If you own a soldering iron or are willing to buy one and learn how to use it, a new set of mouse switches is like <$10 and it takes a few mins to replace them. Not something you should have to do after only 4 years though. If you get a mouse with optical switches this issue will never happen.
I tried to repair my DeathAdder but I had the soldering iron too hot and I destroyed the contact pad under the microswitch. 💀 I tried to take some solder mask off the trace and bodge it but I made such a mess that I just gave up on it. With better desoldering technique, it would have been straightforward. Lesson learned!
Desoldering is definitely the hard part and I’m not experienced enough to tell you exactly how to do it, but what helped me was adding a tiny bit of leaded solder to loosen up the existing solder on the mouse. That made it way easier to wick up.
Thanks, I appreciate the tip! I will give that a try next time (maybe I’ll do this Xtrfy mouse soon). I also got solder braid and a flux pen to help too, in addition to the solder sucker I was using before.
If you own a soldering iron or are willing to buy one and learn how to use it, a new set of mouse switches is like <$10 and it takes a few mins to replace them. Not something you should have to do after only 4 years though. If you get a mouse with optical switches this issue will never happen.
I tried to repair my DeathAdder but I had the soldering iron too hot and I destroyed the contact pad under the microswitch. 💀 I tried to take some solder mask off the trace and bodge it but I made such a mess that I just gave up on it. With better desoldering technique, it would have been straightforward. Lesson learned!
Desoldering is definitely the hard part and I’m not experienced enough to tell you exactly how to do it, but what helped me was adding a tiny bit of leaded solder to loosen up the existing solder on the mouse. That made it way easier to wick up.
Thanks, I appreciate the tip! I will give that a try next time (maybe I’ll do this Xtrfy mouse soon). I also got solder braid and a flux pen to help too, in addition to the solder sucker I was using before.