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

Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Tywele@lemmy.dbzer0.com⁩ to ⁨[deleted]⁩

I noticed that my mouse wheel when scrolling up would sometimes scroll down instead. 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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Comments

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rowinxavier@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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.

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- smigao@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  What year is it
  
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  - FuglyDuck@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    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 though they solved the problem when they switched from apple’s hockey pucks to the optical twinkies.
    
    Apparently he was clever enough. electrical tape.
    
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- superduperenigma@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  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.
  
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Cosmicomical@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
For a moment I thought you were writing fron the past

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- db2@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Why did so many of us read “wheel” as though it meant “ball” though? 🤦
  
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  - hikaru755@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Because the balls did often need cleaning, whereas I’ve never heard of the moose wheel needing it
    
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- Maximilious@kbin.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I was very ready to post "Buy a 21st century mouse." lol
  
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db2@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Get a good no residue contact cleaner. Unplug the mouse, then spray in the sides of the wheel opening and then work the wheel like a clitoris in a porno. Repeat a couple times. Give it time to dry then test it.

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- DontTreadOnBigfoot@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Hmm… Slapping my dick against my mouse didn’t seem to help
  
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- CaptainBlagbird@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Instructions unclear, I can’t find my mouse wheel anymore…
  
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- Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Is the cleaner safe to injest, why is my tongue numb?
  
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- EsteemedRectangle@lemmynsfw.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  If you’re getting a good response, for god’s sake do not stop what you’re doing. Keep going with the same motion
  
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solrize@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
~~I didn’t know you could still get mice with wheels. I’ve only seen optical ones in the past decade or two. I don’t miss the mechanical ones.~~ Oh wait, you mean the scroll wheel. In the old days there were mice with wheels on the bottom to sense the mouse positioning.

For your mouse, I’d just take it apart if it is possible to do, and clean everything.

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- Tywele@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I’m old enough to have used these mice and they were balls not wheels underneath.
  
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  - sylver_dragon@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    The mouse had wheels which sat on the balls. It was sometimes necessary to clean those as well. Though, I suspect that the person you responded to wasn’t thinking about those wheels.
    
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  - Kolanaki@yiffit.net ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Technically, the ball moved 2 wheels and the wheels were what would get clogged with lint and stuff, not the ball.
    
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  - OopsOverbombing@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Heavy balls at that.
    
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  - Perfide@reddthat.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Not old enough, apparently. They originally were two wheels, and even when they switched to the ball, there was actually still two smaller wheels inside which were turned by the ball.
    
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  - sanguinepar@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I can’t find a pic, but I’m sure-ish (like 70-80%) that I once used a mouse that had 2 wheels on the underside, one rolling vertical and one horizontal. I don’t think it was very good.
    
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Rocketpoweredgorilla@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Have you tried compressed air? It may not do anything if it’s stuck in there but may be worth a shot.

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- Deestan@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I’d give this a shot first. It’s usually not grime, but a piece of lint or hair stuck in there, which can be blown out.
  
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- Tywele@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  [deleted]
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  - glibg10b@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    deleted by creator
    
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brrt@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I thought you meant mouse wheel as in hamster wheel and I was really confused at the end of your post title.

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- kevincox@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I thought they meant mouse ball on the bottom and was wondering what year it was.
  
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CTDummy@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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.

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- datavoid@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Deoxit is a life saver if you’re trying to fix electronics
  
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someguy3@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Had this with mine, you have to take it apart. It’s not that hard.

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- Tywele@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I know it’s not hard and I have done it twice already with my previous mouse of the same model. I just wanted to avoid the hassle.
  
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General_Shenanigans@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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.

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FuglyDuck@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
unfortunately… I don’t think you can. You might be able to get some 90% IPA (use a fresh bottle. IPA absorbs water from ambient humidity.) and q tips and get it ‘okay-ish’ for now, but the rotary encoder is generally pretty heavily enclosed (precisely because of this issue.) Flooding the thing with IPA or, submerging it… is not a good idea. I wouldn’t recommend trying it unless you were willing to buy another mouse when it makes things worse.

Ifixit does have a guide for replacing them, you maybe be able to take it apart enough to clean it out more thoroughly, (they look like this)

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- pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  There’s nothing wrong with getting liquid in it so long as it’s dry before being plugged in.
  
  You could wash your computer’s motherboard with soap and water, and it would be fine as long as you pulled the CMOS battery beforehand.
  
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  - FuglyDuck@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    there’s 2 problems here.
    
    The first is that there’s all kinds of nooks and crannies that hold liquid in. Getting it dry again is problematic, without opening it up. IPA is less problematic than, say, tap water, but still problematic.
    The other is that the G703 has a rechargeable battery that can’t be removed without opening it up. At which point you might as well just clean out the mouse wheel’s encoder or replace it.
    
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sagrotan@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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.

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pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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.

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redcalcium@lemmy.institute ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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.

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AlphaOmega@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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 have an air compressor

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kerrigan778@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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

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