Cleaning Your Mice Wheels?

frink_exp asks: "Cleaning mouse balls (and the rollers they contact) has been the source of many a pun and the subject of countless junk e-mail messages. As more optical mice replace their mechanical kin, such hygiene is becoming unnecessary. However, the mouse wheel is nearly as common as the mouse itself and human hands are grubby, sweaty, oily appendages. Invariably, a nice coating of gunk envelops the wheel. Sometimes it's just unsightly, but at it's worst, it'll sap the rubber wheel of all its grip making it difficult to scroll. Cleaning the wheel can be awkward as it tends to spin and unlike mouse balls, it doesn't just pop out (rehashing of the balls joke intended). The best method I've found is scraping sideways, parallel to the wheel's axis of rotation, slowly working my way around the whole wheel. This is tedious and annoying. Is this a common affliction? What is a better, easier way to clean the mouse wheel? Solvents? A wheel brush? Fire?"

Comments

Sorry, man

[augros]

No, it is not a comnon problem. You are just a very very dirty man. Please do not "ask slashdot" about your hygiene problems again.

Re:Sorry, man

[itwerx]

No, it is not a comnon problem. You are just a very very dirty man. Please do not "ask slashdot" about your hygiene problems again.

I know the parent got modded as a troll and it could have been worded a little more kindly, but geez, it's true! As a consultant I've had thousands of client companies some with thousands of users and right now I'm working for an ~200 user company and I've never seen a dirty mouse wheel unless it was in an environment that was already pretty grubby (e.g. machine-shop).
So yeah, hand-washing or a new mouse, they're cheap!

Re:Sorry, man

[anubi]

I have to agree with you 100%. If I were given this problem, I would just buy mice by the case.

Here's the justification... In quantity, I can get pretty good optical mice for less than $10/each.

If I buy a cases of them at a time, I get identical mice.. i.e. I do not need to change any setups when I changeout mice.

Time is money. If these mice are getting dirty because people are busy doing something grimey and don't practice good computer hygiene, look how much you are paying the guy to stop what he's doing and try to pamper the mouse. There is no way on God's Green Earth I am going to face some machinist and demand he wash before he uses the machine. I consider it MY job to find the proper equipment so he can do HIS job. The way I see it, I derive my pay from the end customer, who is most likely buying the product the machinist made, not me! I support the machinist - it should not be beholden on him to support me.

This reminds me when I was a brand spanking new engineer on my first job at Chevron Oil Company. I designed a nifty little circuit tester for the mechanics to verify tank gauge readings with. They had it one day. At the end of the day, they brought me back my tester. In a bag. There were not many parts still connected to another anymore. They never got a chance to use it. It did not survive the trip to the job site in the back of the pickup truck, in the toolbox with all the other oilman tools, over rough terrain, to the job site. It taught me a damm good lesson. The next tester I sent to them had a lot better mechanical design - this one would take a ride in a pickup truck bed along with wrenches so heavy I could barely lift ( much less use ). And take submersion in mud, oil, or whatever, and take well to cleaning by being held under a venting steam trap.

Not in my wildest imaginations as a College student did I realize what the men in the field went through, and how they had to improvise using what they had on hand right then to get the job done. Anyone could do it, given infinite time, and catalog in hand, but an experienced mechanic would do things just right in ways I never would have considered. Just one day in the field with those guys gave me a whole different outlook on my relationship with what the company did. I consider them the most hardworking, intelligent, and no-bullshit folks I have ever had the pleasure of working with.

If you can't design the mice so they take well to the job, just plan on replacing them. About the last thing you want to do is mess up the people who are making the products that are sold to provide for your paycheck.

Open It Up

[RzUpAnmsCwrds]

Most mice (especially optical mice) only have a couple of screws on the bottom. Open it up and pop the little wheel out, then wash and dry it. If you hate the clickiness that the wheel has (as I do), or the weight that Logitech inserts into their optical mice (as I do), now would be a good time to remove them. Be sure to keep all the little parts handy.

Always wash your hands before use.

[Spudley]

Is this a common affliction?

Go wash your hands immediately, you naughty naughty boy. *smack* How many times must I tell you not to handle your balls with dirty hands?

Um, yea. Same goes for the scroll wheel, too. :-D

Just take it apart

[earthdark]

Flip the mouse over, locate the screw(s), unscrew them, and gently take the covering off.

There's a spring pushing the wheel up, so take a moment to figure out how the wheel is lodged onto the spring and plastic parts before taking the actual wheel out.

Scrape the dirt off the wheel or wash it or whatever you like and pop it back in. Put the cover back on, the screws, and voila, clean mouse wheel.

