How to fix mouse button - intermittent or loose contact - without soldering a new switch

(the video is the switch inside your mouse that the mouse button presses down)

PROBLEM: Your mouse double-clicks when you only click once. OR: While you are dragging files/windows they drop before you let go of the button.

CAUTION:
1) The spring (the copper-colored thing in the video) is very thin so be very careful once you get the top cover off the microswitch.
2) The white button is loose and will fall out when you take the top cover off, so do it in a place where you can find if it falls.

SOLUTION:
Open your mouse, then take the top off the "miniature snap-action switch" (a.k.a. microswitch ).
Split a toothpick in half (so that it is SKINNIER - not shorter) -- I use a box-cutter or x-acto knife for this.
Drench the contact area with a few drops of denatured alcohol (perhaps 90%+ isopropyl will work, but I had denatured).
Use the toothpick to scrub the contacts (I spend about 20 seconds on each contact).
For optimal cleaning, blow the switch off with compressed air.
Put it all back together.
TADA!

TIPS:
1) Most microswitches I've seen have bendable tabs on the ends of the top cover like in the video. I used the blade of an x-acto knife to get under the tab and lift it. Once I get one tab off, i just tilt the whole cover (like in the video) and the other tab comes off.

2) When you go to put the top cover back on, do it UPSIDE-DOWN -- so that the white button doesn't fall out of the cover.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• microswitch
• cleaning

[leeYT321987]

@StevenJMUK

I'm no expert, but you might want to look into using epoxy to fill the groove...?

Maybe use a needle to rough-up the surface first. And you could use the edges of the groove as a guide to scrape excess epoxy off (so that your addition is flush with the original surface).

Also, i'm pretty sure some epoxies don't stick to some plastics very well.

Another idea: super-glue a very thin sheet of metal over the groove (test first, because this will "permanently" raise your button height).

[leeYT321987]

the slit on the side (the slit between the tab and the bottom of the switch), so that the blade is parallel to the slit, and the point of the blade is pointed at the ground.

The more of the blade you get in there before you pry, the the less damage you will cause, and the more leverage you will have.

[leeYT321987]

There's usually a tab on each end (on some micro switches it's on the sides).

You have to CAREFULLY bed one tab out, then pull that side of the cover up.

I then, usually just keep pulling that side up until the tab on the other side just pops off (this might not work on a switch with tabs on the sides).

If you watch the video, at the very beginning you can see the tab bending (at the bottom left).

To actually get the tab bent, I stick an x-acto knife into

(continued...)

[StevenJMUK]

On my old Logitech mouse, the microswitch is exactly as pictured. However, my problem is that the switch has over time cut a groove into the plastic actuator that comes down from above. So the actuator has trouble pressing the switch.

[IvanHew18]

IT WORKS! MY Imperator is like a new, thx!

[schairung]

u give me my life again. but mine is a bit different

IF CLEANING CANNOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM!!!

PLEASE CHECK THE SPRING (the biggest copper color) THAT IS ON THE MIDDLE

NOT TOO LEFT OR RIGHT.

CAUSE MINE IT'S A BIT MOVE TO THE RIGHT AND IT'S HAPPEN THE SAME PROBLEM

JUST PUSH IT BACK TOO THE CENTER

TADA!!!

Big thanks to leeYT321987

[spoonslap]

@Mrchewyninja hammer

[Mrchewyninja]

how do i open it?

[TheRamor]

tnx bro...it fixed..