How to silence your mouse without any soldering

Melpheos · Post by **Melpheos** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 4:42 am

Hi, this is my first post on this forum and it is a translation of my how to on my favourite french forum :

http://www.nokytech.net/forum/showthread.php?t=74943

Hope you will enjoy it...

At last

After this topic (no translation)http://www.nokytech.net/forum/showthread.php?t=42761
and this one (no translation neither) http://www.nokytech.net/forum/showthread.php?t=65826

i though i had find the solution on this page http://www.abclinuxu.cz/blog/hajma/2005/3/23/81023

But the so called solution implied to revert the cap and most of the time the button of the microswitch wont spring back normally

What's more is that it implies to unsolder and solder back the microswitch in revert position and add a wire between two points

I have found an easier way to silence a mouse (any mouse)

Here is some shots to explain (sorry for the bad quality, my camera is not high end and i am not a good photographer)

My logitech mouse has allready been tortured so i'll show you with a microswitch from a dead mouse

First, open the mouse

If you stops there, then forget about silencing your mouse, you have two left hands :-p

Then remove (if present) the small metalic bar that makes a clicketing sound on the wheel. Beware, if you'r a FPS addict, without the bar, the wheel will not be locked so you might be in trouble for selecting your weapon. This bar is hard to put back in place. You are warned.

Next step, make the mod on the microswitch. In most case, it is possible to open the left and right microswitch without any soldering. The wheel click might be more difficult.

Just use a cutter to lift the cap (on the sample microswitch, the cap is to be lifted from the long side, on my mouse, it is from the short side)

Warning, the button has no retention point.When you open the cap, do it upside down. Otherwise, the button might drop and it is really tiny (have a look on the blury pictures)

Now, all you have to do is to cut a small piece of rubberband and slide it in the microswitch like this (you can cut the rubberband ith and edge to slide it more easily )

Do not put the rubberband in both hole. Just on one side is fine. Sliding it both way might prevent the microswitch to work.

Last step, put the cap back (still upside down so you dont have to find this tiny stupid piece of plastic that will just drop again from the table)

It is a good idea to test the switch before placing back the lid of the mouse with an ohmeter.

You can do this mod on any microswitch you like

Beofre putting back the mouse lid back, you have to do a small mod on it because this mod implies a better pressure on the microswitch to work

You have to chop off the button on the inside side of the lid where the red dots are (open your mouse and you will see what i mean).

Put the mouse lid back and your mouse is silenced !!!

Who do you say thanks to ?

Sorry for the mistakes (english is not my first language)

nici · Post by **nici** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 4:51 pm

Your first post on this forum and its about silencing microswitches

It rare to see a first time poster being as mental about silence as the old nutters on these forums

In any case, Welcome to SPCR!! and

Melpheos · Post by **Melpheos** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 5:58 am

yes i am pretty crzay about noise

the real reason is that my computer is in our bedroom (wife and me) and i play MMORPG late at night so when she (tries to) sleep, the clicking sound become really annoying...

Rincewind · Post by **Rincewind** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 5:41 pm

At first I thought: what is he doing to his mouse?? Now I understand it, tried it, works!! Maybe I make some high-res pictures tomorrow. Also removed the additional weight in the mouse and silenced the wheel, wich still clicks if scrolling, but more silent.

Some pics:

I had to try with different sizes and shapes of rubber, sometimes the ms was to hard to press, or the clicking was too loud.

Melpheos · Post by **Melpheos** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 1:16 am

in fact, as written in the how to, it's better to have the rubberband inserted into one side only (with the other part of the rubberband pointing upward...

i tested like the way you've done and there is more try and error before getting a correct result

Thanks for the picture

Btw, after a month or so, the click sound seems to come back a little (not as loud as b4 but yet i can hear it )... I have to check if the rubberband has not dried out or something

who1zep · Post by **who1zep** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 7:48 pm

I started with a small rubberband. I got the switch apart and tried the rubberband in multiple configurations, but I could not get the switch silenced.

Then I went to a thicker rubberband. Even when I cut the width down some, the mouse was stuck on down click. I did some more trimming. Now it works. I will have to get used to it. It is slightly harder to press.

All the details, like getting the switch case off, trimming the underside of ther mouse button, and the pics were very helpful.

kristofer · Post by **kristofer** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 3:53 am

Has anyone figured out how to silence the round type of switches??
The ones used in Microsoft Intellimouse explorer and others?

