How can I clean my mouse wheel without taking apart my mouse?

Tywele@lemmy.dbzer0.com to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 45 points –

I noticed that my mouse wheel when scrolling up would sometimes scroll down instead (and vice versa). I figured it's probably because there is some dirt and grime inside the mouse wheel casing that's somehow interfering with the sensor.

How can I clean it without taking the mouse apart? I guess I could fill it with some isopropyl alcohol and wait a bit to shake it out or something but I don't know how well that would work and I don't want to make it worse obviously.

Does anyone have a better idea maybe? It's a Logitech G703 Lightspeed

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If you flip the mouse over you should see a circular piece of plastic. Rotate this and it should be able to pop out, at which point the ball will also fall out. Inside you will see a pair of rollers and a wheel, all of which may have gunk on them. Clean off the gunk and make sure they spin properly. Replace the ball, the circular plastic, and then rotate the plastic to lock the mechanism.

What year is it

I knew a guy in highschool that liked to steal the balls from the mice as a practical joke. he wasn't very creative in his practical jokes.

They thought they solved the problem when they switched from apple's hockey pucks to the optical twinkies.

Apparently he was clever enough. electrical tape.

Replace the ball

I highly suggesting overcooking a new hard boiled egg and using the yolk from that rather than just replacing the same overboiled egg yolk from before.

I thought you meant mouse wheel as in hamster wheel and I was really confused at the end of your post title.

I thought they meant mouse ball on the bottom and was wondering what year it was.

Only thing I could think of is contact cleaner. I’d make sure it’s compatible with plastic like the brand I buy. Contact cleaner is used for electrical products/circuits and is non conductive. I use it to clean the charging port of my phone when dust gets in there and my vape for similar reasons. Depending on the design of your mouse I don’t see why you couldn’t try flushing it with contact cleaner.

I'd try alcohol swabs. They're great for stuff like this. For really tight spaces, soak a toothpick in alcohol.

But your filling it with alcohol plan would work, as long as you let it completely dry before using it.

I would just take it apart, personally, because there's no telling what it looks like inside.

Cleaned many wheels with just a Lysol or Clorox wipe, but not the bleach or peroxide kind. Take that one guys great description of working it like a clit in a porno, but with a wet wipe of some sort. Just keep rubbing it back and forth as you rotate the wheel. It eventually removes gunk off the wheel and frees up gunk inside. Let it dry a bit before plugging it back in. If you have alcohol wipes or just high concentration alcohol, even better than the wipes, but maybe you have one or the other on hand.

Do you have an air compressor? Yes -> Use that. No -> Do you have a drinking straw? Yes -> use that -> Do you have lung capacity? Yes -> drinking straw No -> Do you have a fine brush? You see where this gets you? Right. Give a man an air bottle, and he can clean his mouse one day, show him how to think practically and he will be able to clean anything any day of his life.

Have you tried compressed air? It may not do anything if it's stuck in there but may be worth a shot.

Those damn scrollwheel on logitech Gxxx mice are know to glitch like this. If it's not fixed after you cleaned it, it's time for a new mouse. Mine drove me crazy until I replaced it with an MX Master.

I use a paint brush, air compressor, cotton swabs and a tooth pick to clean mine when I'm too lazy to take it apart. Also if you have an air mattress, then you may have an air compressor.

I've only ever used it on musical instruments electronics, not anything as tiny and complicated as computer peripherals but Deoxit might be worth trying. It's good stuff

For a moment I thought you were posting from the past

Why did so many of us read "wheel" as though it meant "ball" though? 🤦

Because the balls did often need cleaning, whereas I've never heard of the moose wheel needing it