Cheap (but excellent) Mouse Pad

I am too cheap to spend $25 on a quality mouse pad, so I decided to make my own. Everything should be under $5. I'm using it with a Logitech G5 laser mouse, and have tested it with a Razer Copperhead laser mouse and a cheap Microsoft ball mouse. Works great with all of them, glides well and tracks perfectly.

Step 1 Gather Materials.

You will need:

-Transparencies (number depends on how many mouse pads you want to make). Make sure you do not get printer transparencies, they tend to have some kind of glue on them that allows the ink to stick better. This will ruin the feet of your mouse.
-Very fine grit sandpaper
-A flat surface

Comments

[PSPerson]

I personally have a rather large masking tape pad on my desk. Just lay strips down flat right next to each other. works like a charm

[pharoah]

Can't you just get free mouse pads online?

[WhyHello]

were!

[emmick4]

http://www.ofree.net/free-mouse-pads.html

you have to pay for shipping, but, it's worth it. (I used the bottom offer)

[Reaper1242]

This is a very good tip. But I have a better one and I just don't feel like dong a whole instructable so I'll hijack this one lol. I looked at a pretty pricey laser mouse pad and touched it and it feels almost exactly like the surface of one of those black plastic covered ring binders. So I took one I had lying around the house and cut the one cover off. Works like a dream. The only problem I found was that it slid around. All I did was cut strips of foam weather stripping and stuck some down the width of the back and the one long one along the top and bottom to keep it from bending. Now I have a very nice, rigid, non-slip mouse pad that works brilliantly for any mouse.

[WhyHello]

Stop being lazy and make an instructable?

[Reaper1242]

Um.... No

[Capt. Kidd]

lol i just use a piece of cardboard, but it keeps folding when i play counter strike(1.6). thx alot!

[cornflaker]

Nice mouse (I have the same one lol)

[Balista.^]

just wondering where you got your transparencies from?

[JJrulz]

you should be a hand model! anyways, its not really related to the Instructable but seeing as you've used both do you prefer the copperhead or the g5? why?

[dvmoo]

I like making stuff as well as the next nerd but my inborn (ingrown, inbred) laziness usually trumps that urge and leaves me more time in my Lazy-Boy watching Survivor Dubuque. I have also made a cheap but OK mouse pad. I made my way over to the nearest Dollar type store and picked up a three pack of flexible cutting boards. 12" x 15" and no sanding required. I'd like to send a photo but it's pretty much invisible.

[TheCheese9921]

How is there a difference from just using the table to using this mouse pad, I'm sort of confused also doesn't your hand start to hurt after a few hours? If you want a cheap mouse pad go to garage or rummage sales, I don't think I have ever seen a $25 mouse pad, where do you shop?

[magnoliasouth]

You've never seen a $25 mouse pad?! Wow, I wish I could say that. :( The gel pads with wrist protection (or whatever they call it) were about $25 when they first came out.

[flashmonkey]

When you sand the plastic, it creates random grooves in it giving the laser/optic thingy something to track better than a plain surface. Why would my hand hurt?

[TheCheese9921]

Well I know that when I use a mouse on a hard surface it starts to hurt, but when I uses a foamy mouse pad it doesn't.

[flashmonkey]

I haven't noticed it

[TheCheese9921]

mabey its just my hand, lol

[carbon]

I'll give it a shot. Thanks for the tip!

[Grimling]

Everything should be under $5. So is that Logitech G5 laser mouse i guess ? lol

[xboxteen01]

pretty cool

[asianwizard]

does it slide against the table?

[flashmonkey]

not for me, but if it does just dab some water to the bottom and then stick it to the surface