Thursday, September 10, 2009

Mighty Mouse Gunk and How To Clean It

I love my Apple Mighty Mouse. I've become so accustomed to it that editing without one makes a substantial difference now even though I'm a Key-Command fanatic. It has to do with the trackball on it and how it scrolls and controls all manners of things in Final Cut.

However, I've had to clean my Mighty Mouse maybe a dozen times since I bought it. Apple doesn't make it easy; in fact, the thing is glued together so if you really want to get in there to clean it you have to break it. That site recommends you re-glue the bottom ring back on, but for me, I just use some sticky tape since I know I'll have to take it apart again to clean it soon enough.

What gets so dirty in there that the trackball stops scrolling?

The gunk-encrusted roller there is usually the top one which senses when you want to scroll up. Mine gets pretty filthy regularly.


Terry Jones said...

The easy way to clean your Mighty Mouse is, after switching it off, turn it over and rub the scroll ball vigorously on a piece of slightly rough cloth, I use my jeans. This should get rid of the gunge. After you've switched it back on, you'll be up and running again.

dmcm said...

I'm with Terry. No need to pull it apart. I turn it off the mighty mouse and roll the ball across a sheet of plain white paper. This way you can see the dirt coming off and know when it's clean. Works like a charm.

Walker Ferox said...

I've tried the rolling on paper or on cloth like Apple recommends here...

Mighty Mouse Support Doc

Apple's Cleaning Movie

and it never works for me. I simply have to disassemble it to clean it. The gunk on the Up and Down rollers for me is very sticky stuff.

The roller ball chamber is essentially sealed:

Roller Ball Chamber Photo

I honestly think people emit different types of gunk going by the complaints and complaints of complaints on the boards and the difference in mighty mice I've used at various editing places.

Walker Ferox said...

Found a good photo:
Here is a good photo of the gunk in the rollerball chamber.

The problem is the gunk is wrapped around the rollers and gGunk like on my rollers is more like oily putty and has to be scraped off.

The trackball's rubber simply slides on it and will not dislodge it.

Why on Earth Apple didn't make the mighty mouse easy to take apart and clean is beyond me when just about every true trackball I've ever seen with rollers lets you take it apart and clean them.

Steve McGarrigle said...

You would think Apple would learn from the past. Optical got rid of all the tedious ball cleaning of analog mice but then they went and put another one on the top!

They should get rid of that little 'track pimple' and make that optical as well.

Still, we will all be using big touch screens in a couple of years time i guess...