the clip from slipping around on the plywood. I put the keyboard in place—it should hang over the holder about two inches. At this point, I stuck a 3-inch piece of peel-and-stick rubber insulation tape (½ inch wide by 1/4 inch thick) on the underside of the LittleFingers keyboard where it hangs over the holder (on the highest side) to prevent slippage. |
Building a Keyboard Holder |
After years of use, I felt it was time for a couple of holder modifications. First,
I drilled a couple of 1/4" holes in the holder (shown). Then I got a 7"-long
bag tie wire. Next I got a piece of 2" thick foam and used an electric kitchen
knife to cut a wedge shape 3.5" at one end and 2.5" at the other, and 1/2" taller
on one side than the other (to deal with the way the keyboard slopes down toward
the bed). I punched a couple of holes in the foam (you can't drill the stuff—it'd
be dangerous) and used a 1/4" rod to jam the doubled-over tie through
one hole so it was just barely protruding. I pushed this through the holder, bent
it against the holder, and put the end through the other holder hole. The foam
was against the lower holder but a couple of inches from the upper end. I used
the rod on the doubled-over tie again and pushed it through the foam and then
put the top end of the foam against the holder. I realigned the tie wire until
equal lengths protruded from the foam. I folded the wire ends towards one another.
I tied the tie wire by twisting it. Then I got the keyboard and extended
the nearby leg to get access to the leg hole. I stuck some copper wire through
the hole and then closed the leg back into the frame bottom. Then I looped the
wire around the place where the wood is nearly touching the Curtis Clip and tied
the wire to itself by twisting the wire ends together. The keyboard was now at
a better angle and wouldn't slip. I leave everything set up all the time, but
if you "fold" things up after use, the keyboard holder and keyboard would get
stored attached together. |