Of course, if you have an optical mouse, you might want to unplug it or turn off the computer before looking for the screws on the mouse bottom...

Watch out for old mice.

[Piquan]

The x-acto that many people described is fine for modern mice. (I prefer to hold the knife at just shy of a right angle to the of the roller, and the blade at a right angle to the roller surface, and scrape along the length of the roller. Do this with the blade at a right angle or slightly tilted BACKWARDS; never cut into the roller!)

But look out for some of the older steel mice, such as on the Xerox Alto or earlier Symbolics Lispms. Those can be seriously damaged by x-actos. From Peter Payne's FAQ:

Q: My mouse is getting arthritis, can I do anything about it? (translation: your mouse has problems)

A: That's a piece of cake. If you have an original metal and comutator mouse, keep it, it is a work of art. My advice for all such tasks is (a) take your time (do it when you don't feel flustered or impatient) and (b) make sure your glasses are clean and the place that you are working has a really bright light - it helps enormously if you can see really clearly. Power down the machine, unscrew the bottom of your mouse, use common sense to remove fluff - and don't go jamming sharp metal things in there (if you do, there'll be tears before bedtime). I suggest that you also give your mouse mat a vigorous brushing too.

Well, I *used* to have the same problem...

[Anonymous Coward]

Not very long ago at all, I had this habit of smoking a vegetative green substance as I would surf the web. Copious quantities, in fact... I would frequently tamp the substance in the pipe down with my forefinger as I smoked away (yes, I have a monstrous, largely fireproof callus on there from years of doing this.) This would lead to a black, sticky buildup on both my finger and the mousewheel. And probably the inside of my lungs...

While I am certainly not proud of the aforementioned habit, that is not quite as nasty as having spooge or snot or filth build up on it due from lack of bathing or something. It was just ashes and a certain dark, tarry substance many of us are familiar with.

My mouse wheel is made of rubber or something similar, so I very firmly held an alcohol-soaked cloth on one side of the mouse wheel, and got my girlfriend to turn the mousewheel by digging her freakishly long nails in the wheel and turning it for me. After a few rounds, it was fine.

We all get older though, and I have left such habits behind me (mostly), so I find it is not a problem any more...

Ive never had this problem.

[mnmn]

The mouse I have is a fluffy hamster type I got from the pet store. Its cage does tend to stink once in a while but a monthly cleaning fixes it. I also let it exercise in the plastic ball all over the house once a day at least.

Make sure you feed it diversely and allow it a good level of exercise and it will retain a good coat and healthy other-body-parts. I'm really not sure of other suggestions here of popping the ball out and scrubbing with knives. I could never suggest that.

They're all lying.

[FFFish]

You stumbled on the solution yourself with your last suggested cure: fire. Simply dunk the mouse in cleaning fluid and ignite. The heat thins the hand-oils and forces them to the surface, where they burn off.

Make sure you do it outdoors, though. You'd hate for the nitrogen fire containment system to go off.

Field Replaceable Mouse Balls Joke

[chrestomanci]

ESD Product service support subject: New Retain tip

• Record number: H031944
• Device: D/T8550
• Model: M
• Hit count: UHC00000
• Success count: USC00000
• Publication code: PC50
• Tip key: 025
• Date created: O89/02/14
• Date last altered: A89/02/15
• Owning B.U.: USA

Abstract: Mouse balls now available as FRU (Field Replaceable Unit)

Text:

Mouse balls are now available as a FRU. If a mouse fails to operate, or should perform erratically, it may be in need of ball replacement. Because of the delicate nature of this procedure, replacement of mouse balls should be attempted by trained personnel only.

Before ordering, determine type of mouse balls required by examining the underside of each mouse. Domestic balls will be larger and harder than foreign balls. Ball removal procedures differ, depending upon manufacturer of the mouse. Foreign balls can be replaced using the pop-off method, and domestic balls replaced using the twist-off method. Mouse balls are not usually static sensitive, however, excessive handling can resutlt in sudden discharge. Upon completion of ball replacement, the mouse may be used immediately.

It is recommended that each servicer have a pair of balls for maintaining optimum customer satisfaction, and that any customer missing his balls should suspect local personnel of removing thes necessary functional items

• P/N33F8462--DOMESTIC MOUSE BALLS
• P/N33F8461--FOREIGN MOUSE BALLS

(Copy typed from the rec.hummor.funny archive. Typos are mine, the origonal posting was in all caps, which does not pas the Lameness filter)

"The Field"

[CharlieG]

Yep, designing "stuff" to work out in the field is hard.

