folta@tove.umd.edu (Wayne Folta) (12/29/89)
I just cleaned what appeared to be some scum off of the rollers of my mouse. Unfortunately, the mouse now has serious problems tracking vertically. I fear that the "scum" was in fact purposely put there by Apple to provide traction for the ball. Should the rollers in an Apple mouse be perfectly clean, or should they have something on them? If I just ruined them, is there anything I can do to redeposit the appropriate material? (By problems with tracking I mean: I can move the mouse horizontally as fast as I want and the cursor moves. However, moving it vertically fast (to get to a menu, for instance) results in the cursor moving only a few inches, or moving in a jerky manner.) -- Wayne Folta (folta@cs.umd.edu 128.8.128.8)
tim@hoptoad.uucp (Tim Maroney) (12/29/89)
In article <21510@mimsy.umd.edu> folta@tove.umd.edu (Wayne Folta) writes: >I just cleaned what appeared to be some scum off of the rollers of my mouse. >Unfortunately, the mouse now has serious problems tracking vertically. I >fear that the "scum" was in fact purposely put there by Apple to provide >traction for the ball. > >Should the rollers in an Apple mouse be perfectly clean, or should they have >something on them? If I just ruined them, is there anything I can do to >redeposit the appropriate material? I'm not sure if the scum or fuzz is canonical or not. I took a lot of it off the metal roller on the right side on my ADB mouse from Apple a few weeks ago, because the mouse kept catching on horizontal movement. I had to go back a few times and make sure I'd really gotten all of it off; if you leave any, then it is likely to catch on the roller mounting. Now, I have no problems. Make sure it's all off; rotate the roller by hand to make sure. But *don't* remove the black stuff in a thin layer on the rollers; they provide traction. If this is the scum you mean, all I can say is, whoops. >(By problems with tracking I mean: I can move the mouse horizontally as fast >as I want and the cursor moves. However, moving it vertically fast (to get >to a menu, for instance) results in the cursor moving only a few inches, or >moving in a jerky manner.) This does sound like what I saw when a piece of fuzz got caught in the roller mounting, but it could also mean a lack of traction from taking off the thin black layer. -- Tim Maroney, Mac Software Consultant, sun!hoptoad!tim, tim@toad.com "Something was badly amiss with the spiritual life of the planet, thought Gibreel Farishta. Too many demons inside people claiming to believe in God." -- Salman Rushdie, THE SATANIC VERSES
folta@tove.umd.edu (Wayne Folta) (12/29/89)
In article <9422@hoptoad.uucp> tim@hoptoad.UUCP (Tim Maroney) writes:
"... But *don't* remove the black stuff in a
"thin layer on the rollers; they provide traction. If this is the scum
"you mean, all I can say is, whoops.
That is what I was worried about, a coating that Apple purposely put there.
I cleaned the steel rollers to the metal.
To fix things, I disassembled the mouse and used alcohol on every part of
the rollers I could get to. I also cleaned the rider-wheel that presses
on the ball to hold it against the rollers. Lastly, I stretched the spring
on the rider-wheel, to make it push harder on the ball. Maybe this was it.
The mouse now works fine, but any more trouble--that would take disassembly--
and I'll go to an optical mouse. (OH, NOooo... Don't restart the optical-
versus mechanical-mouse debate! :-))
Oh, yes... The ADB mouse I got on my new machine (2 months old) had screws
that are self-tapping. It would seem if you (completely) disassemble the
little bugger too often, you will probably destroy the screw holes.
--
Wayne Folta (folta@cs.umd.edu 128.8.128.8)rieman@boulder.Colorado.EDU (John Rieman) (12/30/89)
In article <21521@mimsy.umd.edu> folta@tove.umd.edu (Wayne Folta) writes: >In article <9422@hoptoad.uucp> tim@hoptoad.UUCP (Tim Maroney) writes: >"... But *don't* remove the black stuff in a >"thin layer on the rollers; they provide traction. If this is the scum >"you mean, all I can say is, whoops. > >That is what I was worried about, a coating that Apple purposely put there. >I cleaned the steel rollers to the metal. > My ADB mouse started to stumble when it was about a month old. I also cleaned the rollers to the metal -- looked like scum to me! I didn't need to add additional spring power, and the mouse has worked fine, with no cleaning needed, for six months. Seems like the black traction stuff is mostly good for picking up dirt. -john rieman@boulder.colorado.edu U. of Colorado
brianw@microsoft.UUCP (Brian WILLOUGHBY) (12/31/89)
In article <21521@mimsy.umd.edu> folta@tove.umd.edu (Wayne Folta) writes: >Oh, yes... The ADB mouse I got on my new machine (2 months old) had screws >that are self-tapping. It would seem if you (completely) disassemble the >little bugger too often, you will probably destroy the screw holes. > >Wayne Folta (folta@cs.umd.edu 128.8.128.8) This may be too simple, but I always use a special technique when re-installing self-tapping screws. Just turn the screw in the opposite direction (counter- clockwise) while applying a light pressure, until you feel or hear the threads drop into thier old home. Then reverse the direction (clockwise) and reseat the screws. This technique never re-threads the plastic, and if you are careful there are no destructive results from disassembly and reassembly. Brian Willoughby UUCP: ...!{tikal, sun, uunet, elwood}!microsoft!brianw InterNet: microsoft!brianw@uunet.UU.NET or: microsoft!brianw@Sun.COM Bitnet brianw@microsoft.UUCP