//Mouse_Mod.exe
The reason for this mouse mod is to provide the mouse controls for my Retro PC Radio project. The basics of this mod is I am moving the wheel and sensors for the X and Y axis in the mouse away from the circuit board. Then the wheel will be fitted with a knob, and you will control the cursor on the screen the same way you would control an etch-a-sketch. I hope I explained that clear enough.
Here is a gallery for the project.
The complete project log is below... archived from my regular blog.
So I built some small supports for the IR emitters and receivers so I will be able to mount them properly on whatever I decide to mount them on. In the middle of all this I come up with an even better and simpler idea than what I'm working on... one that is SURE to work. So, I have yet to test what I worked on this afternoon and I'm almost hoping that it wont' work, so I can scrap it for my new design.
I took a bunch of pictures, and I hope to have them up as soon as I work out the new Projects page. But by then I'll probably be working on Mouse Mod 2.0, and tossing this one away. But I'll document it anyways... my first attempt at designing a completely new, never-before-seen (well not on the internet anyways) hardware mod. Its bound to have SOME problems; so nothing to be ashamed of.
-EDIT-
After a QUICK preliminary test, my little supports work perfectly. But I don't know how long they will hold. A lot of it relies on hot glue to keep spacing, and i'm almost certain that with a little strain they'll unglue themselves from the plastic, rendering them useless. But for now they'll suffice. I'll consider it Prototype #1, and its a success!
HOLY SMOKING MONKEY CRAP! I DID IT!
I haven't gotten it perfect, but the mouse definitly still works!!! I can get the cursor to move slightly to the left, right, up and down if I just pass the emitter and sensor over eachother. Now all I have to do is get them to work with the wheel in the mouse!
Well, I just spent the last 2 hours desoldering the IR emitter and receivers off of an old pc mouse. Then soldering in wires between them and the circuit board.
My goal was to extend them away from the circuit board so they could be manipulated by two independent knobs (instead of by the trackball). However, as it turns out I was a little over-ambitious. When I plug the mouse into the computer it is still detected as a microsoft serial mouse, so the good news is I didn't fry the board.
The bad news is that I can't get the board to detect motion. The problem could be that I used too thick a gauge of wire, or maybe it is not meant to work with extra wire, the individual leads and/or IR emitter receiver might be melted or fried, OR there just might be too much light in the room, and they only work if they are concealed in a dark container (like the mouse casing.
I'll keep testing some of these things, but it looks like I might be out of luck... which saddens me deeply.
-EDIT-
I think I can rule out the wrong gauge wire, because I was just reading another mouse mod and they happened to use the same wire as I did. Melted emitters are still a possibility I suppose. I'm currently trying to test out the 'complete darkness' theory.