WAY back when, starting during the Summer between HS and college, and continuing through college, I worked building and putting up crane systems. You know, the kind that looks like a moving bridge that you see in movies all the time

Man, that job was rough on men and equipment. The joke is, as rough as that job was, my next job required me to build stuff for the military. There is an expression - "Grunt Proof". The average "Grunt" is a heck of a lot smarter than folks give him credit for. It's just that he's living outdoors, has to lug around everything, is in a rough environment, and given a choice between carrying two tools that do one job each (perfectly), or one tool that does two jobs "well enough", that weighes 1/2 as much, he'll take the 1 tool, and some more ammo - as the ammo will keep him alive. Kinda makes it hard on your gear, as they will figure out how to break things that you never thought of

Re:"The Field"

[anubi]

Somehow, I can't consider an engineering education complete without some experience in industry such as this. I still remember how I first felt insulted over having my box mangled - how I felt they should have realized it was a delicate instrument and how they should have treated it as such, then realizing later just how wrong I was for thinking that way. Realizing I had spent company resources and made useless crap.

When I showed the remains of my tester to my supervisor, I remember him looking at it, then at me, and chuckling... and him telling me that that was strike one. Maybe I had better go to the machine shop and have one of those guys show me how its done at Chevron - you aren't in College anymore. I did. The next incarnation looked more like a tank than a piece of test equipment. The most expensive assembly in the whole thing was the case! I ended up using 50AMP switches to control milliamps. Not for current - but because of mechanical considerations. And the electronics were no longer designed for serviceability - they were now designed to last as long as possible in a very hostile environment. It was a lot cheaper to build another electronics package than to have one fail in use. So I ended up encapsulating the whole digitizer/display in a big lucite block ( like those paperweights you see stuff embedded in ) with four wires coming out of it. The case was a modified industrial explosion-proof housing, and the connectors were those huge oversized connectors used on welding rigs, with the connector holes going right through the case, so that in the event you dropped it in the muck below ( very probable ) you could pick it back up, hold it under the steam trap when it vented and blow the muck back off the device. And yes, you could plug a welding lead in it and use it as a test lead if you had to. The big 50 AMP switch turned the box on, off, or connected the input leads in such a manner as to charge its internal battery off the truck battery by "measuring" the truck battery. And it had very powerful magnets on the back to hold it to against the tank.

About the steam trap: Because heavy oils get so viscous when cold, they keep the pipes hot by bundling them with steam pipes under a sheath of insulation. But in the process of keeping the oil hot, the steam condenses back to water. Steam traps are gravitically operated valves which detect a buildup of water in the line and periodically open and vent the water out. They are very common on piping around heavy-oil processing.

We are talking about some really thick black sticky goo here - and lots of it. In the event of a problem, the goo may well be in places it shouldn't be. So, it was entirely likely that there be goo all over the place when trying to fix the problem. And its outside. And its cold. And its in the middle of the night. And its blowing rain. And forget papers, the wind's blowing rain around like all getout. And the mess is getting worse by the minute until you find and fix whatever broke.

I remember well my day in the field - I came all prepared with drawings. And all my engineering goodies. The first thing that happened was a big gust of rainy wind sent my entire book of drawings across the tank farm with gusto. The book binding snapped apart on the first strike onto the ground, while the individual pages, now free, scattered within seconds, over several miles of muddy terrain. All the stuff which served me so nicely in the lab was gone within minutes.. I think the lead pencil was all that really survived. It was me against the elements now. It seemed only nature could design anything to survive against this. If you didn't wear heavy protective clothing, you were soon so cold you could not feel a thing. If you did, you were so cumbersome that there was no way you were going to adjust any little knob or find the hole to plug the lead into, or not break the lead even if you did succeed in getting it in the little hole.

Ever try to hold anything with big heavy greasy gl

Dishwasher.

[simetra]

Just put it in the dishwasher with your dishes, wash, allow to dry.

Two products that I swear by....

[stuckatwork]

...are PhoneKleen found here, which are grem killing wipes, and are great for getting the black gunk of the keyboard and mouse exterior,

...and CaiKleen found here a rubber cleaner that restores that stickyness to rubber.

When I had to do desktop support, I always carried these with me.

An actual idea

[Mike556]

As a technican at a university I often find peripherals in various states of soiledness. All jokes posted in these replies aside, this is a very simple matter to deal with.

I usually use isopropyl alcohol and cotton swabs to clean off dirty peripherals. This not only cleans the equipment very well, but gives the room an aroma that suggests you might be doing something important.

Rotating the swab while running it perpendicular to the mouse wheel seems to work best. Get a different swab often, however, or you'll just wind up depositing more gunk back on the wheel.

Hope this helps!

~Mike