Maintenance/Mouse button replacement: Difference between revisions

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== Background and problem ==

I'm your ordinary sort of office worker, who types and clicks far too often in the course of a day. Various body parts connected to these devices are getting old and very much appreciate ~~that my employer has supplied me with a~~ mid-range ergonomic keyboard and mouse. Office workers of the world, you are advised to ask for at least this much. I think I'm emotionally attached, perhaps it makes me feel fancy that someone spent ~~one~~ hundred euro on ~~me, or~~ one must perform one's longevity ~~once~~ the job becomes a career, like a delivery driver ~~hanging~~ a pair of fuzzy dice over the rear-view mirror ~~after pulling away from headquarters.~~

I'm your ordinary sort of office worker, one who types and clicks far too often in the course of a day as if this digital thwacking were my only form of exercise. Various body parts connected to these devices are getting old and very much appreciate the mid-range ergonomic keyboard and mouse generously granted by my employer. Office workers of the world, you are advised to ask for at least this much. I think I'm emotionally attached to these toys, perhaps it makes me feel fancy that someone once spent a hundred euro on my well-being. Or maybe it's that one must perform one's longevity as the job becomes a career, like a delivery driver who hangs a pair of fuzzy dice over the rear-view mirror, or an academic whose bookshelf holds all the back issues of a professional journal.

~~The mouse trouble began when I moved into a "home office"—we'll spare most of the details except to say that my standing desk is not much more than a cutting board screwed to~~ the ~~wall at navel height. This is the perfect height for extremely destructive impact~~ of any plastic-encased electronics unlucky enough to fall to the floor, and small enough that this happens often. My mouse has suffered and its once-noble exterior is held together either by gravity or by a ~~small number of the original fasteners~~. ~~But it still clicks!~~

~~At least~~, ~~it clicks most of~~ the ~~time~~. ~~Where this inconsistency really starts to burn~~ is ~~double~~-~~clicking~~, ~~which is an ableist-~~enough ~~exercise under normal circumstances and a fool's errand with iffy buttons~~. ~~For the past year, I've software~~-~~mapped the right and left buttons to switch them, and I hold the mouse in~~ a ~~funny way which lets me imagine that everything is fine, sort~~ of. ~~It's also causing my habits to cross-wire, and anyway I find that the right button becomes increasingly important in proportion to how much I can't use~~ it.

The mouse trouble began when I moved into a "home office"—the mouse lives on a homemade standing desk not much bigger than a cutting board, screwed to the wall at navel height. This is the perfect height for extremely destructive impact of any plastic-encased electronics unlucky enough to fall to the floor, and small enough that this happens often. My mouse has suffered and its once-noble exterior is held together either by gravity or by a small number of the original fasteners. But it still clicks!

The keyboard and ~~mouse~~ are a ~~thing together,~~ but e-waste if separated. I'd really like to make the mouse work again for the sake of the planet if nothing else. It's ~~just so much~~ junk to produce and reproduce ~~otherwise~~.

At least, it clicks most of the time. Once I noticed the issue, I entered the denial stage of grief and I just clicked harder every time. The charade quickly wore thin. Where this kind of inconsistency really starts to burn is double-clicking, an ableist-enough exercise under normal circumstances but a fool's errand with iffy buttons. For the past year, I thought I had worked around it by software-mapped the right and left buttons to switch them, and I hold the mouse in a funny way which lets me imagine that everything is fine, sort of. It's also causing my habits to cross-wire, and anyway I find that the right button becomes increasingly important in proportion to how much I can't use it.

Maybe I could find another mouse but its manufacturer cleverly built it as a bundle with the keyboard. These and the USB dongle are a happy little nuclear family yet nothing but e-waste if separated. I'd really like to make the mouse work again for the sake of the planet if nothing else. It's a heap of junk to produce and reproduce if really necessary.

== Pop the hood<ref>I don't own a car nor do I condone their use but did I grow up in California, USA so everything comes with a car metaphor.</ref> ==

[[File:Mouse in original condition.jpg|thumb|Something's rotten about these microswitches]]

I ~~measured~~ missed clicks with the linux utility <code>xev</code> <ref>https://www.x.org/releases/X11R7.7/doc/man/man1/xev.1.xhtml</ref> and it showed that the buttons had become sensitive to the exact orientation of my finger. Either something was wrong with the alignment of the broken plastic parts, contact material was worn off of the internal switch, dust sand and chips had gotten in, or all of the above. First thing to do is just ~~put it back together~~, ~~next~~ I cleaned the stray lint, ~~squirted~~ air all ~~around~~ and ~~flooded~~ the ~~button~~ with isopropyl, finally imagining very hard that I had fixed the issue, yet ~~still~~ nothing changed.

