folta@tove.umd.edu (Wayne Folta) (02/19/90)
I have previously described problems with my mouse tracking improperly, and my adventures in disassembling and cleaning the little bugger. Well... I finally found out what was causing the problem, and maybe it will save someone the $$ of buying a new mouse. It struck me that I seemingly had to disassemble the mouse (take out the screws) to clean it or the cleaning had no effect. Maybe I was jiggling something when I disassembled it? Then I noticed that the rollers could be moved slightly along their axis. In my new (3-month old) mouse, the rollers can be shifted about 1/16 inch along their axis. I stuffed some pieces of (uncorrugated) cardboard in the mouse to stop this, and everything is fine. The roller which controls horizontal movement is easy, since it's encoder is very close to the circuit board. I only needed two pieces of cardboard. The other roller is much farther from the edge, so I had to roll up the cardboard to get the proper diameter. (Hint: I wedged cardboard at the encoder end of the shaft. This is the direction in which the roller was shifting.) Anyhow, if anyone else is having a similar problem--a mouse that seems to get clogged in a matter of a day or two, and requires disassembly to "clean"-- check out the shifty rollers. -- Wayne Folta (folta@cs.umd.edu 128.8.128.8)