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Mouse Update

A project log for Mouse Controller Project

USB trackball mouse controller inspired by Caleb's thecontrollerproject.com.

frankstripodfrankstripod 06/04/2015 at 11:284 Comments

My mouse still works great and I use it often, but it has been stripped down for parts my in my Driverless Mouse Project. For now its just the trackball, left and right buttons. It looked really sad for a mad scientists mouse, so I want to cheer it up a bit.

Taking the left cover off completely, I held it up to the light, and I had seen this before but ignored it. The holes in the headers make it semi transparent, like a screen:

Then it hit me; Nothing makes a hacker more happy than sticking some LEDs on something. Some RGB LEDs mounted underneath would shine up through the top and cheer it up for sure.

It will be like Frankenstein Mouse meets 70's Mood Ring. More on that when I get some more parts and LEDs from other projects.

Discussions

davedarko wrote 06/04/2015 at 12:06 point

It's a shame those female pin headers aren't sold in any other color - white would be awesome for reflectance and I do like white computer accessories... nobody wants to pull out all the pins for painting and put them back in again. This reminds me of the drawn on pin names I've seen on arduinos. 

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frankstripod wrote 06/04/2015 at 15:40 point

Futurlec headers were the only ones I could find with the right specs:
http://www.futurlec.com/ConnHead.shtml.
I
was surprised to find how many wouldn't work for this (2.54mm spacing
in two directions). I was happy just to get them all the same shape and
color.
Your right, white would be awesome, then you could maybe
also dye them. Painting them would be a nightmare. I would imagine
impossible to 3d print also because of the close tolerances.

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davedarko wrote 06/04/2015 at 15:58 point

Makes sense, they often look like punched out of a sheet of metal. 

Maybe shapeways could make them at a decent quality, but for a hefty price...

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frankstripod wrote 06/04/2015 at 16:17 point

That's funny.

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