I really like the ergonomics of my MacBook Pro 16” M1 Pro. The location of the trackpad, beneath the keyboard, makes it very comfortable for my hands to switch between writing and moving the mouse. I also enjoy working on my large 27” LG UltraFine display, which is basically a plastic-made Apple Studio Display — the display panel is very similar, almost identical.

At the same time, I do not like working on 2 displays simultaneously, this destroys my attention which in turn badly affects my productivity. What this means, is that I work on an external keyboard, mouse and trackpad.

I tried placing the trackpad on the right of my keyboard, but it really hurts my arm since I need to constantly perform lateral moves. Kind of like a cashier arm movement. This lateral move is also a slow one, which increases my latency when switching from typing to moving my cursor.

After looking online for well-made trays — basically, a plastic or wooden part that would lock the keyboard and the trackpad together into a single solid piece, the trackpad sitting right below the keyboard, I only found them made for the last-generation Apple Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad.

I own the previous generation keyboard and trackpad, what a bummer — I’ll need to design my own tray from scratch!

After 1 hour of tinkering with Fusion 360, I got a prototype, which I sliced into 4 parts that could be printed on my FDM 3D printer, since the whole part did not fit the build tray. I then proceeded to assemble the 4 parts together with Neoprene glue.

If you are interested of getting the 3D file to reproduce the tray on your end, I shared all the design sources online on Printables. You can also download the Fusion 360 source file if you need to modify the design, for instance reducing the padding on the sides if you want to match the ergonomics of the smaller MacBook Pro 14”.

The final design validated and fine-tuned (it was almost a first-time perfect match), I sent it over to Hubs for final printing on a large FDM printer, at a total cost of around 100€. The printed part got shipped to my address in Europe about 4 days after ordering it online.

Here’s the final result:

How it looks like on my desk:

More views of the part:

🇫🇷 Written from Nantes, France.