Microsoft Trackball Optical - how to clean it?

[micheeel]

Hi all...

I want to clean my trackball mouse but not only the ball, I want to open it, dismantle, unscrew it

But... i have no clue how to do it, it doenst have any screw! Maybe i just have to force the plastic or something... Does anyone have any experience with this kind of thing?

Thanks in advance,
Michel.

 

[pjumpleby]

there should be no need to compleatly dismantle it if you take the ball out there should be rollers which track the motion of the ball you can clean the rollers with a pin to scrape all the gunk off it. probablly not the "correct" way to do it but it works and doesnt damage the mouse in anyway.

 

[micheeel]

But I want to clean inside the mouse... its an optical mouse, so ya, I could remove the ball easilly and clean it, but I wanted to do a good cleaning on the scroll, and remove all the "dirt" thats stored inside the mouse.... wich I can see when I remove the ball through a transparent plastic.

 

[pjumpleby]

try compressed air can be used to clean alsorts of computer parts.

 

[Onus]

On my Microsquishy Trackball Explorer optical trackballs, I just take the balls out , and remove the rings of lint that collect around the support pins. If the ball has anything on it, I'll wipe it off. I've never noticed dirt or gunk around the optical sensor, but if I did I would probably use a q-tip to remove it; either dry or possibly dipped in 91% rubbing alcohol.

 

[StevieD]

You wanna clean your mouse? Is your scroll sticking or otherwise misbehaving? Or is this just a fetish that you are going through that requires you clean everything to cleanroom perfection?


By the way, most of these inexpensive components were not designed for user dismantalling. In the factory the parts were snapped together.... the locking components are one-way thus when you open the parts the parts will cannot be reassembled or if reassembled may not stay reassembled.

I am not saying that it can't be done, but hells bells, what does a new mouse cost?

 

[copes]

I'm having a problem with my Microsoft Trackball Optical mouse. The pointer (cursor) that MS IntelliPoint v6.2 uses just freezes mid-job. Doesn't matter which program - IE, My Pictures, LimeWire (I know that it's a virus trap but both NOD32 & TrojanHunter say I'm clean and I'm going to uninstall it soon), Audacity. It will be going on just fine and then, out of the blue, the pointer just freezes. Sometimes it will jump a few inches on a page without any command from me. The only way to regain control is to restart.

This started happening in April and it finally occurred to me to cleaned the support pins and that did eliminate the cursor freezing until just recently. It's not that I'm too cheap to buy another mouse but I really need a trackball due to limited desk space and the Trackball Optical fits my large palm the best. Plus, I like the the 2 outer buttons. If you look at the Amazon link (above) people are selling this thing for $300 new & $89 used (it is discontinued).

I did notice that you can pull the rubber pads on the bottom which reveals screws for disassembly. Might be time to go McGyver on it!

 

[Bob_65]

i have one of these Microsoft trackballs and all you have to do is turn it over and remove the 2 pads on the bottom and you will see the screws that you need to remove to open it up and clean it out.