deskthority

A couple weeks back I saw my workmate's roller mouse and immediately fell in love with the idea of it. I do a lot of typing for work and hate having to move my hand to the mouse.

What I don't like about the design is how big it is. It also has way too many buttons that I would never use. I simply need left click / right click.

I picked up a used unit on ebay for pretty cheap. My goal is to pop the guts out of the case and put them in a smaller custom enclosure. I don't really have a plan so we'll see where this goes but I started prototyping a smaller footprint with cardboard. I think this size is something that I could live with.

I had a lot of trouble desoldering the existing buttons and burnt a couple of pads off; hence the new wires soldered directly to the PCB traces. Depending on what the final design is, I'll adjust this hack to something a little cleaner (hopefully ).











Let me know if you guys have any cool ideas!

My first question is: If you hate moving your hand to the mouse, is this really that different?

My second question is: Would a trackball an acceptable alternative?

fohat wrote: My first question is: If you hate moving your hand to the mouse, is this really that different

That's a very good point. But this is basically my train of thought:

fohat wrote: My second question is: Would a trackball an acceptable alternative?

Probably. It might even be better because I can just rest it between my hands. I usually keep a small notebook there for jotting things down anyways so it's not like it would be getting in the way. Maybe I'll look into trackballs as well!

fohat wrote: My first question is: If you hate moving your hand to the mouse, is this really that different?

Absolutely and definitely.
Before TV remote controls appeared, you had to actually stand up from the couch to control the sound level or switch channels, remember?
It's a similar paradigm shift: before the RollerMouse (and similar devices) were introduced, you had to actually have your hands leave the keyboard to operate your pointing device.

My second question is: Would a trackball an acceptable alternative?

If placed similarly, yes, but you can't reduce its size without affecting its functionality.

So definitely interested in snacksthecat's design. I'd still need the scroll wheel and three buttons,
but it would be gread to be able to reduce the space needed between my beloved keyboard and me

I'd like to trim down the PCB to make the footprint even smaller. Is there any safe way to do this? It's my understanding that PCBs are made out of some pretty carcinogenic stuff that shouldn't be airborn. Obviously not worth it if it's not safe.

snacksthecat wrote: I'd like to trim down the PCB to make the footprint even smaller. Is there any safe way to do this? It's my understanding that PCBs are made out of some pretty carcinogenic stuff that shouldn't be airborn. Obviously not worth it if it's not safe.

You should be fine cutting it. Just wear some protection (glasses, mask), and do it in an open area.