CCK Ball field guide
Every layer of my split trackball keyboard, a WK CCK BALL running ZMK, set up for macOS. Flip through the layers, or pick a question below and the keys that answer it light up.
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How do I…
Click one. The map jumps to the right layer, fills the key you hold in colour, and inks the keys you press.
Practice ladder
Five short sessions, in this order — each builds on the one before. Ten minutes apiece beats one long slog. Ticks are remembered in this browser.
When it acts weird
Nearly every surprise on this board is a layer or mode left on.
- Space clicks instead of typing a space
- You nudged the ball less than 0.8 s ago (auto-mouse), or SNIPE is on. Wait a beat, or press FN+/ to leave SNIPE.
- The ball scrolls instead of moving the pointer
- SCROLL mode is toggled on. FN+; turns it off.
- Works on the cable, dead on Bluetooth
- You're on the wrong pairing slot — FN+6 goes back to slot 0. If it still won't pair: FN+Q on the board and Forget This Device on the Mac, then pair again. One without the other never works.
- One half stops typing, maybe a NICENANO drive appears
- You hit a bootloader corner (FN+esc or FN+-). Power-cycle that half.
- A right-click menu pops up out of nowhere
- A tap of NAV on its own is a right-click. Commit to the hold, or press esc and carry on.
- The top-left esc does nothing
- Since the last reflash it has been either a stale ZMK Studio override or a dead switch. In ZMK Studio use Restore Stock Settings; if it's still dead, it's the switch.
macOS settings worth a look
The board already sends real ⌘ ⌥ ⌃, so nothing needs remapping.
- Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Mission Control: make sure ⌃↑, ⌃↓, ⌃← and ⌃→ are ticked. The bottom row of NAV depends on them.
- Keyboard → Modifier Keys → WK CCK BALL: leave everything at default. If macOS asks you to identify the keyboard, pick ANSI.
- Mouse → Tracking speed sets how far the ball throws the pointer. Scrolling speed tunes the left knob — the firmware sends one small, fixed tick per click, so this slider is the volume control.
- Mouse → Natural scrolling flips the knob's direction along with everything else.
- Screenshots: FN+5 → Options changes where ⌘⇧3 / ⌘⇧4 files land. FN+3 and FN+4 always go to the clipboard.
Drawn from the board's ZMK keymap and physical layout, the source of the firmware built 15 Sep 2026. Anything saved from ZMK Studio lives on the board and overrides this map; Studio's Restore Stock Settings returns the board to what's drawn here. Ball and knob positions are schematic.