Repair of an Logitech mouse - micro buttons

[Kiriakos-GR]

Well I have an Logitech mouse ( MX510) that I favor for more than seven years.

It is an item of quality , capable for gaming and all , but I love it more because i have large hands,
and is large also. ( tall enough )

After the first 5 years I started to had issues with the main buttons, and so I swapped the main buttons,
with the secondary ones , that it was in better condition, and it worked nicely again.

But now, just about two years later those failed too.

I started looking for spare parts and discovered the unbelievable.
Those buttons are made by OMRON , and they have an self price of two dollars its one, at list !!
( I needed five )

The long story in sort , I found locally two of those ( payed the ridicules full price ) ,
and luckily i found in a shop of a friend, another two complete mouse's, the same model ,
but damaged from other reasons.
And so found another 10 buttons of those ...

The first mouse was totally healthy , other than just the cable , that I repaired.
( and so i have and spare mouse fully working)  

The second mouse become an parts downer.

But the first problem that I faced was how to tell , if an such micro button are healthy or not ,
with the Fluke 28II that has an latched beeper ?

And I found the way !!

Every bad micro button , even if it does made an primary contact , it was forcing the DMM to have an play at the last two digits,
in the diode mode  , of the all four digits..

The healthy micro button , give an stable 0000 and the tone .
The bad one , it would give the sense of the contact, but it would not be stable its and every time ,
or it would  give an 0000 and the last two digits it will start playing immediately, or in few seconds pressed ( due bad inner contact).

The days with out the latched beeper , you could listen the unclear sound of the beeper , and tell if there was good contact or not.
With latched ones , now you should just check your DMM screen and ignore the sound.  

Well it feels good to know this simple but basic detail.
 
I managed to test all those micro switches, and added all the good ones at my primary mouse,
its healthy and ready for battle , and I am here so to share my story.    

Those logitech mouse's like the MX510 and MX518 , are great devices,
save them if you can .

And always watch out the temperature of your hot iron, the PCB trace in some of those micro buttons,
are delicate .

Few pictures ..









    

[Mechatrommer]

seems identical to my "dismissed" a4tech mouse. not sure who copy who. but this is still fully working mouse, i dont use it anymore coz its companion keyboard is broken by rain (wireless combo), i hacked it last time to get power from outside since its a power hogging creature. agree with you, the size is most comfortable of all, but since i'm not palm my mouse, then its not really matter. if just you are close, i will just simply give this to you, the switches seem identical too, except color

[Rufus]

If you unlatch the clips at the bottom at each end the cover comes off and the little white nylon actuator falls out.

The switch mechanism is then exposed and you can fix the switch by holding a bit of paper soaked in contact cleaner (or something, I think WD40 works OK) between the contacts, apply a bit of pressure to the contacts and rub the paper back and forth.

Put the actuator back in the cover and hold the mouse upside down so it doesn't fall out when you snap the cover back on.

If you can get at the switch there is no need to take if off the PCB. Very fiddly but it has worked for me.

[Mechatrommer]

...contact cleaner (or something, I think WD40 works OK)...

WD40 will keep your metal lubricated, hence wet, never tested the conductivity, but i'll use dedicated contact cleaner, or simply spirit (alcohol) if the cleaner is not available. a thinner will do as well, but dont let it in contact with any plastic. and yes, this is easier to open and clean than a microswitch that usually be found in cheaper mouse.

[Kiriakos-GR]

Well in my case , the switches loosing their good shape first, and then they start to have " Good contact issues ".

Looks like that there is some sort of spring in them, that softens and softens and becomes flat .

The first stage of damage are the signs of bad contact , but if you do not play games,
its hard to tell if it is damaged.

Example ... In the game that I play I operate guns,  I had the option to fire an single shot , or keep the mouse pressed and fire an complete clip.

Well if your button are damaged , when firing an total clip you will realize that the firing is not an continuous one, fires few bullets and stops.
That's bad .... when your enemy must get an specific amount of damage, so to fall.
And your weapon stops firing before he fall , and so he had the chance to get you first.

With out gaming the mouse looks to behave as healthy, the short single clicks still work.

If i could set with words the three stages of an damaged mouse button , they would be as follow :
1) Signs of bad contact. (continuous press )
2) Spring degradation
3) hit and miss in single repeatable clicks  ( totally damaged)

The technician who works in the business of my own friend ( that I got the damaged mouse's),
he asked me, how are you going to test the buttons ?
Do you have any special software?

