Mouse ball cleaning tips?

[pcm2a]

One of my Compaq laptops (4/40dx) the mouse barely moved at all. I took the internal mouse housing out and with a combination of scraping with a tiny screwdriver, blowing air and some goo-gone + water I got it moving again. At this point there is no visible debris on the rollers or the gears attached to it. Due to the housing I cant "see" everything.

In the horizontal direction left I can spin the ball and see the roller and the gear spinning perfect. Right it moves sporadically, sometimes great, sometimes a little, sometimes none. In the vertical direction the same thing happens, one way works perfect and one sporadic.

I took the mouse ball out of a Compaq (4/50dx) to see if maybe it was the ball but it made no difference.
Also, with my finger the roller and gear spin perfectly!

What are some other things I coud do to get this thing working at 100%? I read one tip that said to "roughen" up the mouse ball with like a brillow pad. That might be ok for a regular mouse but I'm not sure for this trackball.

 

[Chuck(G)]

I'm assuming that you've got a rubber-coated ball.

Have you tried using some methyl salicylate (oil of wintergreen), mixed with a solvent? Old rubber gets hard and will no longer "grab". If you've got a geriatric friend who uses Ben Gay "icy hot" ointment for his pains, smear some of that on and let it sit overnight. Wash off with alcohol and give it a try.

There's also a commercial product called "Rubber Renue" that's just a mixture of methyl salicylate and xylene.

 

[pcm2a]

The trackball on both of those compaq's and on my midwest micro laptop are all smooth and shiny, not rubber. Seems like external trackball mice are smooth/shiny too.

 

[Stone]

The rollers tend to get rings of crud buildup on them. More often than not this seems to be the problem and not the ball itself. I just gently remove the crud rings from the rollers with a toothpick and that solves the problem.

 

[Trixter]

Due to the housing I cant "see" everything.

This is usually what I remedy first when trying to clean something. (ie. take it apart)

I've had trackballs and ball mice stop working and on taking it apart found that crud had either gotten onto the axle, or is covering the "wheel", or got in front of the LED, etc. All stuff that you can't notice or fix when it's all put together.

 

[MikeS]

I'm assuming that you've got a rubber-coated ball.
...If you've got a geriatric friend who uses Ben Gay "icy hot" ointment for his pains, smear some of that on and let it sit overnight. Wash off with alcohol and give it a try.

So many bad and childish puns just begging to be typed...

I know what pcm2a is talking about and those trackballs are a major PITA to get working properly. They are the opposite of a mouse i.e. the ball is plastic and the rollers are rubber, but everything is less than half the size of a mouse and virtually impossible to get at; the ball sits in a closed kind of cup and there are only two little rectangular holes for the rollers to peek through. Not only do the rubber rollers accumulate the usual crud, which is much harder to remove than from plastic mouse rollers, but the rollers also tend to come loose and spin on the shaft.

Carefully cleaning the rollers and treating them with Rubber Renue or one of your other suggestions (Ben Gay???) might help.

You can of course open up the LCD panel (hopefully without breaking a hinge or any of the plastic tabs) and remove and disassemble the trackball assembly but that's not a job for the faint-hearted; there are tiny screws, pins, springs and things just waiting to get lost on your bench or carpet.

But yes, I have disassembled the one in my LTE Elite 4/75cx, cleaned and reglued the rollers and treated them with RR and it worked quite well again, but for most people I would just recommend an external mouse or trackball.

 

[MikeS]

This is usually what I remedy first when trying to clean something. (ie. take it apart)

I suspect you've never had one of these apart... ;-)

 

[SpidersWeb]

Also make sure you're using a proper mouse pad. (Edit: unless it's a trackball of course)

 

[Chuck(G)]

But yes, I have disassembled the one in my LTE Elite 4/75cx, cleaned and reglued the rollers and treated them with RR and it worked quite well again, but for most people I would just recommend an external mouse or trackball.

I've actually worn a few mice out; that is, the rollers that are basically either metal-to-plastic support bearings or worse, plastic-to-plastic support bearings have worn the bearings out-of-round. I suppose that those can be repaired, but it's cheaper just to buy a new mouse. Two years ago, I discovered what a great thing optical mice were--nothing like being a decade or two behind the times, is there? :roll:

 

[MikeS]

Also make sure you're using a proper mouse pad. (Edit: unless it's a trackball of course)

It's a small trackball integrated into the LCD panel.

 

[pcm2a]

I know what pcm2a is talking about and those trackballs are a major PITA to get working properly. They are the opposite of a mouse i.e. the ball is plastic and the rollers are rubber, but everything is less than half the size of a mouse and virtually impossible to get at; the ball sits in a closed kind of cup and there are only two little rectangular holes for the rollers to peek through. Not only do the rubber rollers accumulate the usual crud, which is much harder to remove than from plastic mouse rollers, but the rollers also tend to come loose and spin on the shaft.

I found the Compaq's to be super easy to take apart compared to some other laptops. A few screws and the top comes off the keyboard, 4 more and the front panel of the LCD comes off showing you the guts of the LCD and trackball. The trackball assembly is easy to take out as well but I'm not sure that it comes apart without breaking it. There are two openings to see down to the roller.

Why would it roll smoothly by finger but not ball? Both rollers move smoothly in both directions (and the internal gears, and the mouse on the screen) with my finger, but only one direction with the actual ball (or the ball from another compaq) with the opposite direction being sporadic. I also used soap, water, goo-gone, and a tiny point to clean every piece of those rollers and the metal bar. Have to be gentle though to make sure I don't break it.

See the pictures of the trackball housing in the nude....

I think a lot of people aren't realizing that this is a trackball on a lcd panel of an ancient compaq laptop. The mouse ball is up on the screen, who thought that was a good idea?

 

[MikeS]

I found the Compaq's to be super easy to take apart compared to some other laptops.

Yup.

The trackball assembly is easy to take out as well but I'm not sure that it comes apart without breaking it. There are two openings to see down to the roller.

Two tiny black screws on the bottom. Watch out for the springloaded plunger.

Why would it roll smoothly by finger but not ball? Both rollers move smoothly in both directions (and the internal gears, and the mouse on the screen) with my finger, but only one direction with the actual ball (or the ball from another compaq) with the opposite direction being sporadic.

Different friction coefficient finger vs. plastic ball, different pressure on the roller depending on whether you're lifting it up or pushing it down.

I also used soap, water, goo-gone, and a tiny point to clean every piece of those rollers and the metal bar. Have to be gentle though to make sure I don't break it.

Didn't work for me; had to actually remove the roller wheels, clean & treat the rubber, and glue the rollers to the shafts.

See the pictures of the trackball housing in the nude....

Yup.

I think a lot of people aren't realizing that this is a trackball on a lcd panel of an ancient compaq laptop. The mouse ball is up on the screen, who thought that was a good idea?

Convenient when it works; better than a joystick or trackpad IMO.

 

[pcm2a]

I never looked at the back, thanks! I have removed the assembly and carefully removed both gears and took the roller off the gear. Should I just clean everything thoroughly with my goo-gone, let it dry out, put it together and that's that?

 

[pcm2a]

I cleaned the rollers and the gear with googone and rinsed everything. I dusted out all of the housing. Put it all back together, but outside the laptop, and the ball spins the rollers perfectly. I put everything back into the laptop and left/right is 100% perfect, down is 100% perfect and sometimes you have to roll it up twice to get it moving but once moving it's perfect. So not 100% all the way around but incredible the difference it made.

Thanks for the tips on how to take that thing apart!