I started the repair by measuring missed clicks with the linux utility <code>xev</code> <ref>https://www.x.org/releases/X11R7.7/doc/man/man1/xev.1.xhtml</ref> and it showed that the buttons had become sensitive to the exact orientation of my finger. Either something was wrong with the alignment of the broken plastic parts, contact material was worn off of the internal switch, dust sand and chips had gotten in, or all of the above. First thing to do is just disassemble and reassemble. Next, I cleaned it by wiping out the stray lint, squirting canned air at all the moving parts and flooding the heart of the buttons with isopropyl, finally imagining very hard that I had fixed the issue, yet nothing changed.

~~Firmly stuck in the honeymoon phase~~, I ~~believed~~ that ~~a light~~ repair would involve a quick ~~business~~ of ~~swapping out~~ the standard microswitches (silver squares with an orange dot in the middle). ~~They seem to all~~ come in the same vanilla flavor since long before this particular ~~thing~~ was ~~made~~ ten years ago. All 8 solder points are accessible as you might see in this image.

Still feeling stubborn, I imagined that the lightest possible repair would involve a quick exchange of the standard microswitches, the little silver squares with an orange dot in the middle which are pressed by plastic stems inside of the buttons. These switches come in exactly the same vanilla flavor that has been made since long before this particular mouse was dreamed up ten years ago. All 8 solder points are accessible as you might see in this image, so it shouldn't be a challenging fix.

I confirm that the switches have the same pinout and footprint as ~~the~~ potential replacements, although the proof will not be definitively in the pudding until the switches are isolated from their circuit.

I was able to confirm that the switches have the same pinout and footprint as their potential replacements, although the proof will not be definitively in the pudding until the switches are isolated from their circuit.

A fellow Earth defender in my office's IT department orders the new switches and I barely remember the next couple of weeks of missed clicks.

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== What could possibly go wrong? ==

To lift both legs on one side~~, I think the right tool would~~ be ~~a hot air setup or~~ a double-headed iron. Desoldering the legs one at a time is hard to do otherwise. I relied on the versatile thumbtack to apply some pressure to the ~~joint~~ as I heated up each pad in turn.

The old switches need to be desoldered but the geometry of a four-legged chip is slightly annoying. I believe that the right tool to lift both legs on one side or all four legs at once with be either a double-headed iron, or a hot air setup. Desoldering the legs one at a time is hard to do otherwise since the legs go under the component and there's not much to pry at. I relied on the versatile thumbtack to apply some pressure to the switch body as I heated up each pad in turn.

In hindsight, I relearned ~~the lesson~~ that coffee ~~and~~ fine motor ~~work mix poorly~~. My hands were trembling like leaves and I probably used ten times the force that I should have when pushing the thumbtack under the switch. I also should have pried only at the legs and not at the body of the switch itself.

In hindsight, what I relearned is that coffee mixes poorly with fine motor tasks. My hands were trembling like leaves in wind, and I probably used ten times the force that I should have when pushing the thumbtack under the switch. I also should have pried only at the legs and not at the body of the switch itself, if possible.

~~As you have probably guessed~~, gentle reader, I tore a bunch of important ~~and small~~ electrical traces off ~~of the top~~ of the board during this step.

What I'm trying to get around to telling, gentle reader, is that I tore a bunch of important little electrical traces right off of the board during this step.

Here are some photos of the damage:

[[File:Old_and_torn_microswitches.jpg~~|left~~|thumb|Removing the original microswitches has wounded their host]]

[[File:Old_and_torn_microswitches.jpg|thumb|Removing the original microswitches has wounded their host]]

[[File:Mouse_switch_board_with_missing_traces.jpg|thumb|There should be no brown visible, this shows that electrical traces were torn away.]]

