THE STORY
22.04.2023
Hi,
My name is Jonathan aka Piranha, 32 y.o. and I was introduced to PC gaming by friends in 2003 - I was hooked immediately.
We mostly played Counter-Strike and it quickly became competitive. A game turned into a sport. I began competing on a higher level and like with every kind of sport: sports equipment makes a significant difference. So I started to perfect my setup... Pretty soon I was satisfied with my monitor, PC, keyboard and headset. I still saw a big potential in my mouse.
My first gaming mouse was the Logitech MX518 and I noticed a big difference to the office mouse I was using before that. A few other mice followed like the G100s, Razer Abyssus v2 or the G403. Pretty soon I started modding those mice: Adding PTFE skates, paracord, grip tape or drilling holes in them to reduce unnecessary weight. Back in the day all gaming mice were wired since the wireless transmission had too much input lag - a big problem for fast-paced FPS games.
In the year 2018 Logitech decided to change that - they released the famous G305. It was supposed to be a wireless G100s successor with improved sensor. Since I was a big fan of the G100s [A claw-grip dream] I bought it on release but was left a bit disappointed like others in the gaming mouse community. So I did what I was already doing: Starting to mod it.
There were two things I didn't like: The shape and the weight. So I changed both. I attached EVA foam to the sides to make them less angled and removed shell material: first only from the inside and later also drilled holes. Now that mouse was ready to game!
The end result was not very pretty though and I was sure that I could reduce the weight a lot further. Inspired by another community member AmphibiousParakeet, I decided to learn how to 3D design and 3D print. After a month of trial and error, a lot of youtube videos and coffee - the first prototype was finished.
I posted it on reddit - proud of this achievement - and people asked if they could get one as well. That was the point where I decided to start the project called "PMM" in 2019. A community supported project where the designs would constantly improve thanks to feedback and financial support. The profits were constantly reinvested to first buy a second FDM printer and later on the first SLA printer.
FDM printer(s) use plastic wires which get melted and pushed through a nozzle. The end result are quite robust parts but the resolution was quite low - not ideal for gaming mice with a lot of details! So I switched to an SLA printer. The resolution was 100x better but the parts turned out to be a bit brittle. I started mixing my own resins with a good balance between stiffness and durability - the results were a lot better than at the beginning. I still wasn't satisfied.
I started looking for other 3D printing technologies and found a winner: Multi Jet Fusion which is invented and patented by HP. It fuses powder together which results in material properties similar to ABS [Which is normally used for gaming mouse shells].
In the meantime I added more and more designs to the collection. First the G305 with flatter sides, later the Zowie FK2 and S2. Soon after that I released an ultralight and wireless version of the G703 / G603 / G403. This shape however required a higher scroll wheel which the G305 couldn't offer - So I also started using G603 internals.
I wanted to have a fingertip mouse in the collection - like the Zaunkoenig M2K and looked for a wireless PCB that would be small enough to fit in such a small shell. The Razer Orochi V2 PCB was [almost] what I was looking for. I needed to change the shell shape slightly though to make it fit so I decided to create my very first own shape [inspired by the M2K] the P-CBR. People loved it!
More and more shapes followed: The finalmouse Ultralight 2, Air58, Starlight M; Razer Viper and Viper Mini; Zowie ZA13, EC2, FK1; Logitech G303, G502, Superlight. Some people mentioned they like the Superlight shape a lot but needed a smaller version. So I created the 5% smaller Superlight using Superlight internals to have a scroll wheel at the right height.
When Zaunkoenig decided to sell their PCBs on it's own it was clear to me: I needed to make a mod for it to create a cheaper alternative to the M2K with the same weight and slightly different shape: the P-CBR 8K was born. It was almost not possible to produce these mice to meet the demand.
Wireless Gaming mouse PCBs have become almost perfect. One specification that needed improvement was the polling rate and Razer understood this: They released the Viper V2 PRO with 4K polling rate. Since this PCB not only offers a high polling rate but also a super low weight design, I decided to make a mod for it with alternative shapes: Finalmouse S, M and L [=Air58].
The future of PMM will be to continue to use the best electronics on the market but offer an infinite amount of shapes with those. Infinite amount of shapes since by now it is possible to order a custom shape. The process is that the customer gets sent a modeling clay which then gets 3D scanned and turned into a functioning mouse.
This project is a lot of fun and the community is amazing. I'm thankful from the bottom of my heart and look forward to the next 4 years of development.
