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Mouse Cleaner

Cleans Your Mouse...
  [vote for,

Having just spent the last five minutes picking the dirt out of the inner gubbings of my mouse (computer mouse that is...), inspiration struck...
It goes a little like this, i envisage a mouse ball sized ball, with a rough surface, that is inserted into the ball compartment of my mouse, and spins at a high speed thus dislodging said crud!
I can already hear the doubters crying "optical", but i am at work, where the budget obviously cannot stretch to such luxuries, and we are grounded firmly in the stone age with our mechanical ball mice.
MikeOliver, Apr 01 2004

Mouse Cleaning Kit http://www.mycables.../sku/M-CLEANKIT.htm
Not the one I used, but just about the same. [oxen crossing, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Another one. http://www.mycables...S-025.htm?x=20&y=11
If you need to really grind out the crud [oxen crossing, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Roller scrapers http://www.halfbake...a/Roller_20scrapers
Positively shameless self-promotion. Move along, move along. [phoenix, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]


       What annoyes me is when i remove the mouse ball and start to remove the dirt from inside my cursor goes all crazy. Funny there is'nt a mechanism where by when the mouse is inverted the damn cursor stops moving.
nomadic_wonderer, Apr 01 2004

       That would effectively kill Australian mice!
MikeOliver, Apr 01 2004

       nm: you could always clean the mouse when the computer is off.
DrCurry, Apr 01 2004

       You do realise the idea is not a way of stopping the cursor moving whilst you clean it?
It's just the annos are moving in that direction...
MikeOliver, Apr 01 2004

       [DrCurry] you maintain your position as the king of eloquent solutions!   

       I mean why did i not think of it. All i need to do is close all applications (knowing that I tend to get most miffed with my mouse when i am in between a game and the controller is not responding) then i shut down and clean my mouse. And when that is done i reboot my PC and Voila, my mouse is clean.   

       Thank you.
nomadic_wonderer, Apr 01 2004

       Or just unplug your mouse...
MikeOliver, Apr 01 2004

       What Koresh said. I don't think you can even still buy ball mice, can you?
waugsqueke, Apr 01 2004

       Baked. I bought one for about $15. The ball was rough and absorbent, and you drenched it with cleaning fluid, rolled it around on the special mouse pad. Worked OK, but only used it a few times.   

       I switched to an optical mouse, and I hate it for mechanical drawing when I'm trying to pick a point and the damn cursor jumps all around where I want to go.
oxen crossing, Apr 01 2004

       Yes, waugs, you can. Unfortunately my employer just bought about a million of them from Dell. (A million is a guess, but not an exageration.)
swamilad, Apr 01 2004

       Budget issues...I just presented that I spend an average of 5 minutes a week cleaning my mouse at ~$100/hr (I don't see that much, that's what the department pays for me after taxes, benefits, union dues, etc), a $20 optical mouse will pay for itself in a month, not counting lost productivity and additional frustration due to a clogged ball mouse.
Freefall, Apr 01 2004

       I get about $16, and if I have to clean a mouse and spend an extra 20 minutes at work, I get nothing. We'll keep balls, I'll bet.
swamilad, Apr 06 2004

       You should use a Wacom mouse for mechanical drawing [oxen]. You'll appreciate the control but hate it for regular mouse duties where the optical reigns supreme.   

       I wonder if a hybrid mouse, one with a mechanical ball but that uses optical to read the ball, would have any advantages. I know that shiny, grained wood surfaces drive the optical mice nuts.
bristolz, Apr 06 2004

       PC world/gamer/format or someone at least ran a review on a product called the solvent free rollerball cleaner. It looked like a furry golf ball on a stick. The review said it tickeled
miasere, Apr 06 2004


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