[[File:Mouse_switch_board_with_missing_traces.jpg|thumb|There should be no brown visible, this shows that electrical traces were torn away.|left]]

It's a bit like discovering that bits of a placenta are missing after birth: this is going to be a serious problem and we shouldn't continue without knowing exactly what went wrong.

[[File:Microswitch_internal_circuit.png|thumb|Internal schematic for a microswitch]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 == Background and problem ==
-I'm your ordinary sort of office worker, who types and clicks far too often in the course of a day.  Various body parts connected to these devices are getting old and very much appreciate that my employer has supplied me with a mid-range ergonomic keyboard and mouse.  Office workers of the world, you are advised to ask for at least this much.  I think I'm emotionally attached, perhaps it makes me feel fancy that someone spent one hundred euro on me, or one must perform one's longevity once the job becomes a career, like a delivery driver hanging a pair of fuzzy dice over the rear-view mirror after pulling away from headquarters.
+I'm your ordinary sort of office worker, one who types and clicks far too often in the course of a day as if this digital thwacking were my only form of exercise.  Various body parts connected to these devices are getting old and very much appreciate the mid-range ergonomic keyboard and mouse generously granted by my employer.  Office workers of the world, you are advised to ask for at least this much.  I think I'm emotionally attached to these toys, perhaps it makes me feel fancy that someone once spent a hundred euro on my well-being.  Or maybe it's that one must perform one's longevity as the job becomes a career, like a delivery driver who hangs a pair of fuzzy dice over the rear-view mirror, or an academic whose bookshelf holds all the back issues of a professional journal.
-The mouse trouble began when I moved into a "home office"—we'll spare most of the details except to say that my standing desk is not much more than a cutting board screwed to the wall at navel height.  This is the perfect height for extremely destructive impact of any plastic-encased electronics unlucky enough to fall to the floor, and small enough that this happens often.  My mouse has suffered and its once-noble exterior is held together either by gravity or by a small number of the original fasteners.  But it still clicks!
-At least, it clicks most of the time.  Where this inconsistency really starts to burn is double-clicking, which is an ableist-enough exercise under normal circumstances and a fool's errand with iffy buttons.  For the past year, I've software-mapped the right and left buttons to switch them, and I hold the mouse in a funny way which lets me imagine that everything is fine, sort of.  It's also causing my habits to cross-wire, and anyway I find that the right button becomes increasingly important in proportion to how much I can't use it.
+The mouse trouble began when I moved into a "home office"—the mouse lives on a homemade standing desk not much bigger than a cutting board, screwed to the wall at navel height.  This is the perfect height for extremely destructive impact of any plastic-encased electronics unlucky enough to fall to the floor, and small enough that this happens often.  My mouse has suffered and its once-noble exterior is held together either by gravity or by a small number of the original fasteners.  But it still clicks!
-The keyboard and mouse are a thing together, but e-waste if separated.  I'd really like to make the mouse work again for the sake of the planet if nothing else.  It's just so much junk to produce and reproduce otherwise.
+At least, it clicks most of the time.  Once I noticed the issue, I entered the denial stage of grief and I just clicked harder every time.  The charade quickly wore thin.  Where this kind of inconsistency really starts to burn is double-clicking, an ableist-enough exercise under normal circumstances but a fool's errand with iffy buttons.  For the past year, I thought I had worked around it by software-mapped the right and left buttons to switch them, and I hold the mouse in a funny way which lets me imagine that everything is fine, sort of.  It's also causing my habits to cross-wire, and anyway I find that the right button becomes increasingly important in proportion to how much I can't use it.
+Maybe I could find another mouse but its manufacturer cleverly built it as a bundle with the keyboard.  These and the USB dongle are a happy little nuclear family yet nothing but e-waste if separated.  I'd really like to make the mouse work again for the sake of the planet if nothing else.  It's a heap of junk to produce and reproduce if really necessary.
 == Pop the hood<ref>I don't own a car nor do I condone their use but did I grow up in California, USA so everything comes with a car metaphor.</ref> ==
 [[File:Mouse in original condition.jpg|thumb|Something's rotten about these microswitches]]