Well even if it sounded as crazy to me ,
he had an point .

There is no software that it could test, if any mouse are capable to offer stable continuous mouse click.  

In my case the " hardware " Fluke 28II, did the work nicely , and so I do not care about the no existent software.  


  

[Kiriakos-GR]

If you unlatch the clips at the bottom at each end the cover comes off and the little white nylon actuator falls out.

True , its possible to cure it temporarily.
But as soon the internal spring loose it hardness, nothing in the world can fix that.

Even so, your idea is correct as thought, and useful for the ones with perfect vision.    

[Mechatrommer]

well that story makes me smile. i wish i have a time gaming. last time i bought a 2nd hand ps2 just for gaming since i never had a chance to get such expensive device during my kid, gosh at the age of 30++? well, when i got it (with many CDs included), i game as i like from night to the morning, and then when its done, my kids was playing with it until all the controllers broken to pieces. now it stay dormant for long time. i will find place for it for them to play safely without breaking anything. anyway... since you got the parts, de/re-soldering it is much easier job than repairing the broken one.

But as soon the internal spring loose it hardness, nothing in the world can fix that.

not true. if it got spring, take it out and pulling it a little bit will fix it. if it some sort of lever type spring, bending the mechanism back into shape will do. but its true, it will not get back as new, as it will worn sooner than it was. but the method to pulling it back into shape needs experience and delicate, as too much pulling will render the switch less effective or even damage beyond repair. but i dont expect you with your big hand can do the job!

[baljemmett]

There is no software that it could test, if any mouse are capable to offer stable continuous mouse click.

Something like Spy++ would do the job on Windows, at least -- ask it to show all mouse-related messages and hold the button down.  You should see a 'button down' message when you press the button and a 'button up' message when you let go; if the contact's bouncing you'll see extra message pairs.

However, testing electrically before you reassemble the mouse is probably quicker!

[Kiriakos-GR]

but i dont expect you with your big hand can do the job!

 

Well the good vision part stops me those days mostly, from messing around with tiny stuff.
But as long I can archive head-shots on my enemies in the screen, I do not get discouraged    

[Kiriakos-GR]

There is no software that it could test, if any mouse are capable to offer stable continuous mouse click.

Something like Spy++ would do the job on Windows, at least -- ask it to show all mouse-related messages and hold the button down.  You should see a 'button down' message when you press the button and a 'button up' message when you let go; if the contact's bouncing you'll see extra message pairs.

However, testing electrically before you reassemble the mouse is probably quicker!

I agree about the "quicker" , and I will add that this is and the professional way (testing electrically with DMM) of making an such repair.

The idea of the software would be mostly useful to casual gamers , so to just test their mouse.
 
  

[Rufus]

True , its possible to cure it temporarily.
But as soon the internal spring loose it hardness, nothing in the world can fix that.

The problem I have had with more than one Logitech mouse is a pressed button opening when you move the mouse or slightly change pressure on the button. Very obvious when you are trying to drag a selection rectangle and it starts again or a menu pops up before you are finished. Nothing weak about the spring, the buttons feel and click like they always did.

I didn't look closely but I expect the contacts are silver and don't have much of a wiping action and especially on battery powered mice they can't afford any wetting current so they get tarnished. Cleaning them has fixed it for me and the protective coating left by WD40 appears to keep them clean. Real lubricating contact cleaner may be better but I haven't had any problem with WD40 and it is cheap.

[Kiriakos-GR]

Well I kept in storage all those pictured as bad,
and so in time I will try your suggestion.

Currently I have two perfectly working mouses , but no spare micro switches.  
And so creating spare ones , by refreshing the damaged, its an positive thought.  

[PetrosA]

My first mouse was a KeyTronic - the original version with two wheels on the bottom, which is probably one of the best mice I've ever owned (I still have it and it still works twelve years later...). The only reason I ever got a newer mouse was the KeyTronic didn't have a scroll wheel, which I wanted. I tried a  shitload of mice but wasn't happy until I found my Razer Pro. It's the best mouse I've had to date. My 18 yr. old stepson has one too now (different model) that he uses for gaming and it's the first mouse that lasted him more than a year. He loves it.