Question about
mferrante

Scroll Ball Sucking

After using this mouse for a long time, the scroll ball gets dirty and doesn't scroll like it should.

A fix:
Get a piece of paper
Flip over mouse
Put scroll ball on paper
Move the mouse around, rolling the ball on the paper, you will see the gunk on the paper.
Continue until it works well again.

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21 answers
dave

Nice tips!

Personally, I always despised that little ball.

That's the reason we all moved to optical / laser mice from the mechanical mice! Too much gunk!

(Not sure I'd want a laser "scroll wheel" though. Hmm, with that thing shooting into my finger all day, it might grow its own finger after awhile.)
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ricardomt

The only way to effectively clean your Mighty Mouse is to disassemble it and remove all the crap that will invariably accumulate on the tiny magnetic rollers inside the scroll ball mechanism. Doing the vigorous moves on a clean sheet of paper, using a damp cloth will temporarily improve scrolling, but it will soon present scrolling problems again. I found iKlean Travel Singles to be very effective on the non-intrusive methods.

Now that I have disassembled the mouse and cleaned all the rollers and parts of the mechanism, the Mighty Mouse acts like a new one. It is not a trivial or easy procedure, but it is definitely worth it if you are experiencing scrolling problems repeatedly. Check out this video for detailed disassembly instructions:

www.vimeo.com­/338625

BTW, I have not reinstalled the sealing ring on the bottom and the mouse still works perfectly fine and feels comfortable on my hand.

Hope this helps!
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ArmpitOfDeath

I never have this problem. My balls are squeaky clean - even ones I've been playing with for many years - and still work for me just fine without needing a moist towellette, as well as for anyone else who might be playing with my balls (a very occasional occurence admittedly, since I generally keep my balls to myself) at the time.

I read these multitudes of posts and often wonder what you do with your fingers before touching your balls.
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captfred

Nice tip, Thanks!
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connorg

there's a lot of versions of this. some people recommend doing basically the same thing but with a slightly damp cloth, or with the sticky edge of a post-it, but yeah, it works pretty well.
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kristian

I've always been partial to a small amount of normal scotch tape on the scroll wheel, and then doing an intense amount of rolling. Gross to see what comes up, but it works.
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macaddict27

+1 on the Scotch tape or using the large clear packing tape works very just as well and sometimes better
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dan325013

Yeah as functional as the mighty mouse's trackball is when you first get it, the fact that crap gets stuck in and around the surface of the trackball is an issue. I think it's a design issue on Apple's part. I expect quality products when I think of Apple, and I don't think the customers should be required to "clean" their devices regularly in order for them to work properly. Hopefully Apple will address this problem when they update the Apple Mighty Mouse.... whenever that is....? Feels like it hasn't been updated in forever.
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daveredfern

I have had two of these noises and the track ball has got stuck on both. The first one I took back to the shop and they recommend a alchohol cloth and rub it on the ball but after watching them try and fail I am not convinced. If it is within the year warenty take it back and they will clean it or if they can't get it working like mine replace it with a new one.

Won't be buying one of these again.
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ChicagoSC

Like any mouse it needs to be cleaned. Keep it clean, give it the upside-down treatment, canned air, etc. and it works as it should.
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Pmandia

Thank you so much! My scroll ball is crap. I am just to lazy to go out and buy another one.
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alexmuller

Neither the Scotch tape or the paper-upside-down never worked well for me (hey, perhaps I'm just not doing it right), so I moved to a Logitech MX Revolution; haven't looked back yet, it's much nicer.
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johnholzer

I took my first Mighty Mouse apart three times to manually clean the components that got dirty. After three times, it just didn't work well, so I bought another. Seems like it has a two years life cycle that way. I also have a Bluetooth Mighty Mouse and it's holding up pretty well so far. I really like this mouse, but I'm totally open for something that will hold up better with the same functionality as the Mighty Mouse.
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agentile27

support.apple.com­/kb­/HT1537
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x54

The mighty mouse is useless for anyone trying to use CAD. A scroll wheel is so important If you hope to ever zoom in on a document with any accuracy. I bought one for the laser resolution and used it for about a hot second and never used it again.
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OleCage

After many track ball cleanings, I found the best solution: Logitech Cordless Desktop S 530 Laser for Mac
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sarchi

our local store uses a vigorous run up and down the trouser leg with the inverted ball
usually works for a time as does everything else...
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inoxdragoon

Alcohol pads work for us, lay the pad down on the table, upside-down circular motions with the mouse... we have 30+ iMacs here. Thou, it does help that we have a First Aid Kit that is bi-weekly stocked.
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hunthenning

I have found rubbing it lightly on the jeans will fix it until I can really sit down and clean it.
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blackraven

This is the tip I got from an Apple support call.

Dip your scrolling finger a bit of water scroll vigorously until working again.

Then use a microfiber cloth to dry and clean.

Using the cloth while scrolling upside-down after the water bath is very effective.
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sarchi

I did a preliminary breakdown on disassembaly

www.flickr.com­/photos­/sarchi­/3941160573/
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