Canned Heat

Back when I was younger (weren't we all?), there was a pop group, Canned Heat. Turns out, it's a present tense entity, although just barely.

Well... there's another canned entity of some use: canned air.

Back in my younger days (you do remember the reference, yes?), I become enamored of a particular trackball, the Logictech TrackMan Marble FX. As you can see, you can still buy them, sort of. They went out of production decades ago; by legend due to a patent troll who had some patent, but never made anything and Logictech quit. Whether any on sale are NOS, I can't tell. At ~$200 a pop, kinda steep. Anyways, in today's innterTubes, just four buttons is not really enough.

Letting my fingers do the walking through the Yellow Googles, led me to this beauty. Doesn't have the two-sided control, but it's not a thumb drive ball. I tried a Microsoft (thumb ball) one years ago, and my thumb went south after about a week. Nah.

The Elecom is quite not fatiguing. But... early on, it was clear that the ball dragged noticeably. Going back to the Yellow Googles, revealed that the 'ruby' bearings were dog shit, and need be replaced. There are various carbide spheres available from your local innterTubes supplier. I got a set of zirconium oxide, as that was mentioned in the pages I found. Later, it turns out, that silicon nitride bearings are said to be better. One has to disassemble the unit to the bare bones to make the switch, and the bearings are teeny tiny that aren't really stable until the unit is reassembled. IOW, you have to keep the little suckers in place while you fiddle with the unit. I'll stick with the zirconium.

Which led me to the recurring problem: double clicks. Now, to be fair, most mouses and trackballs (all?) source those teeny switches from China and all are prone to fail in less than due time. Some, possibly non-chinese sourced, are said to be more reliable. So, I ordered a set.

While I was waiting, a Gyro Gearloose light went on. What if the issue isn't busted parts, but dusk, grime, and such? Well... bring out a fresh canned air. In order to do the deed, the point is to not disassemble the beast, but to open it up as much as possible without. So, pop the battery door; drop the batteries; drop the ball. Stick the air wand in the space between the button latch and the frame and blast away. It's been a few months since, and no double click problem. The switches are here, and the soldering iron is too. Just rather not have to engage. .