Building the Mouse Logitech Won't Make
Original: Building the mouse Logitech won't make
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The eternal conundrum of the DIY enthusiast: splurging on specialized tools for a one-off project. Commenters commiserated about their own "buy-it-for-life" tool collections, gathering dust after a single use, with some joking that they'd inevitably need a recently donated tool the very next day. A surprising suggestion to donate to local tool libraries or hackerspaces sparked a lively discussion, with some discovering that these resources might be more accessible than they thought, even allowing for urgent pickups. As it turns out, the real cost-saving strategy might not be buying fewer tools, but sharing them with a community.
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Yeah, I feel this :)
for example, when i borrowed a MIG welder, the person at the space asked me to weld some scrap metal in front of them before they let me loose with it.
But then we bought a new house and I started renovating it. I think I have probably used every single tool I ever bought by now, and every time I used one for the first time, I was so happy that I didn't have to go and scout for a good deal first or drive to Home Depot to buy one right now or anything like that.
So in my case, it actually paid off in the end to have PTPA (premature tool purchase addiction).
I think the only disappointment at the moment is my Makita rotary drywall cutter - a reciprocating multi tool is just so much easier to control and makes nice straight cuts easily.
Still waiting for the welder to have its moment though.
Disclaimer: had to expand the shed to fit all tools
Using a hot plate to reflow boards is fine if you already know everything is correct. Having a real hot air station is very important if you need to change any parts or even fix reflow problems.
So for me, a loupe/microscope and a fine SMD iron is the best option. I have some China-model that uses Hakko tips.
I got a huge confidence boost from one of the old engineers with rubbish eyesight. Thinking “If HE can see well enough to do 0603 and smaller, then so can I!” :D
A few hours practice on scrapped electronics made a big difference for me.
Tape out anything that you're not reworking, use tweezers and push down the edges against the board to seal as best you can, and then flux it and blow.
It'll hold things in place and wick away the heat from anything you're not trying to rework. I went from a near 0% success rate to near 100% with it.
I have a hot air station that I haven’t used much because I found it difficult to control. I will give it another try but with the Kapton!
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008863940082.html
And here is the cheap hot air rework station I use. <$15
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005989227215.html
You can even opt out of the stencil but I never do cuz it's much easier than not having it.
Not sure why they'd need to remove SMD LEDs, but whatever.
They are "PTC" which means they top out at a certain temperature, usually 260 degrees.
I would recommend using an inline fuse holder for some semblance of safety though.
One of these, a lamp cord, some solder paste and a toothpick, and you can easily assemble SMD boards.
I learned it from Superfastmatt. He needed a piece of plastic that retails for $1500 for his van, so he said: “either I have a $1500 solution or I have a $1500 solution but I get a free fancy 3D printer in the end…” that stuck with me.
I have a brake bleeder, an oil change jugs with a cap on top and the side, cellphone tool kits, and more...
Sometimes it takes a while to derive the tenets of labor specialization from first principles.
How many of us can make more making nets for fishermen than making nets AND fishing yourself?
I also did a USB switch project for fun, and ended up spending probably $250 for something I could have just bought for $15, but it was a great experience. (Here if anyone is interested: https://shielddigitaldesign.com/posts/2021/susb/ )
I feel this too.
Card board. Recovered cables. Recovered entire circuits of formerly used boards that fit inside my palm (#jewishConstraints) #Undisclosed parts of my how~yo (how drunk are you willing to get (to train yourself) (while raising a now 23 years old .... "kid" #PGurNOTeventrying #sry4urKId that is already "there"
We aren't doing these things to save money.
You might check out https://hackaday.com/blog/. They quite often feature projects from people who built the thing they wanted, instead of buying it. (Often because the thing they wanted couldn't be bought in the first place.)
If there’s one product that absolutely needs to be shamelessly ripped off it has to be this one. It’s a mouse so close to perfection it boggles the mind why Logitech wouldn’t go the last mile.
Manufacturers in china, if you see this, do the thing!
You can see it off to the side in this post https://www.reddit.com/r/Trackballs/comments/u0f9kn/smooth_s...