I have only seen this performed on the rectangular switches (as in this guide).

Sorry to bump an old thread, but i felt it would be unnecessary to start a new one...

mb2 · Post by **mb2** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 1:56 pm

i thought i'd try this out, despite not being massively bothered by mouse clicking..

argh.. just spent the last 1/2 hr fixing my mouse...
just to clarify, as i was a little consfused by the OPs unclear pictures.. prize the cap of the switch.. then it will look like Rincewind's picture.. (without the rubber band).. and u put in the bit of rubber band and it will in theory stop the clicking...
anyway.. for me i couldn't get the rubber band between the two parts of the main metal bit (it was a thin/small one!).. and the metal bit came off (eek!) and then it got bent out of shape a bit... so my mouse got busted, until i somehow managed to bodge it back to working.. and, its now silent!, but, only because the metal is bent.. as i took the rubber band out

..its a bit eerie now, and its of course a lot harder to tell when u have clicked.. i only did it to the left click (as it scared the shit out of me enough for now, breaking once..). we'll see if it grows on me or not...

the old silencing problem still remains however.. now i can hear the bangning of the plastic

..put a bit of rubber band between the two bits perhaps? lol.

edit: after using it for a while.. it seems to have a sort of 'executive' feel about it (like a touch sensetive thing of something..) and i dont really miss the clicking as much as i thought i would.. except when something didn't work and i'm not sure if its windows/program or my mouse not sending the click..

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:40 pm

Interesting work, I might give it a go when i feel brave enough, on my ancient "Cordless Mouseman" ....................... the original ............... yes its still going strong, i bought it the moment it was available 7ish years ago.

This is the kind of mouse that I will hand down to my kids

Anyway, "IF" I do the mod, I will have to sacrifice one of more por defenceless cheap shyte mice first, to get my practice in.

I certainly wont try this on my G7.

BTW Thanks Nici, wicked pic.

Andy

vine-au · Post by **vine-au** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:02 am

Well I gave this a go. Tried it on my MX518, and I should have tried it out on an old cheap mouse first. It worked for the most part. I got the litle bit of rubber band in between the metal and it really silenced it. Only did it to the right mouse button for now, to see if I like the feel of it. The button pressure is different now, I think, might just be the psychological effect of not having the audible response... time will tell. Many thanks for the post and all the info!
And yeah as mb2 said, you can hear the clunk of the plastic now. It has a hollow resonance though so i might try stuffing the mouse with a bit of foam to dampen it.

EDIT: I opened it back up again and realised that I'd reattached the copper switch incorrectly. After seating it properly te tension returned to the switch and it worked perfectly. I have since done the mod to the 4 other switches in the mouse, all worked just as well. To solve the clunk problem I stuffed the remaining space with packing foam (the stuff that looks like cheezos chips) and it really absorbes the hollow sound.
Great mod, thanks once again for the guide!

fabre · Post by **fabre** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 1:31 am

Just silenced my Ms intellimouse explorer 3.0 using this technique.

Did 4 out 5 switches, I very rarely use the middle button so I kept it as a reminder of how the switches sounded.

Overall I am very happy with the results, aside from the absence of click and tactile feedback the only other difference I noticed is that the buttons are slightly harder to press.

ronrem · Post by **ronrem** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 7:14 am

vine-au wrote:Well I gave this a go. Tried it on my MX518, and I should have tried it out on an old cheap mouse first. It worked for the most part. I got the litle bit of rubber band in between the metal and it really silenced it. Only did it to the right mouse button for now, to see if I like the feel of it. The button pressure is different now, I think, might just be the psychological effect of not having the audible response... time will tell. Many thanks for the post and all the info!
And yeah as mb2 said, you can hear the clunk of the plastic now. It has a hollow resonance though so i might try stuffing the mouse with a bit of foam to dampen it.

EDIT: I opened it back up again and realised that I'd reattached the copper switch incorrectly. After seating it properly te tension returned to the switch and it worked perfectly. I have since done the mod to the 4 other switches in the mouse, all worked just as well. To solve the clunk problem I stuffed the remaining space with packing foam (the stuff that looks like cheezos chips) and it really absorbes the hollow sound.
Great mod, thanks once again for the guide!

I worked in a shipping dept before that used biodegradeable foam,not styrofoam...the stuff was made from potato fibre....you actually could eat it. Not tasty,however. It did resemble cheetos. Unlike styrofoam it WILL break down if damp,so be aware of that.