I’m a fan of the Logitech Trackman mice and have been for years. These have been the most sensible solution to cluttered or limited spaces where moving a mouse around just isn’t practical. But after heavy/long-term use, it seems inevitable the index finger button will start malfunctioning. It seems to start randomly double-clicking when single clicking or begin to work in other similarly strange ways. The unfortunate thing is these aren’t the cheapest mice either, usually starting at around $30 – $40 each.

The Cheap Fix

I’ve thrown them away and just bought new ones in the past.  I wish this weren’t the case, now that I know how easy and cheap it is to fix them instead.  It turns out, it’s as simple as replacing a small, very inexpensive microswitch inside: the Omron D2FC-F-7N.

What You’ll Need

• At least 1 Omron D2FC-F-7N, depending on how many buttons you need to replace.
• Solder – 60/40 is recommended.
• Desoldering Wick (You can use a desoldering pump, etc., but we recommend the wick for this job)
• A Soldering Iron – Nothing fancy required.
• Phillips Head Screwdriver

How To Fix Your Trackball Mouse

This is a pretty simple procedure and shouldn’t take you long.

1) Remove Screws From The Bottom

There’s a few phillips head screws located on the bottom of your trackball mouse.  You’ll need to remove them.  Once you take them out, you should be able to open the mouse up.  It should look something like the following picture, except I removed the USB cable for the photos.

2) Remove Mouse Wheel Assembly

The scroll wheel can easily be removed by lifting up on it.  Be careful not to loose the springs and pay close attention to where they make contact at before removing it.  I suggest taking a few photos with a cellphone just in case you forget or get confused during reassembly.

3) Remove Circuit Board

The scroll wheel is still shown here, but you should have removed it before proceeding.  There’s two tabs that you need to gently pry outwards, one at a time, and lift up on the circuit board until it clears the retainer tabs.  Do one tab at a time and don’t try lifting one side up too high before releasing the other side.

The switch you’re going to be replacing is the one located in the upper-left corner in the photo above.

Once you have done this, the board should be moveable.

4) Desoldering The Old Switch

I didn’t take any photos showing the rest of the steps since it’s straight forward.  Here’s a good tutorial on how to desolder using the desoldering wick.

5) Soldering The New Switch

This step is straight forward too.  Be sure the switch is firmly placed against the board and don’t hold the soldering iron on for more than a few seconds while applying the new solder.  Allow a few seconds between soldering each lead since you can overheat and damage the new switch.

Finishing Up

Simply repeat the steps for each switch you’re replacing and then reassemble your mouse.  It should work great once you finish and you’ve just saved quite a few bucks!  You aught to be able to get many years of use from it following this procedure.  If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below.

Google+

David Miles