Nebula Mouse: The 6-DOF You Build Yourself

Let’s say your CAD workflow is starving for spatial awareness. Your fingers yearn to push, twist, and orbit – not just click. Enter the Nebula Mouse. A 6-DOF DIY marvel, …read more

May 6, 2025 - 06:12

Nebula Mouse: The 6-DOF You Build Yourself

Nebula Mouse with sliced CAD view in the back

Let’s say your CAD workflow is starving for spatial awareness. Your fingers yearn to push, twist, and orbit – not just click. Enter the Nebula Mouse. A 6-DOF DIY marvel, blending 3D printing, magnets, and microcontroller wizardry into a handheld input device that emulates the revered 3DConnexion SpaceMouse – at a hacker price. It’s wireless, RGB-lit, powered by a chunky 1500mAh cell, and fully configurable through standard apps. The catch? You print and build it yourself, with a little help of [DoTheDIY]’s design files.

This isn’t some half-baked enclosure on Thingiverse. The Nebula’s internals are crafted with the kind of precision that makes you file plastic for hours just to fit weights correctly. Hall effect sensors track real-world movement in all axes; a Seeed Xiao nRF52840 handles Bluetooth duty. It’s hefty (280g), intentional, and smartly designed: auto-wake, USB-C, even a diffused LED bezel for night-time geek cred. Just beware that screw lengths matter. Misplace a 20mm and you’ll hear the soft crack of PCB grief. No open firmware either – you’ll get compiled code only, unlocked per build via Discord.

In short: it’s not open source, but it is deeply open-ended. If your fingers itch after having seen the SpaceMouse teardown of last month, this one’s for you.