# [SOLVED] OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse



## Acuta73 (Mar 17, 2008)

Actually started this on Modbrothers, but seeings how this forum is SUFFERING...I bring you a MOD!

Working on building an mITX HTPC case, but needed some gilding practice, and Bill Owens mentioned putting a 40mmx30mm aluminum fan into a mouse so I thought I'd give it a try!

I have a WONDERFUL G500, but didn't want to destroy it without knowing what I was doing, so I dug through my boxes of spare parts and found 2 freebie mice I got from ordering my son's computer from Newegg. Mind you, they are junk...but free. PERFECT for testing on!!

The Mouse:



























Taped and ready to cut:











Cut with the all-too-awesome rotary tool:










Fitting the cooling screen:


















Wiring issue:










Which wire is 5v and which is ground?? There's an LED slot in the PCB behind the white wire. Any idea if a "visible light" LED will mess with the IR LED?


Starting on the gilding (Gold):










That is just the Bole (base-coat), will do the actual gold leaf tomorrow when the paint drys.

Leaf and Sizing:











The fan I wanted to use is too big, headed to Frys later today to buy a 200mm fan for my HTPC (yeah, I'll worklog it here. Or at least cross-post it). Gonna see if I can find a 30mmx10mm 5v fan there. 


Thanks for looking!


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

Allo Ssrogg :wave:

Hmmmm... A gold-plated air-cooled mouse - Now THAT is novel!!! :grin:

In theory, a visible-light LED shouldn't affect the IR-sensor, the sensors are pretty-closely 'tuned' to specific IR bands and they're also usually recieving all the colours and intensities, at some time or other.

One suggestion I'd make about the fan, is to have it blowing the air upwards, towards your palm - My reason being, a fan blowing downwards would also be drawing the moisture and volatile oils from your palm into the 'gubbins'.

Then again, with some high-power fans, would it be possible to make a 'Hover-mouse'?.... :grin:


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## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*



> Which wire is 5v and which is ground??


Is the mouse a USB or PS2? I make the wire colors as Blue, Green, Yellow and White which does not match up to any of the standard or alternate color codes.
From the lettering, I can make out 'C' and 'D' which could represent Clock and Data. What are the other two letters? If you post a clear pic of the solder side of the board showing the pc traces, I can probably tell you which lead is which.


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

Cant wait to see how that turns out....I just might try that


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## Acuta73 (Mar 17, 2008)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

It's USB. The wires are orange, white, green, and blue.

The PCB is labeled:

Blue = U (or V..not sure)
Green = G
Orange = D
White = C

Yes, the fan will point upward and I think it would need a bit more than 2.5cfm for a "hover mouse"! :grin:


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*



Ssrogg said:


> Yes, the fan will point upward and I think it would need a bit more than 2.5cfm for a "hover mouse"! :grin:


:laugh::laugh:


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## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

The blue (U / V) is most likely +5, the green - gnd or 0 volts, orange and white - data and clock respectively.

You could simply plug the mouse in and confirm with a voltmeter.

Several 25 and 30 mm fans here - only you'll pay 25 bucks to ship a 6 dollar fan.


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## Acuta73 (Mar 17, 2008)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*



gcavan said:


> The blue (U / V) is most likely +5, the green - gnd or 0 volts, orange and white - data and clock respectively.
> 
> You could simply plug the mouse in and confirm with a voltmeter.
> 
> Several 25 and 30 mm fans here - only you'll pay 25 bucks to ship a 6 dollar fan.


Thank you, and if I could find my (&%($*ing multimeter, I'd already have done that. :grin:

25 bucks to ship a 6 dollar fan? Yeah, bout par for the course. 

Didn't get to Frys today, got an invite for BBQ ribs instead (fair trade-off, IMO). Project on hold til next weekend. Probably a good thing, the gold sizing is still tacky. Need it to cure before I go any further.


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## Acuta73 (Mar 17, 2008)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

As I figured, the adhesive is still tacky. But, wanted to show it as-is thus far. Don't look too close at my gilding job. No begginers luck this time. Will take a polishing bob and some jewelers rouge to it after it fully cures. SHOULD smooth it out a bit (I hope)


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

That's the beauty of using real gold-leaf cos it's such a ductile metal, it should burnish/polish up a treat - But it often takes a LOT of 'elbow-grease' to do so :wink:

It's looking good so far though


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## Acuta73 (Mar 17, 2008)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

7 days later...spray sizing is still sticky. I begin to suspect I've made a grievous error here.

Frys is out of stock on my fans til later next week and I have no patience, gonna tear into my old Dell Inspiron and "liberate" a fan or 2 so I can get as close to a "finished" project as I can with this test. I shoulda just ordered a fan last weekend, it woulda been here by now!


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

How 'sticky' is the size? 



> To test if the size is ready to accept the leaf lightly press your knuckle to the surface, if it clicks when you pull it away it is ready. Do not test using your finger tip as it will leave a print that will show through the leaf, or will remove the size from that area. Size will remain tacky for some time, though if leaving overnight make sure the surface is covered and dust free.


*Source and info*


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## Acuta73 (Mar 17, 2008)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

From what I've read both about gilding and about the product, it should have cured to the point I could clearcoat it in a week. That week has come and it's still sticky enough that I could actually apply more gilding (can said working time was about 24 hours...). Dunno what I've done, but I'm probably going to have to live with it for this project and do more testing, perhaps the volatiles in the spray did something with the plastic or possibly the acrylic paint? I have some liquid sizing, but the stuff isn't very sticky.