I'm hoping to write a blog post once a month to give you guys a look behind the scenes.
Stay safe.
~Jonathan
We mostly played Counter-Strike and it quickly became competitive. A game turned into a sport. I began competing on a higher level and like with every kind of sport: sports equipment makes a significant difference. So I started to perfect my setup... Pretty soon I was satisfied with my monitor, PC, keyboard and headset. I still saw a big potential in my mouse.
My first gaming mouse was the Logitech MX518 and I noticed a big difference to the office mouse I was using before that. A few other mice followed like the G100s, Razer Abyssus v2 or the G403. Pretty soon I started modding those mice: Adding PTFE skates, paracord, grip tape or drilling holes in them to reduce unnecessary weight. Back in the day all gaming mice were wired since the wireless transmission had too much input lag - a big problem for fast-paced FPS games.
In the year 2018 Logitech decided to change that - they released the famous G305. It was supposed to be a wireless G100s successor with improved sensor. Since I was a big fan of the G100s [A claw-grip dream] I bought it on release but was left a bit disappointed like others in the gaming mouse community. So I did what I was already doing: Starting to mod it.
There were two things I didn't like: The shape and the weight. So I changed both. I attached EVA foam to the sides to make them less angled and removed shell material: first only from the inside and later also drilled holes. Now that mouse was ready to game!
The end result was not very pretty though and I was sure that I could reduce the weight a lot further. Inspired by another community member AmphibiousParakeet, I decided to learn how to 3D design and 3D print. After a month of trial and error, a lot of youtube videos and coffee - the first prototype was finished.
I posted it on reddit - proud of this achievement - and people asked if they could get one as well. That was the point where I decided to start the project called "PMM" in 2019. A community supported project where the designs would constantly improve thanks to feedback and financial support. The profits were constantly reinvested to first buy a second FDM printer and later on the first SLA printer.
FDM printer(s) use plastic wires which get melted and pushed through a nozzle. The end result are quite robust parts but the resolution was quite low - not ideal for gaming mice with a lot of details! So I switched to an SLA printer. The resolution was 100x better but the parts turned out to be a bit brittle. I started mixing my own resins with a good balance between stiffness and durability - the results were a lot better than at the beginning. I still wasn't satisfied.
I started looking for other 3D printing technologies and found a winner: Multi Jet Fusion which is invented and patented by HP. It fuses powder together which results in material properties similar to ABS [Which is normally used for gaming mouse shells].
In the meantime I added more and more designs to the collection. First the G305 with flatter sides, later the Zowie FK2 and S2. Soon after that I released an ultralight and wireless version of the G703 / G603 / G403. This shape however required a higher scroll wheel which the G305 couldn't offer - So I also started using G603 internals.
I wanted to have a fingertip mouse in the collection - like the Zaunkoenig M2K and looked for a wireless PCB that would be small enough to fit in such a small shell. The Razer Orochi V2 PCB was [almost] what I was looking for. I needed to change the shell shape slightly though to make it fit so I decided to create my very first own shape [inspired by the M2K] the P-CBR. People loved it!
More and more shapes followed: The finalmouse Ultralight 2, Air58, Starlight M; Razer Viper and Viper Mini; Zowie ZA13, EC2, FK1; Logitech G303, G502, Superlight. Some people mentioned they like the Superlight shape a lot but needed a smaller version. So I created the 5% smaller Superlight using Superlight internals to have a scroll wheel at the right height.
When Zaunkoenig decided to sell their PCBs on it's own it was clear to me: I needed to make a mod for it to create a cheaper alternative to the M2K with the same weight and slightly different shape: the P-CBR 8K was born. It was almost not possible to produce these mice to meet the demand.
Wireless Gaming mouse PCBs have become almost perfect. One specification that needed improvement was the polling rate and Razer understood this: They released the Viper V2 PRO with 4K polling rate. Since this PCB not only offers a high polling rate but also a super low weight design, I decided to make a mod for it with alternative shapes: Finalmouse S, M and L [=Air58].
The future of PMM will be to continue to use the best electronics on the market but offer an infinite amount of shapes with those. Infinite amount of shapes since by now it is possible to order a custom shape. The process is that the customer gets sent a modeling clay which then gets 3D scanned and turned into a functioning mouse.
This project is a lot of fun and the community is amazing. I'm thankful from the bottom of my heart and look forward to the next 4 years of development.
I'm hoping to write a blog post once a month to give you guys a look behind the scenes.
Stay safe.
~Jonathan
