How To Completely Disassemble a MAC Mouse - Clean/Repair/Mod

Situation:
Your MAC mouse scroll ball is not scrolling correctly, whether it be down as in my case or up or around in general.

Action (Multiple Choice):
A) Buy a new mouse.
B) Clean the little bugger.
C) Only use the track-pad (Laptop only option)
D) Slam the mouse around and hope to dislodge the dirt. Usually resulting in only Option A as the choice.

This Instructable is for those of you would like to clean, mod, or otherwise see how the thing works without destroying your MAC mouse, hopefully. It's broken anyway, so what do you have to lose.

Contrary to some research and references that I have read online, a dremel is unnecessary. I used the dremel during my repair process to carve out the Apple symbol on top of the mouse.

Best of luck.

Tools:
An Exacto knife or sharp knife from your silverware drawer.

A small tipped Phillips screwdriver.

A small tipped Standard screwdriver.

A multimeter if you fancy making sure the 5v power connection is still working properly.

A small amount of quick dry glue or super glue.

Patience, patience, patience.

Step 1: Tools and Completed Disassembly

The tools used are pictured.

The disassembled mouse is also shown for reference.

Comments

[iApple guy]

Do you know why they put a pizo buzzer on that board? I have neaver heard a apple mouse make sounds!?!?

[hemlocke]

Replicate the tactile and auditory sensation of a "non-mac" or windows mouse. If you have an old PS2 mouse that you can tear down, you will see the internal gearing that give the windows mouse a tactile feel and clicking sound. The Mac mouse internals are smooth, so no clicky-clicky. The piezo provides a nearly inaudible though present sound that lets the user know they are scrolling. There isn't any tactile vibration though. I hope that's a helpful response. I also googled other responses though I think they were WAG-ging the dog.

[bricabracwizard]

I have had to use the mouse with no scrolling action - I really like your instructable, very clear pictures. I tried something else which worked for me, I sprayed lots of electronic cleaner through the hole where the ball sits (using plastic safe electronic cleaner) held the mouse down (do this with the moused unplugged) and rolled the ball quite vigorously and using a lint free cloth to wipe up the gunk that came out of the hole and my mouse has worked perfectly since.

[PSPerson]

although i do like this guide, i think you might be better off springing for the magic mouse. i have used the mighty mouse (brand new and crudded up at the library) and i own a magic mouse, and the magic mouse beats the mighty mouse any day.

[msd-boston]

 Thanks so much for this. I've struggled mightily w/ bad scrolling, but can now save at least one mouse-buying episode (depending on how hard it is to get the plastic ring off again once super-glued). 

One possibly helpful note is that if you're just trying to fix scroll wheel, you don't need to disconnect any ribbons or unscrew boards (you can skip steps 3-4). It's easy to access the three screws of the ball enclosure, lift it out, and clean/air-spray it's innards. Worked for me. 

Love the dremeled logo.  :)

-M

[hemlocke]

Thank you for your feedback. I am glad that you figured out that you can leave the ribbons on without disconnection. This was more to help completely deconstruct and reconstruct the mouse in an effort to reassure that the parts go back together right.I have since taken this mac mouse apart three times to clean the accumulation of dirt/oil/gunk from the wheels. Similar to spot welding, you can spot super-glue your mouse for easier maintenance in the future. Glad you liked the logo.

[galb]

very very good. my original idea was to make it a backwards mouse so everything was backwards but there was the problem of clicking which was impossible so instead im making a custom body out of a mint container and i will be put up a instructable for that =). 

one suggestion thoe would be stating to slowly take the top off the bottom i didn't and i ended up breaking a little green wire. not sure what it does because i plugged it in and it worked just fine.

Thanks soo much for this awesome instructable

[WalkerYYJ]

Awesome! Thanks!, there is however something else people may want to try before undertaking this one, unplug the mouse (or turn it off if its bluetooth) Then get a clean piece of paper, turn the mouse upside down and firmly roll the ball around on the paper...

[hemlocke]

Thank you for your feedback. This is a great suggestion. Your suggestion is actually one of several non-intrusive solutions that I tried doing though the issue remained so I started researching online for how to disassemble the little bugger and found nothing useful or comprehensive. With respect to unplugging the little guy, I somewhat presumed that would be something already done prior to wanting to throw the thing away or out the window or against a wall or smooshing it with my foot.