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

After a bit of reading around, apparently size stays permanently tacky









*More blurb*


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## Acuta73 (Mar 17, 2008)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

Funny...I read that same article and missed that bit. Thinking I'm just gonna re-do the gilding. I just clearcoated my current mess and when that hardens, I should have a workable surface again. <fingers crossed>

Today I'm just gonna get the mechanical bits done, though. No point in further irritating myself. lol


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

Hehehehehehe.... Call the 1st attempt a 'practice run' :grin:


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## Acuta73 (Mar 17, 2008)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

Small update:

My old laptop coughed up a doable fan! 25mmx5mm 5v fan. Actually puts out some decent air, too!











Blue was 5v, Green was ground. Spot-on gcavan! Broke both wires while fiddling around...was ok, though. I just spliced in the fan rather than solder it in. EZ-mode.










Still puzzling through how to actually mount the fan and working on the re-gilding job at the same time.

Wish me luck!


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

Could you hot-glue the fan onto some plastic rods/spigots, then glue them to the mouse-mobo? It would be better fixed to the mouse-internals, rather than inside the mouse 'lid' for, easier opening.


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## Acuta73 (Mar 17, 2008)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

Kinda what I ended up doing. I had some scrap aluminum (shielding from the laptop innards, nice and easy to work with) and made a couple of mini-brackets that fit to the insides of the lower housing. Will just epoxy em in place. Was too lazy to walk to the garage and get a drill (yeah, I know) so I didn't get it "complete". Need to wait a few days before I clearcoat the gold again, anyway.

Couple more pics before bed:


"New and improved" gilding (still some rough spots from my earlier failure):












Everything "set" together and plugged in (red LED is optical, no gettin rid of it):











Will have final pics this weekend. 

Also have in mind one more small twist....:smooch:


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

Purely personally, it's a pity about the red LED, I far prefer the blue colours, especially the deep blue LED's, but that's just my personal taste :laugh:

The overall effect is very elegant throughray:


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## PwnTech (Aug 4, 2010)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

Awesome! Would this be possible with a wireless mouse?


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

I think it would be easier to work with, as there isn't the cable flopping around and getting in the way


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## PwnTech (Aug 4, 2010)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

Would a 12v fan work with this setup? From what I've read, a 12v fan CAN run off 5 volts, as long as it doesn't draw 300ma or more. It's the only kind I have laying around.


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## Acuta73 (Mar 17, 2008)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

The problem I see with doing this with a wireless mouse is battery life. I'll guarantee it would DRASTICALLY decrease it.

A 12v fan could, and would work for this, but fans that will actually fit in a mouse pretty much come in 5v to start with (see my finale post below)


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## Acuta73 (Mar 17, 2008)

*Re: OMG! Worklog! Test Mod: Air-Cooled Mouse*

Well, as far as mods go, this one was/is pretty ugly. The Gilding was MUCH more of a challenge than I anticipated, but in the end it came out "Ok" (Super close Macro pics make it look worse than the naked eye, I assure you). As far as putting a fan in a mouse? It works, but with some draw-backs (scroll down to "Moral of the Story").

I'll just post the final pics, the bad spots in the gilding are a result of my first badly failed attempt, the final "twist" I spoke of is the addition of copper to match the HTPC. Hope you enjoy?

Fan mounted:









OOOOH, SHINNIES!









Profile N' Back:

















Glow in the dark!
















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*Moral of the story:*

Fans CAN go in a mouse!

Vertical space is your enemy, look at 5mm thick fans and forget anything else (would be nice to find a 30 or 40mmx5mm fan). PCB components are pretty tall (the cylindrical black things...no clue what they are), and the fancier mice have 2 or 3 PCB for additional functions (I cracked the top on my G500 and laughed...no WAY in HELL!).

Fan is quiet, but you get some very noticeable vibration which could cause numb fingers in long sessions. I used pliable epoxy to mount the fan, and vibration is STILL present. Just not enough weight to absorb it. Might be mitigated with more time/ingenuity spent, but I doubt eliminated.

U-Channel will make your vent look better than mine. Even after the epoxy set, the screen just wouldn't bend that little bit to flush. Somebody better at this than me could probably pull it off with a form.

Again, Gilding is harder than it looks. Just because you have super-sticky sizing doesn't mean it will stick everywhere you want it to. More practice on my part might do it (gonna HAVE to practice more, my next project demands it!!).

Gilding screen is wasted effort...buy paint.

Non-visible light IRLED will allow you to customize interior light color. My freebie mouse didn't allow for that option (barring de-soldering and soldering in a non-visible light flavor..assuming the pickup would receive it).

larger basic-function mice like some of the Logitech using the G500 form would allow more flexibility in fan size, thus better cooling. Though, the 25mmx5mm I put in this one is VERY noticeable cooling.

I cut vent slots in the bottom of the mouse casing I just realized I never took picks of. One long one down each extreme edge on the underside, below the PCB. About 3mm wide.

Hope to see a better job than I did come around. Took longer than I wanted for a number of reasons, but if you work "normal" hours, it really shouldn't take too long.

Thank you for looking! /salute


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