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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?"
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.
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.
Is this a common affliction?
:-D
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.
(Spudley Strikes Again!)
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...
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.
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
ESD Product service support subject: New Retain tip
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
(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)
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
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]