Why did it beat me? Well finding a genuine 20mm mouse ball has been problematic, most seem to be around 22mm, and therefore none of the spare mice I have can offer a suitable replacement for the original that had simply crumbled:
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I was able to obtain both a 20mm Delrin ball and steel ball bearing, however the Delrin ball is just too light. Whilst the steel ball bearing does work, it will only do so on certain surfaces and the whole experience is rather scratchy and it makes the mouse really quite heavy.
So I've decided I'll try and recreate the original epoxy ball. I've not done any casting like this for a very long time TBH, but the materials are cheap so I think it's definitely worth a go.
Here's what I have so far:
- PXL_20230314_130609403.jpg (270.64 KiB) Viewed 7640 times
So I have some clear epoxy 2 part resin, a silicone cube to make my mould in, and the 20mm steel ball to use as a blank for the mould. I'm just waiting on some RTV silicone to cast the mould with using the silicone cube and steel ball.
How's it going to turn out? Frankly I have no idea whatsoever, but I figure it's worth a go and even if it doesn't work 1st time, it'll hopefully point me in the right direction and I can make it work.
I'll post more here as I get round to it.