But know that it won't make the onscreen scroll smooth. Only the physical feel
While I had the mouse, I kept looking for ways to "fix scrolling" and everything repeatedly pointed to third party software. If you have an iPad or Android device, you're completely out of luck.
How does a company become so out of tune with customers that customers feel the need to "fix" the design flaws of devices they bought?
I'm not one of those people to "fix" the device, because when I found the polling speed and latency couldn't be increased, that was a complete stopper for me. I really wanted to make the mouse work for me, I really tried to make it work, but I couldn't get past the many flaws. It felt as if they went backwards from their old devices like the MX Revolution in many ways.
https://mos.caldis.me/
I also gave up on waiting for the Ergo S and grabbed a Kensington TB550. The name is awful, but the trackball is excellent.
I've been dreaming of a set of lego-style bits of a mouse that can be assembled together... want another button? here you go. Want it on the side? Modify the 3D print file. Want bluetooth? Use this board... Want USB-C? Use that board... Want both? We've got you covered... Want a hyper-scroll wheel? Well, Logitech has a patent on that one, but here's the closest thing you can get on a DIY mouse. Now click these buttons in the configurator and hit "upload", and the firmware is installed to use your new mouse on any machine.
If I want to build a mouse with 32,000 buttons, the limit should not be the operating system's mouse event.
Also, I think it's criminal for any USB chargeable mouse to not just work as a regular corded mouse when plugged directly into a PC.
PS - would it be possible to make a mouse use Cherry MX hotswap switches so that people could customise their clicks?
It's a lot of organizing work mostly if you have the design ready for a factory
https://perixx.com/collections/mice?filter.v.t.shopify.conne...
Thank you for pointing that out.
* https://eu.perixx.com/collections/trackball
Because I have wired trackballs from both Logitech and Kensington, and have for many years. You can pry my Kensington Orbit from my cold, dead hand.
https://xkcd.com/2130/
They are a little pricey, ~$200, but I love mine (so much that I bought an extra). Also, they use a pool-sized ball, so I replaced mine with a green ball.
I'm about to test the "wetting current" theory by using a bench supply to actuate the switch near max specs.
But no, here we have... replaced a micro USB port with USB-C. Something fixed with a $2 cable at Ikea. The epitome of first world problems and he even had a custom PCB made. That's not even worth the academic part of this.
https://ploopy.co
They've apparently suspended shipping to the US, though. Not sure who to blame for that one..
QMK, or Quantum Mechanical Keyboard, is an open-source, community-centered configuration tool for keyboards and other input devices. QMK software is handy for creating layers, moving around specific keys, adding functions, etc.
I switched to using Logitech's MX Vertical mouse and I love it. There was a learning curve period, especially when it came to finer grained movements, but I'm totally used to it now and it feels much more comfortable and natural to me that any other mouse I've used. It has a USB-C port and I can switch between 3 different Bluetooth connections (press a button, connects to my work laptop, press it again, connects to my personal one). I'm not much of a power user so I don't customize the buttons but I know it's possible with an app. I don't use the app.
https://www.logitech.com/en-us/shop/p/mx-vertical-ergonomic-...
https://kinesis-ergo.com/products/#mice-and-pointing-devices
I've been using a left handed Evoluent but they never released the latest generation wireless left handed, and the price for the old version is 3x as expensive as it was a couple years ago (and they don't last very long, having owned a couple I get double/triple clicks within a year of buying it). I do like the separate middle mouse button though.
The gliding skates aren’t too great, I replaced them with aftermarket ones.
The RGB lights can be turned off permanently by long press on the DPI button.
https://perixx.com/products/perimice-513l
https://perixx.com/products/perimice-713l
https://perixx.com/products/perimice-719l
The Logitech middle button is awful hard to click.
I've tried everything after setting my seating and table properly and it seems this is my thing. I bough 4 more because I fear, like with everything good, Logitech might stop selling them and I'd be lost...
I developed serious wrist/hand pains after switching to the MX Master 3S for a few months, but its magnetic scroll wheel and build quality was absolutely glorious.
The MX vertical is a plastic toy in comparison, but it costs the same.
The mouse has disappeared into my hand and I've forgotten its existence. When I read your post I remembered how pain free my mousing experience has been lately.
