You can 3D-print your own trackpad. The bad news? The Ploopy

Ploopy, a company that makes trackpads for PCs, has a retro-looking design. It's also open-source. If you have the time, and a 3D-printer, you can make your own trackpad.

Ploopy is responsible for the 3D-printable headphones we reviewed last year. Now, it's selling 3D-printable trackpads (via Hackaday), which you can plug into your PC's USB.

You might wonder why anyone would bother to make a trackpad for a shooter. Why not? isn't the only answer. A good answer would be for drawing, productivity, and possibly mobility as well.

You can use a trackpad as a standard mouse or you can duplicate the placement of your screen so that touching the corner of the pad hits the corner on your screen. You can use the trackpad like a mouse or you can duplicate the screen's placement so that the corner of your pad touches the corner of your screen.

You might want to do this so that you can map your drawing directly in your drawing software. This allows you to achieve a level precision that is difficult to achieve with even the best gaming mouse.

You can either go to Ploopy’s store or 3D print your own trackpad parts via Ploopy’s GitHub. You can either buy the kit to assemble yourself for $100 or pre-assembled at $130. You can choose the colour from black or gray in both cases, and you don't require a 3D Printer.

The kit includes a stylus that you can also use on the trackpad. This is the main reason to buy it from the store rather than print it yourself. The 3D printing instructions don't mention this stylus, which is a pity because you can tuck it into the trackpad once you are finished using it.

Ploopy makes a lot of retro products, including mice with trackballs and headphones. They also make a Nano Trackball that can be used on its own. This is a lot to do for an old-fashioned gadget, but its uniqueness and strangeness is part of what makes it so appealing.

This is a great project to do on a Tuesday evening if you are a bit of a nerd (like me). If you are looking for a trackpad that you can use on your computer, even better.