mouse assembly

[KM3K]

My Dell mouse is not moving the cursor.
I've eliminated as problems...the ball and the two shafts which the ball can touch.
I took the assembly apart to see if there is something a visual inspection could pick up.
I found a lot of dirt inside from almost five years usage; it is now clean.
Anyway, my immediate problem is putting the scrolling-wheel back in place.
It had a spring on the wheel's shaft.
It also had another sort-of-like L-shaped wire.
Both came off at some point.
I know what to do with the spring.
But I cannot figure out where or how to position the L-shaped wire.
Searching the Internet for an assembly-dwg was fruitless.
Can anyone help?
That's a lot of typing for such a simple product.
73 Jerry KM3K

[KE4DRN]

hi Jerry,

I know you have a Dell mouse,
take a look at these photos of a MS Mouse dissection

http://repair4mouse.org/disassembly_microsoft.html

73 james

[KM3K]

Good idea, James, and nice photos but no joy there for me.
I think that mouse is gonna be spare parts.
73 Jerry KM3K

[W8JX]

I have not used a ball mouse for many years. I switched to laser mice long ago (corded and cordless)

[AC5UP]

My Dell mouse is not moving the cursor.

There is a thrift store near you. Perhaps several. Inside that store you will find a box or pegboard or shelf full of orphaned mice, wall warts, charger cables from cell phones and a plethora of USB and CAT-5 cables formerly used with God-knows-what. All are high quality goods made in China.

In my part of the world a good, clean, low-mileage mouse usually sells for $1.95. Your vermin values may vary.

Black Dell mice are usually easy to come by. A * Real Ham * will peek inside the store mouse to see how the wire clips in place then skulk out on the cheap, but * The Dude * would score an optical spare for a deuce then abide with class.

BTW: A two button Dell with the scroll wheel is a Logitech and the scroll wheel has a push-to-click function that many people never discover. Chances are one wire holds the wheel in place while the other serves as the spring for the click function. One end might link to a switch while the other is fixed, but in any case the wheel needs to roll up, roll down, and click when pushed. Arrange the suspension wires accordingly.

[KM3K]

AC5UP,

Sterling idea about the thrift-store.
I've made contributions to one here but have never been inside; my mistake there.
I'll have to check that out.

Thanks for the heads-up about Logitech.
I'll check out their website for any info.

You are right on about the spring; that one I had figured out.
I did see that there was a switch but did not know what it did.
So your answer takes care of that.
Amazing that I've been using that style mouse for so long and only now find out the wheel clicks.
I'm going to look again at the set-up; your comments lead me to think that the other clip must be there to keep the wheel in place.

73 Jerry KM3K

[N4NYY]

Jerry,

Go to BJs or Sam's and get a Logictech nano wireless mouse for like $17. No more balls and no more wire.

[W5DQ]

Mice and keyboards are typically throw away items since the prices to replace them are trivial, IN MOST CASES. Yes, there are those expensive do all special style keyboards and mice/trackballs that are up there in price but usually the majority of users have a run-of-the-mill mouse and keyboard and not worth the time and effort to try and resurrect once they start having issues. Living in a extremely dusty environment, I typically replace mice and keyboards every 2 to 3 years as they start to give me issues around that time and cleaning doesn't seem to fix it after that long.

[AC5UP]

In case anyone cares...

The weather on Friday the 1st was excellent in my part of the galaxy and that gave me the itch to go junking. Local thrift shops tend to come in two flavors: Nice stuff in a nice store - or - an older strip mall location that has seen better days with some junk on the shelves. Prices to match in both cases. Yesterday I scored the following at two 'lower level' shops:

1) Siemens Speedstream DSL modem. No wall wart and sprinkled with white latex paint. Like someone forgot to cover it when they rollered a wall. Used DSL modems and routers tend to be OK as the typical end-user connection issue is located between the keyboard and chair. Cost: 99 cents.

1) Realistic 12-1939 AM/FM Cassette car stereo in the original box with all cables, knobs, hardware and book. Mid priced model, digital tuning, 28 watts of pow-pow-power frum Foat Wuth. Looked like someone planned to upgrade their car radio then discovered there's more work to it than suspected. Boxed the radio up and put it in the closet until 'someday'. Rare to find a piece like this 100% complete. Bought it because => Cost: $3.99

1) Norelco HP1622 mens rotary shaver. Older two head model, AC only, very clean, includes a coiled power cord. Has a 120v / 240v switch and would run (slowly) only in the 240v position. Opened it up to find one cracked PC board trace under the transformer. Repaired the trace, cleaned and lubricated all moving parts. The heads are still sharp and it works like a champ. Cost: $1.49

1) Microsoft IntelliMouse - Dart Vader Autograph model (the styling is reminiscent of overpriced running shoes). More buttons than a new shirt. USB interface, laser motion sensor, near mint condition. Cost: 99 cents.

Not every junk-pedition turns out this well, but for $8.00 plus gas money I had a pretty good time...