Need some ideas: mounting Streamdeck and keyboard to VR chair.

[Helmut Grokenberger]

Hey,

I need some ideas. I have developed some chronic pain in my right shoulder that forces me to rebuild my VR play area. First, let me describe my setup as it was until today.

I don't play at my desk. I use a cable management system to guide the HMD cable along the ceiling to the center of my office, where the cable drops down to my pilot's chair. My chair is an IDEA POÄNG, and I had my HOSAS, a Streamdeck XL and a wireless keyboard mounted to a foldable sawhorse that I placed over my lap when playing. I also have a small side table where I place the mouse for on-foot gameplay.

This has worked for me very well for a very long time, but because the bed of the sawhorse goes over my lap, the stick grips are comparably high, which means holding up my forearm, and my shoulder does not like that anymore. So I need to rebuild my VR chair to have a more relaxed posture for my right arm when flying.

Using that IKEA chair is non-negotiable. It is the only chair I can sit in for hours on end without getting back pain. Yes, my bones are broken, I did not take good care of them . I already mounted the two sticks (two VKB Gladiator NXT EVO, normal on the right and an Omni Throttle on the left) to the armrests of the chair and mounted the USB hub I had used on the sawhorse to the underside of the chair. I used some incredibly strong selft-adhesive velcro and stabilized side movement of the sticks with additional zip ties. Those sticks are not going anywhere, and my forearms now rest comfortably on the armrest cushions. This works.

That was a very long introduction; now comes my problem. I need a solution for the Streamdeck and my wireless keyboard. The keyboard is somewhat less of a problem, I can just put it in my lap. But how can I access the Streamdeck? It is not essential for my gameplay, but I have some convenience functions on it - mostly audio: Volume controls for my various audio sources, my favorite playlists and internet radios, and of course a comprehensive profile to use it as button box in ED.

Do you guys have any ideas or recommendation how to mount a Streamdeck and a keyboard to that chair? It cannot be permanent, because I have to be able to haul my derrière into the chair . I guess I need something like the command panel on the carrier bridge . I am willing to spend some money, but not a fortune. Anyone tried some kind of VESA arm for something like this and knows one that works? Any other ideas?

Thanks!

 

[jojon]

Haven't tried anything, but a strong magnet attached to any hinged arm you may find, and paired with a mating iron surface, should make it lock securely in place once you are seated... :7

 

[Arioch]

Any other ideas?

Have you looked at any flexible brackets like this or this?

Get some clear hoses and greebles mounted on the back of your chair and you’ll look like you’re flying the Rocinante in no time

 

[GroG79]

Start using voice attack?

 

[GroG79]

Also limit gaming hours.. It is not getting better

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

Start using voice attack?

Not helping. I do use voice attack for the game, but for stuff like audio control I'd rather use a physical interface.

Also limit gaming hours.. It is not getting better

Yeah I would rather improve ergonomics than stop playing, what you suggestion would eventually mean. My previous setup meant that eventually my shoulder would tense up which in turn would cause pain, so I need to improve my setup to prevent muscle cramping and encourage relaxing. Anyway, I could not sleep last night, so I kept thinking and tinkering. I think I found a solution. Either I am a genius or a total madman . Also, my solution came completely free, and stuff is always better when it is free.

Moving the sticks to the armrests feels very promising. I took a shot test flight including fighting some Scouts and found I had to move the sticks a little further forward, other than that it was already much, much more relaxing. And while I did that I looked at my left stick and thought... wait, I don't need the Streamdeck in front of me, I just need to be able to reach it. I cannot see it anyway... so I attached some velcro to the side of the left stick and put the Streamdeck there. This is what it looks like:

Now there is only one issue remaining. The wireless keyboard I was unsing was pretty small and is very light, and I think it is too light for my lap. Either I need to weigh it down, or go back to a larger full size keyboard again, or maybe make some kind of U-shaped table I can place over my lap for a more stable keyboard position. But that is a minor issue.

Sorry, I might have posted this thread a bit prematurely, but at least it got me thinking and made me find a workable solution. Now I need of course to re-learn some muscle memory. Using the keyboard, and then reaching out back for the sticks, and reaching into the void because the sticks are not where my memory expects them to be, is quite comical.

One thing I noticed straight away though was that with the new stick positions, my railgun aim has improved, and my finer aiming motions are much less erratic. Makes sense, I have to move substantially less body mass to move the sticks. Or it is the placebo effect, take your pick.

 

[Jack Winter]

I'm not sure this is what you are looking for as it's quite an expensive option, but this company has a wide variety of hardware for chair mounting various things.