-I measured missed clicks with the linux utility <code>xev</code> <ref>https://www.x.org/releases/X11R7.7/doc/man/man1/xev.1.xhtml</ref> and it showed that the buttons had become sensitive to the exact orientation of my finger.  Either something was wrong with the alignment of the broken plastic parts, contact material was worn off of the internal switch, dust sand and chips had gotten in, or all of the above.  First thing to do is just put it back together, next I cleaned the stray lint, squirted air all around and flooded the button with isopropyl, finally imagining very hard that I had fixed the issue, yet still nothing changed.
+I started the repair by measuring missed clicks with the linux utility <code>xev</code> <ref>https://www.x.org/releases/X11R7.7/doc/man/man1/xev.1.xhtml</ref> and it showed that the buttons had become sensitive to the exact orientation of my finger.  Either something was wrong with the alignment of the broken plastic parts, contact material was worn off of the internal switch, dust sand and chips had gotten in, or all of the above.  First thing to do is just disassemble and reassemble.  Next, I cleaned it by wiping out the stray lint, squirting canned air at all the moving parts and flooding the heart of the buttons with isopropyl, finally imagining very hard that I had fixed the issue, yet nothing changed.
-Firmly stuck in the honeymoon phase, I believed that a light repair would involve a quick business of swapping out the standard microswitches (silver squares with an orange dot in the middle).  They seem to all come in the same vanilla flavor since long before this particular thing was made ten years ago.  All 8 solder points are accessible as you might see in this image.
+Still feeling stubborn, I imagined that the lightest possible repair would involve a quick exchange of the standard microswitches, the little silver squares with an orange dot in the middle which are pressed by plastic stems inside of the buttons.  These switches come in exactly the same vanilla flavor that has been made since long before this particular mouse was dreamed up ten years ago.  All 8 solder points are accessible as you might see in this image, so it shouldn't be a challenging fix.
-I confirm that the switches have the same pinout and footprint as the potential replacements, although the proof will not be definitively in the pudding until the switches are isolated from their circuit.
+I was able to confirm that the switches have the same pinout and footprint as their potential replacements, although the proof will not be definitively in the pudding until the switches are isolated from their circuit.
 A fellow Earth defender in my office's IT department orders the new switches and I barely remember the next couple of weeks of missed clicks.
@@ Line 19: / Line 20: @@
 == What could possibly go wrong? ==
-To lift both legs on one side, I think the right tool would be a hot air setup or a double-headed iron.  Desoldering the legs one at a time is hard to do otherwise.  I relied on the versatile thumbtack to apply some pressure to the joint as I heated up each pad in turn.
+The old switches need to be desoldered but the geometry of a four-legged chip is slightly annoying.  I believe that the right tool to lift both legs on one side or all four legs at once with be either a double-headed iron, or a hot air setup.  Desoldering the legs one at a time is hard to do otherwise since the legs go under the component and there's not much to pry at.  I relied on the versatile thumbtack to apply some pressure to the switch body as I heated up each pad in turn.
-In hindsight, I relearned the lesson that coffee and fine motor work mix poorly.  My hands were trembling like leaves and I probably used ten times the force that I should have when pushing the thumbtack under the switch.  I also should have pried only at the legs and not at the body of the switch itself.
+In hindsight, what I relearned is that coffee mixes poorly with fine motor tasks.  My hands were trembling like leaves in wind, and I probably used ten times the force that I should have when pushing the thumbtack under the switch.  I also should have pried only at the legs and not at the body of the switch itself, if possible.
-As you have probably guessed, gentle reader, I tore a bunch of important and small electrical traces off of the top of the board during this step.
+What I'm trying to get around to telling, gentle reader, is that I tore a bunch of important little electrical traces right off of the board during this step.
 Here are some photos of the damage:
-[[File:Old_and_torn_microswitches.jpg|left|thumb|Removing the original microswitches has wounded their host]]
+[[File:Old_and_torn_microswitches.jpg|thumb|Removing the original microswitches has wounded their host]]
-[[File:Mouse_switch_board_with_missing_traces.jpg|thumb|There should be no brown visible, this shows that electrical traces were torn away.]]
+[[File:Mouse_switch_board_with_missing_traces.jpg|thumb|There should be no brown visible, this shows that electrical traces were torn away.|left]]
 It's a bit like discovering that bits of a placenta are missing after birth: this is going to be a serious problem and we shouldn't continue without knowing exactly what went wrong.
 [[File:Microswitch_internal_circuit.png|thumb|Internal schematic for a microswitch]]