OT: Rubber disintegration on Microsoft Bluetooth mouse

Buy a new one ?:-} ...Jim Thompson

Yea, Buy a new one. Logitech perhaps.

Had this happen to my truck. The bracket the inside spare tire bolts to had a 2 feet or so of soft rubber wrapped around it. After 12 years it turned into goo. Yucky mess. Probably Ozone is the likely agent.

Cheers

Hate to throw stuff away but I guess I need to switch brands then.

Looks like some companies know how to make good rubber and others don't. I have stuff with rubber surfaces from the 50's and it's still good.

The other approach is to carefully remove the rubber part, make a plaster mould, and cast a replacement out of some nice material like Devcon Flexane 30. (That's a great method for irreplaceable parts, but not so much for a mouse!)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Hey, that's an idea. I still have some black leather. Now a mouse with leather sides, that would be something. Just not sure with what to glue it on. It goes around a corner so it would have to hold on real good.

I have a Logitech M510 Bluetooth mouse, and the same thing has happened, only faster. The rubber over the area where the thumb goes has completely disintegrated into little pieces in about 9 months.

Hi,

Also if you remove all the rubber you will have a plastic mouse instead which would still work as a mouse but probably not very comfortable to use. Maybe there is a rubber coating that could be painted onto the plastic though, maybe the rubber coating could just be put on in the areas where your hand touches the mouse too, might be kind of customized then, for shaping it right to fit your fingers before it cures.

cheers, Jamie

Or ... naugahide :-)

Good mouse and worth saving, even if it does say Microsoft on the label.

It's a common problem that's often discussed in various forums. The rubber-like stuff is actually a coating or paint. Underneath is ordinary non-sticky ABS plastic. What's happening is that the crosslinks are breaking down in the paint and turning back to its normal sticky goo. You can try to re-vulcanize it with various chemical vulcanization potions and accelerators, but so far, I haven't found anything that really works. The problem seems to be that none of the chemical vulcanization potions work at room temperature.

I have had fair luck burying the sticky goo under an additional layer of rubberish paint: The catch is that if you spray it on too thin, it will be porous, causing the underlying sticky goo to creep through the pores. If too thick, it will not harden properly, and your mouse will feel like it's made from a sponge. Some practice is recommended.

Otherwise, you can do what I've done to all kinds of devices that were covered with premature replacement accelerating rubber. I use a toxic, smelly, and disgusting solvent (Goop Off, Goof Off, or something similar) to remove ALL the rubber paint, and left the plastic uncoated. Wear gloves and do it outside.

Or just wear a rubber glove ?:-} ...Jim Thompson

Save the Naugas!

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

This stuff might also work: I haven't tried it (yet).

Plain methylated spirit or IPA also work - maybe you have to scrub harder. Other than 'feel' I don't know of any advantage with those rubber coatings that are only applied for decorative reasons. The shape will determine if the mouse is good to use.

I did my Sears IR thermometer using ethanol. It took LOTS of scrubbing to remove all the rubber goo. However, the solvent didn't attack the plastic, so it was probably worthwhile. I also tried stronger solvents (MEK, trichlor, and acetone) all of which attacked the underlying plastic on an electric screwdriver with the same problem. I was about to give up when I tried one of the Goof Off mixes. The rubber goo came off fairly neatly and easily, and it did not attack the plastic. It contains 3 different ethers, one alcohol, and oleic acid, none of which I have in my chemistry set.

Agreed. I spent some time helping a friend design the ultimate mouse for his hand. The problem was that he was missing 2 fingers on the right hand. None of the off the shelf mice seemed to feel right.

I started with a blob of modeling clay with a shaft shoved down the center. I used the resultant hardened blob as the original on a pattern duplicating wood lathe, and made a copy from various pieces of scrap 4x4 wood. That was followed by hollowing out the resultant mouse like shape to make room for the internal mechanism and electronics. It was a bit bizarre looking (asymmetrical) which required that I had to make some adjustments to the locations of the buttons and wheel, but in the end it worked quite nicely.

I also made one for myself, which unfortunately disappeared about 15 years ago. My favored shape was a block about the size of a pack of cigarettes, with a foam lined depression for my palm, and slots for my fingers, which wrapped over buttons on the beveled front of the mouse. It fit the shape of my hand when it was in a neutral and relaxed position with which I'm familiar from playing piano and synth keyboards. The mouse looked weird, but was quite comfortable.

I later tried to setup a friend in the business of making such custom mice and keyboards, but he dropped the ball and never did anything with it.

I also threw together a mouse glove with switches in the glove finger tips. That had a rather odd collection of problems making it basically a bad idea. However, one innovation was useful. I added a moving wrist support with rollers. The idea was not to waste any effort keeping the hand elevated. The roller wrist support moved around the table instead of the mouse. Just tap the fingers on the table when a button needed pressing. I also tried it with a raised keyboard, which also worked nicely. The rollers were 3 steel ball furniture casters.

Plenty of room for creativity in the mouse biz:

I have 2 of these:

It's Blob-like material. Remember The Blob?

Yes. It is ozone damage breaking up the polymer. If you don't care waht it looks like then dusting it with talcum powder or better still with diatomaceous earth will make the surface bearable. My old Psions after eventually suffered this fate as their rubbery surfaces decayed but it took more than a decade. I expect the MS mouse is badged Chinese junk.

Why not try a tracker ball instead? Logitech makes a better kit anyway. I have always had a soft spot for them as I knew them as compiler developers back in the days long before they were famous for making ice.

I haven't flown wearing these patent leather shoes I have since my mom passed away back in '04. Notice them the other day, and the entire sole, which I thought was part leather but isn't was crumbling, literally in my hands.

I have never seen vulcanized rubber do that. The cheap Chinese must have cut a few corners or something, even the Italian name didn't stop it. Crazy black crumbs grinding into my carpet. My would be perfectly fine shoes are dead! I do not know if they can even be re-soled or if I would want to. If I would pay for that, I might as well get a better pair that wouldn't get that way to start with. Eeeewwwwwww indeed.

NONE shall pass!

Mine has silver striping and says "Bluetooth Mouse" but probably the same thing. One reason why I asked how to salvage it is that this mouse has an amazing RF range. I have yet to find a conference room where it wouldn't work. Others become iffy if you get 15ft away.

I think peeling it off may be the only option. I use this mouse rarely, so some handling issues would be tolerable.