Chair Mounts – MTSIM – MONSTERTECH

Make your chair into a full flight sim cockpit. Fully adjustable joystick, throttle and mouse mounts.

www.monster.tech

I'll probably drop far too much money on this at some point in the future..

 

[GroG79]

I do recommend setting up some 'rules' while playing.
I also have those nerve pains from time to time and what keeps coming back as advise is to change position regularly. But I guess you are aware of those advises

I still need to sit for 40 hours a week behind a desk; which leaves little extra time to game... They call it the new smoking; sitting on your *** all day.

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

But I guess you are aware of those advises

I am . This ugly IKEA chair is better for my back than any multi-hundred euro "ergonomic" office chair.

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

After playing a few more hours I have come to two conclusions. First, the new stick positions work great, but I still have the tendency to cramp up my right upper arm and shoulder when things get exciting. I will have to work on keeping my shoulder relaxed even in tense battle situations.

Second, having the keyboard just in my lap does not work. Well it works for on-foot gameplay, but I cannot touch type with the keyboard being loose and potentially moving. I need it to be in a reliable fixed position to do that. So I will look into some kind of goose neck tablet mount or something, or maybe something like a camera clamp or clamping mic stand I can fix the keyboard to. Or maybe something like a telephone arm, that could work.

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

Yeah I just should keep posting, everytime I do it gets my gears going and I feel the need to tinker something together. I just love ghetto solutions.

I looked on Amazon for arms and tablet mounts and such, and ended up looking at those "breakfast in bed" tables you put over your lap, and I thought... how hard can it be. So I cut up some old wooden slats I had in the basement, tacked them together in a U-shape, velcroed the small wireless keyboard that I am used to to it, job done. I made it just wide enough it is held in place by the side of my thighs, and high enough I can fit a blanket under it in the winter. It barely moves, I can move it closer or further away from me as needed, and obviously I have the keyboard in the optimal position to touch type on it (I am just doing that, looking at a virtual desktop in VR to test it). And if I don't need it, I can grab it and put it aside without taking the headset off.

As I said, job done. Thanks for listening.

 

[VR andysonofbob]

Well let's see it then...

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

Here you go. It is really just a butchered together piece of wood in U shape. I cannot take a photo in the chair as it does not stand up by itself on the tilted chair surface.

 

[pFVD]

That's similar to how my son used to do it. He bought a reclining "gaming" chair and used a folding bed tray; the legs fit either side of his legs and gave him a stable base to put the keyboard and mouse on just above his lap.

 

[BigBANGtheory [VR]]

I'm not sure this is what you are looking for as it's quite an expensive option, but this company has a wide variety of hardware for chair mounting various things.

Chair Mounts – MTSIM – MONSTERTECH

Make your chair into a full flight sim cockpit. Fully adjustable joystick, throttle and mouse mounts.

www.monster.tech

I'll probably drop far too much money on this at some point in the future..

...this is one of the only real gaming chairs on the market right now

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

Right, next iteration, the last one did not work out.

For one, the torque the Streamdeck was applying on the velcro was slowly but steadily peeling it off the stick base. On top of that, my wireless keyboard I had put on the improvised wooden stand broke a few days later, so I had to get a new keyboard. As I secretly wanted a proper keyboard with full size keys for a while now anyway, I went all-in and bought a Logitech MX Mini - fantastic keyboard by the way (but very expensive).

So, for the next try I bought two gooseneck tablet holders on Amazon. I searched for ones where the reviews consistently said that the gooseneck was "too stiff". I settled on this one, which is not only very stiff (so accidently deforming the gooseneck was pretty much impossible - I really need brute force to bend the gooseneck), but also conveniently cheap. Also, the mounting clamp is an actual clamp that is screwed tight (albeit plastic), not spring loaded. Perfect.

The gooseneck has two parts, the grey one is very stiff and tight and barely moves unless you use force, and the white part underneath the tray is softer and easily bendable to adjust the close position. Both the keyboard and the streamdeck fit perfectly into the spring loaded tablet mount.

Once I know if this setup works - especially the keyboard, which I wll need to take off the tray to get into the chair, and possibly bend the gooseneck to the side) I will do some cable management and also fix parts of the goosenecks to the chair frame for additional stability. I will also have to decide if I want the keyboard gooseneck go under or over my right leg - at the moment I am planning for the latter in the hope I can somehow swing the keyboard to the side when I don't need it.

Anyway, looks like this right now - sorry, bad lighting, it is raining outside. Also, still messy, wiring gets cleaned up when it is working well enough to make it permanent.