Inside a Poundland computer mouse.

The inside of the latest version of this mouse is even simpler. 1 x resistor, 1 x cap, 1 x 5mm led, 3 x micro switches, 1x encoder, and the all seeing eye is an 8 pin chip. I use a trackball and have done for years but the only down side is the lack of track-wheel and quite a lot of software now use this for zooming in and out etc so your video inspired me to purchase one and remove the internals so I could build just a tracking wheel. It took a while to design and 3D print a housing but once it was completed it has been one of the best things I have built. BIG thank you for this video and the Inspiration I needed to rattle this little project up.

Not entirely clear to me that the optics for the motion scanner will work as a camera without modifications, but you can get mice with built-in cameras with proper optics for ~$20.

That was quite a geeky project. Especially when they tried to make it scan in colour.

Big Clive

I've seen two instances where the mouse sensor was beefed up for other uses. One is a scanner, where they used a high-res color imager and it would synchronize mouse movements with imaging to allow you to use it as a scanner. So you'd tell it you were going to scan and then slowly run your mouse along a flat document (using the doc as the mouse pad) and it would draw it on screen all stitched together). Low res and finicky at times but it worked. Another time I was actually making a membership at BJ's (the big warehouse store) and for the temporary membership card the cashier actually held up their mouse and it was used as a low res black and white webcam to print my temporary ID card. That was something.

Gary Ritter Jr

=]

BytesGuy

One of the joys of 'smart working' where you don't have your own permanent work desk and it is a case of get in first to get a desk is cleaning everything before you start work. The state of the underside of some mouses has been terrible and has taken a scrapping implement and lots of desk wipes to clean them up.

John Russell

Thanks Clive. I got one of those mice in my laptop bag they are small.

Nuts 'n' Proud

When we got our first computer I think a 286 from IBM, for our county dispatch office. The young lady they sent out from IBM to "Instruct" us on it's operation said "Now the most important thing you will learn today, will be how to clean your mouses balls"

I recently modified an optical mouse by attaching a shaft to the mouse wheel and attaching a tuning knob to that. I mounted the assembly into a box and I use it to this day as a tuning knob for my software defined radio. Mice can be fun on multiple levels! Great stuff, Clive!

Michael Thompson

nothing wrong with cleaning ya balls to make em work better, I done it for years and really enjoyed the feeling of clean balls in my hand. now I have bigger red ball to clean in my Trackball.

Reminded me of the first optical mouse I ever used at university; it was on a Sun Microsystem, and it needed a special mouse mat with a grid. https://www.google.com/search?q=optical+mouse+sun+90s&oq=optical+mouse+sun+90s&aqs=chrome..69i57.3983j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Paul Schuur

The glossy paper often used in magazines is somewhat reflective, unlike a matte surface that computer mice usually work best on.

I had an optical mouse in the mid 90s that used a special mouse mat. It had a silver and black grid pattern that the sensor read. Fantastic piece of kit for the time. It’s amazing how integrated those sensor modules are now. They used to consist of many chips and support components. On some you could tap off the raw quadrature data from the image decoder and use it to control older systems like the Amiga or Archimedes systems.

Matt Harrison

Made me think, if it is taking a picture every time why does a optical mouse go wild on a colour printed page like a magazine, understand how the colours are built up is a micro mosaic pattern, however can’t understand why it gets confused 🤔

Graham Eida

People have used mouse IC's with camera lenses to make position holding sensors for drones.

Andy Brown

Someone has turned an optical mouse into a scanner.... https://gizmowiki.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/diy-convert-your-mouse-into-a-scanner/

Lostngone

There is a science fiction story that mentions using the optical parts from a mouse to track a space ships movement by watching the stars. I thought that was a novel concept.

Mark Trombley