Cleaning Wacom Intuos4 Mouse

[Barnum]

I don't know where to post this question but I figure if there would be anybody that uses a Wacom tablet it would be here. I have an Intuos4 tablet and I use the 5 button mouse a lot. The felt bottom of the mouse has been collecting dirt & gunk from my dirty, grubby, oily hands.🙁 How do I clean the bottom or get replacement pads for it?

 

[win7]

I know this is an old thread, but I wondered about this for a while too, and there are actually a few solutions:

• The official solution that Wacom wants you to use is to just replace the felt pad. I'm not sure about the procedure, but you can buy the replacements here: https://www.wacom.com/en/store/page...&crumb={35210861-B96F-4926-8E09-AD29390F45CF}.
• Another solution is described in this instructable: shave off the dirt and frayed felt using a sharp razor, and clean it additionally with alcohol.
• A more permanent solution (found in the comments of the above link) is to:
  • either cover the entire bottom surface of the mouse (over the felt pad) with a piece of self-stick vinyl or replace the felt pad with an identical size piece of vinyl.
  • Or you could use a cellphone screen protector. Apparently they naturally adhere to the felt as well, so they won't fall off even without glue, making removal less messy.
• Another guy here also seemed to have pretty good results replacing the pad with teflon.

Personally, I don't know why they put felt there. Sure, it looks kinda cool with the dot grid pattern when it's brand new, but there are much more resilient fabrics than felt that won't become frayed and can actually be cleaned without damage. Also, aside from cleaning the tablet while you use the mouse, there's not much point in having a fabric on the bottom side of a mouse anyway. Ideally it should be something that slides without resistance, such as teflon or the plastic material that the pen nibs are made from.