Magnetic Mouse Whiteboard Eraser

Intro: 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.

STEP 2: Reassemble

Reassemble your gutted mouse to check that all the buttons and the wheel are in the correct place before you continue.

Once you're happy, open it up again.

STEP 3: Add Magnets

Now to add a magnet so your board wiper will stick to your whiteboard.

I chose to use a magnet I obtained from a broken hard disk drive. They're incredibly strong and have quite a large area. One is plenty for this project. You'd be surprised at how many people have a broken hard drive lying around, ask around. Failing that, some strong neodymium magnets would do the trick.

Lay your magnet(s) on the bottom of the inside of the mouse, squeeze on a load of hot glue from your glue gun and allow to set. You could super glue instead, this can however be brittle when dry and may break with all the slamming against the board.

STEP 4: Adding a Base

For the surface to stick to the bottom of the mouse to wipe the drywipe markers from the board I chose some sponge cloths from the supermarket. You could also use felt or any other non woven fabric. It should be 1-3mm thick.

Turn over your mouse, and with a pencil lead and paper rub it so you can see the outline of the base of the mouse. Cut this out and check it matches the bottom of your mouse.

Use the paper cut-out as a stencil to cut out the sponge. Reassemble the mouse then glue the sponge to the base of the mouse with a glue gun or super glue.

STEP 5: Finishing (& Member Photos)

Here are some pictures of it on my whiteboard at home.

If anyone else makes one of these, please post a picture in the comments and I'll add it here.

Thanks to gmjhowe for touching up an image or two for me.

Comments

[ezhiltk7]

which type of magnet is prefer?

[runawaygirl]

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

yay.

[cyberbuilder]

Why did you use such a good mouse?

[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!

[agis68]

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

[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!