Magnetic Mouse Whiteboard Eraser

Whiteboard wipers are a pain! If they don't clip to the board somehow it's inevitable that you'll lose them or someone will walk off with it. This one's made from an old mouse with a magnet inside it to hold it to the board. The bottom has a patch of material glued to it to erase the drywipe markers as you pass it over them.

Similar whiteboard wipers are available for about $10. I thought I'd give a few easy steps on how to make your own for only $1-2 depending on what you have available at home.

For this instructable you will need:

Tools Required:

• Screwdriver (phillips or torx depending on your mouse)
• Glue gun
• Wire cutters (optional)
• Scissors
• Pencil

Materials Required:

• Broken mouse
• Strong magnets
• Felt
• Double-sided tape
• Pencil lead

Step 1 Gut it

First, remove all the bits from inside your victim/mouse of choice.

My dead mouse had a screw on its belly. Removing this one screw let me prize it apart to expose its innards. I recommend you do this project with a computer mouse, not Canida's Mouse Mouse, real mice don't agree with magnets and their fur would get awfully mucky with whiteboard pens rubbing on their tummy.

Unplug the USB lead. Different mice might not be made with the same easy connector as mine, so if necessary, clip it off with some wire snips. (It may look cool with the wire snipped an inch from the input with the wires frayed, a patch as a prize to anyone that sends me a photo of theirs!)

Lift out the PCB and return the mouse wheel to the cradle it was in. Again, different mice will have different construction so you may need to keep part of the PCB in place so that your wheel will stay in the right place once finished. Put the PCB aside, it has loads of useful switches and other components which would be good for an electronics project later.

Comments

[agis68]

simple and briliant!!!...that's showing how simple ideas are the best!!! thanks Jayefuu!!! 5/5!

[runawaygirl]

this is absolutely brilliant! i just made mine...and there...attaching a pic with this!

yay.

[Jayefuu]

That's great! What did you use as your wipey surface underneath?

[runawaygirl]

i used a piece of those kitchen wipes! and it works just great. thanks again!

[sharielle_mckenlein19]

i'll try this..and i make it as an investigatory project of mine in physics..where i can buy a hard magnet.

[tim13211]

You should put a white board marker in it so when you click the button you can draw

[Musicman41]

If you put a pen on the mouse, would it not erase its own writing?

[Kryptonite]

That would be really neat... but how neat wouldy your writing be??

[tim13211]

haha, idk

[Stargater]

Great idea! I'm an EFL teacher and once I make this little fellow it'll be hard to choose which students can clean the board. I imagine all of them wanting to do it :-D!!
Now question time: what do you do when the sponge cloth is soaked with ink and won't clean anymore? Have you thought of any way to clean it that won't affect the rest of the mouse? Or is it possible to glue several layers of cloth that later can be easily removed as you need it?

[Jayefuu]

Hmmmm.... You could:
a) Have two. When one sponge is saturated use the other whiteboard cleaner, take the saturated one home, rip off the sponge and replace it then take it back ready for when the other's finished.
b) Cut multiple pads. Attach a pad with double sided tape but leave extra strips underneath the pad with their backing on. When it's saturated, rip off the used up pad, remove the backing from the tape and stick a spare pad on.
c) Attach pads with velco? Probably the worst option.

This help? If you make one please post photos of them in use, on your board and finished, I'd love to include them in my instructable.

Thanks :)

[Jayefuu]

PS welcome to instructables :D

[jacq01uk]

great 'ible' ;o)  

would the gap where the cable was be wide enough for a slim marker to be housed?

[Jayefuu]

No and the magnet would be in the way. Perhaps a magnet could be glued in the side wall of the mouse and one inserted into the drywipe marker used on the whiteboard. Then you could hang a pen under the wiper making it look like it's defying gravity.

[RetroTechno]

Good and geeky use of recycling!

[Jayefuu]

Thanks! Glad you like it.

[geenahhh]

clever(:
that is such a cool idea
congrats on the feature!

[Jayefuu]

Thanks!

[Jayefuu]

Here's the stumble link incase anyone wants to 'like' it for me :D
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2UqD1s/www.instructables.com/id/Magnetic-Mouse-Whiteboard-Wiper/

[Chicken2209]

my teacher had an eraser that looked like a mouse and it made me want to convert a mouse so right click could erase and left click could write gmta i guess

[Houdinipeter]

 i'd like to see that as an ible! The main problem i see is the capless marker drying out.

Btw quite deserving of the feature Jayefuu!

[lioneatr]

ooh this is definitely feature worthy

[Jayefuu]

Thanks. Glad you liked it. Would be good for back to school. Shame I posted it before the contest started! Doh! Please rate it :)

[hlaverdiere]

Very fun! I'm a technology teacher and can't wait to create a few of these for my whiteboards. My kids want one too, for their lockers! lol, I hope I have enough old mice in the basement!

[Jayefuu]

Pictures of your mouse infestation would be great when you're done!

[airsoftjim123]

This is an awesome idea.

[Jayefuu]

Thanks! I thought so too. Please rate it! And if you make one, post pics please.

[airsoftjim123]

I would make it but, our house has like 5 computers and only 5 mouses(correct me is I'm wrong).

[Jayefuu]

He he. Okay. Ask around, I'm sure someone you know has a mouse that's broken,.

[airsoftjim123]

I'll do that.

[ChrysN]

Cool!

[Jayefuu]

Thanks =]

[=SMART=]

Very nice ! Great for us geeks and techies :P I like the hack'n'mod sticker too.

[Jayefuu]

Thanks :)