NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/comp/sys/mac/hardware/22076

Text File | 1992-11-20 | 3.2 KB | 66 lines

Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Path: sparky!uunet!van-bc!cs.ubc.ca!newsserver.sfu.ca!sfu.ca!neilg
From: [e-mail] (Neil K. Guy)
Subject: Re: Mouse 'skipping'
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail]
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
References: <[e-mail]>
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 18:39:16 GMT
Lines: 54

[e-mail] writes:

>My mouse will 'skip' an inch or two when I am doing fine actions like
>pixel-by-pixel editing of graphic items.  The mouse is about 3 years aold and
>is the original that came with my IIcx.  I do use a mouse-pad.  I've opened the
>mouse and cleaned every thing.  It is not an optical mouse.

>Is it time for a new mouse?

 Not necessarily. When you say you "opened the mouse" and cleaned it,
did you just open the round plate on the bottom and clean the rollers
with cotton and alcohol or something? If so, there's more you can do.

 For some reason (maybe Apple's engineers are bored) it seems that
Apple has gone through many many different mouse designs. Externally
all the ADB mice look more or less the same. But internally some are
the heavy rubber-coated metal ball, some have the lightweight black
plastic ball, some are electro-mechanical with the ball moving a disc
with vanes past an LED-detector setup, some have the ball moving a
disc with metal contacts on them, some are low-power, the old ones
aren't, etc. The various designs seem to have been made in the USA,
Japan, Malaysia and Singapore.

 Anyway, my point is that you're going to have to crack the mouse case
open. Some have one screw on the bottom, others have two. Either way,
separate the top and bottom halfs of the shell. This will expose the
rollers inside, which are probably covered with muck and dust if yours
is the average mouse. Clean everything off as best you can. Now
examine the actual detectors. If you see black plastic disks with
radial holes punched in them, you have an optical sensor. Blow out any
junk from inside the plastic housings if you can. If you have no
environmental qualms (maybe you already have some) use some of the
pressurised air that they sell in photo shops. (even if it's a new
bottle that doesn't contain CFCs it isn't simply air under pressure.
It probably contains propellant gases that contribute to global
warming, btw)

 If you're unlucky enough to have one of the rotten junky
metal-contact mice that Apple made for a while, you'll be able to see
a black plastic disc with radial metal strips on it. A pair of
contacts touches it, and there may be gunk in there. (that's why I
dislike these mice. My experience from mouse cleaning in a lab
suggests that these mice which rely on physical contact are far more
vulnerable than those which don't) You may have to use electrical
contact cleaner - the kind that comes in a definitely environmentally
non-friendly aerosol can - to clean these contacts.

 So there you go. My completely non-scientific observation is that the
mice which use small black plastic mouse balls don't get as dirty as
quickly as the kind which use heavy rubber-coated metal balls. But the
small black ones feel light and insubstantial to use, so there's a
handling tradeoff. :)

 - Neil K. ([e-mail])