My current trackball has lost its smoothness and feels “sticky” no matter how well, or often I clean it.
So, I’m looking for a trackball (thumb controlled) with the following features:
- Bluetooth wireless with support for at least two connections (for laptop and PC media station).
- Uses AA or AAA batteries.
- Uses bearings.
- Set at a tilt/ergo angle.
- Repairability is also important, but not a total dealbreaker if the mouse is high-enough quality.
So far, most that I’ve found will lack one of those features, but I’d really like to have all of them, if possible.
It looks like it has a sensor and three white “balls” that the trackball sits on.
I do clean those, and they never have gunk built up on them (maybe I clean them too often?), but I only wipe them clean without using isopropyl alcohol or anything like that. Maybe I should try that?
What make and model is it?
I’ve got a Protoarc EM01 as my daily driver. An EM04 as a spare, but it’s not as good :(
I would search YouTube for a video where someone completely disassembles one that’s similar to yours and see if you can learn more about it. I’m not suggesting you take yours apart. But it might show you if there’s a potential fix for it.
My boss uses a trackball mouse, but it’s a Logitech. I am not a fan of Logitech, personally. Their stuff always breaks on me after about 12-18 months.
Absolutely use isopropyl alcohol!
Tried with isopropyl alcohol, and it feels worse :( Like rolling a wooden ball on more wood.
Kensington says to use Vaseline to lube the ball. I can only imagine that would gum things up, no?
When reading your post, I started thinking of silicone lubricants. Have you tried anything like that? Ideally, you would only lubricate the parts that come into contact with the ball.
That might be an idea! I’ll see if that’s safe to do. 👍