Also, it can be used as a bluetooth mouse on my Samsung phone, which was neat.
Which models did you have problems with, and what went wrong?
Orbit - broken plastic around one of the bearings. ball no longer turned smoothly or straight in every direction, and dragged. Slimblade #1 - began to operate erratically. I believe it was a failure of some kind with one of the optical sensors, but I never was able to figure it out consistently. Slimblade #2 - microswitch under the LMB failed mechanically, no longer triggered.
the slimblade's were provided by my employer at the time, the orbit was purchased personally for at home - it's use overlapped with the slimblades at work.
I don't think I'm super unusually hard on my trackballs - My Elecom Huge lasted for ~6 years before the soft touch plastic finally got a bit gross from skin oil contact, but still was functionally fine, and my current protoarc is going strong two years in.
https://www.kensington.com/p/products/electronic-control-sol...
It's pretty much the perfect mouse, IMO, to the point that I built up a back stock by hoarding new and open box on eBay. But there are two main problems:
1) The the microswitches go bad after a couple years. It's possible to replace them, but it's tedious and you run a very real risk of damaging the PCB (as I have already done).
2) The dongle is USB Type-A only. Logitech actively refused to make a USB-C unifying receiver. I assume they wanted to shift to bluetooth but they still made unifying receiver devices for years and years after bluetooth was everywhere, so I dunno.
As far as newer iterations, the Anywhere MX 2S is somewhat tolerable, but it has a built-in battery which must be charged every couple of months, which is annoying. All of the newer Anywhere MX mice are even worse because they changed the basic functionality/features of the mouse with each revision. Oh, yes and they cost $90 (!) retail now.
So basically one of my side-projects, one of these days, is going to be to try building an open source Anywhere MX clone. Should be a fun yet challenging endeavour. I know there are a bunch of online communities making their own keyboards from scratch and at great expense, is there such a thing for mice?
The battery door pops on and off with a fingernail.
They really do look like dead-ringers for AA batteries. I bet you could run the mouse off of a regular AA as long as you didn't try to plug it in!
If 3.7-4.2V is too much to handle, jump with a 1n4148 diode or two in series.
I have three recent electronic devices that I would like to keep using but cannot, as their battery has reached end of life, replacements are hard to find, and changing the battery involves performing surgery on the device that I'm not confident I can do safely.
Nickel metal rechargeables are a good AA/AAA substitute for devices designed to tolerate their lower voltage. For more power, 14500/18650/21700 cylindrical lithium cells are my go-to.
Personally though, I find it more convenient to have a charging cable on hand vs keep some charged batteries on standby. When the built-in battery eventually goes bad, I am confident that I could replace it myself (not a universal position).
The batteries are in a separate container that is attached to the bag of saline used for irrigation. It’s not in the surgical field.
Note that legally trash is still owned, usually by the person or entity which produced it, so it’s technically stealing. (Whether anyone cares is a different thing. If you picked bank letters instead of barely used batteries…)
At the time (well over a decade ago) there was still lots of skepticism around recharagables and the extra process involved in dealing with them... but the tech has gotten lots better since, at that time even low-self-discharge was sort of hard to find. I'm sure much of the industry has moved over by now.
I share this preference. Replacing a battery has a device back in a working state a couple orders of magnitude faster than onboard charging, and when built-in batteries wear out, replacement is often difficult to impossible.
I always use NiMH rechargeables; alkalines are wasteful and sometimes leaky.
I've done some mouse PCB mods myself (swapping dead switches mainly). My biggest annoyance is resoldering through-hole components - unfortunately aftermarket PCBs for mice are quite rare, and my favorite mouse isn't all that popular in the "mouse community".
Since I switched to a vertical mouse all my hand pain is gone. Highly recommend the MX Vertical.
I’m looking at the price list for this job and I’m shaking my head. Up here in Canada shit is so expensive I foresee a future where the person with the hot air rework station has more business than the shops because a mouse like the normal MX is almost $120, and fixing stuff in the long term may prove to be more economical due to our stagnant wages. A lot of electronics and appliances can survive for a very long time with a few part changes or upgrades.
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