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orangemacapple

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 1, 2006
442
0
Raleigh
The little nipple i rub on my MightyMouse is losing its sensitivity.

I've been using a Q-tip lightly dampened with alcohol to clean it and I think it's become addicted to alcohol – Whereas I started having to clean it a couple times a week, it's gradually progressed to about once an hour.

My hands aren't the sweaty type and I don't use lotion on them. I drink a lot of coffee so i wash my hands about every hour.

I have come to the conclusion that alcohol is bad for my nipple.

What do you use to clean your nipple?
 

TheAnswer

macrumors 68030
Jan 25, 2002
2,519
1
Orange County, CA
Have you tried piercing it to increase the sensitivity? :p

Seriously...I use a dustfree cloth with a very small amount of warm soapy water. I mix the soap in the water beforehand (literally one drop of lotionless hand soap to a cup of water) and mix it, then use a tiny amount of that on the cloth. Also, Apple has a cleaning video for the nipple.
 

orangemacapple

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 1, 2006
442
0
Raleigh
Have you tried piercing it to increase the sensitivity? :p

Seriously...I use a dustfree cloth with a very small amount of warm soapy water. I mix the soap in the water beforehand (literally one drop of lotionless hand soap to a cup of water) and mix it, then use a tiny amount of that on the cloth. Also, Apple has a cleaning video for the nipple.

Thanx. I'll try that. The video was informative, too – I wish I had seen that 4 months ago. I just hope I haven't damaged my mouse to the point of no fixability.

Does the cordless MightMouse carry a one-year-guarantee like other apple products, or is it considered a throw-away item. I think I'd like to try to get it replaced – if anyone thinks they will replace it because of human defect.
 

cubbie5150

macrumors 6502a
Mar 4, 2007
704
216
Uh, I dunno... My girlfriend cleans my nipple(s) for me; I don't have that kind of flexibility to do it myself...:D
 

miniConvert

macrumors 68040
I've had to turn mine upside down and rub it frantically on the mouse pad about twice since September and... well, that's it. It has been fine for ages, come to think of it.

Some of my staff have a harder time, but they're dirty little...
 

DavoMrMac

macrumors 6502
Oct 9, 2005
318
0
I am sorry, I have nothing constructive to add, just enjoyed reading this thread.

I have never been so excited about cleaning :)
 

phidauex

macrumors member
Feb 26, 2007
60
0
The little nipple i rub on my MightyMouse is losing its sensitivity.

I've been using a Q-tip lightly dampened with alcohol to clean it and I think it's become addicted to alcohol – Whereas I started having to clean it a couple times a week, it's gradually progressed to about once an hour.

My hands aren't the sweaty type and I don't use lotion on them. I drink a lot of coffee so i wash my hands about every hour.

I have come to the conclusion that alcohol is bad for my nipple.

What do you use to clean your nipple?

Unfortunately, this 'addicted to alcohol' phenomenon is not new. The problem is, the alcohol removes the oils that are inherent to the rubber, drying it out and causing it to loose its grip. It seems to help at first, because it removes the gunk, making it work better for the moment. But each time you do it, the rubber looses its inherent rubberiness, and it will pick up gunk faster, and quit working sooner.

The classic example of this is rollers in audio tape machines. If you clean them with alcohol, it will work great the first time, but the rollers will dry out, and slowly work worse and worse.

I'd stick to a non-alcohol cleaner, like the tiny bit of slightly soapy water. It'll remove the hand-salsa, but not damage the rubber.

Interestingly, cleaning with alcohol will also dry out the skin, so I'd avoid cleaning any nipple with alcohol. ;)

peace,
sam
 

iJawn108

macrumors 65816
Apr 15, 2006
1,198
0
I take it completely appart... I've been meaning to do a guide. Next time it's filled with cruft I will *makes sticky note*

oddly my right click on my BTMM works perfectly fine now it's been resassembled :\
 

andriella

macrumors member
Jun 3, 2006
51
0
Ontario, Canada
I read a tip on the Apple discussion forums that worked really well for my Mighty Mouse. Wrap a piece of tape around your finger, and move it back and forth over the scrollball. The tape collects dust / dirt that is stuck, therefore freeing the ball.

After doing this, I haven't had to clean mine for more than a month.
 

orangemacapple

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 1, 2006
442
0
Raleigh
I walked into the apple store, said my mouse's nipple doesn't work.

They swapped out my BTMM without even looking at it – new mouse – new warranty!

but they gave me back my old batteries to put in it.

I'm SO-O-O tickled now! My new nipple is SO-O-O sensitive to touch! I love it!
 

Bern

macrumors 68000
Nov 10, 2004
1,854
1
Australia
Best technique I found was to turn the MM upside down and rub it vigorously in a tight circler motion against some clean paper. The paper blots out access oil and catches any gunk that may have accumulated in there.
 

orangemacapple

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 1, 2006
442
0
Raleigh
Thank You

Thank you:
TheAnswer
Bern
four your help. My new mouse should last a long time now.

and phidauex, NOW i understand why my mouse was becoming an alcoholic. Very good deductive reasoning. I hope apple sends my old one to AA. I'll keep my new one on the wagon.

and iJawn108
I am looking forward to the guide for disassembling my new one when/if it needs help
 

AleksJ

macrumors newbie
Sep 14, 2008
1
0
Soap makes wonders

I've been following the Apple instructional materials, but they fail to solve the ball sensitivity problem. I've grown tired of pushing down on the ball to increase friction.

I've taken the dishwashing sponge with the soft plastic scrubpad, used a little bit of clothes washing soap (NOT handwashing soap with lots of friction-reducing glycerin), and scrubbed the ball holding the mouse upside down, so that water doesn't drip into the electronics.

I've also held the ball fixed with my nail, so that the scrubbing would also clean the surface of the ball (that would normally just move around, without getting cleaned).

This improved the situation considerably.
 

Willis

macrumors 68020
Apr 23, 2006
2,293
54
Beds, UK
I use the approach of rubbing the hell out of mouse upside down on paper... works everytime..

love the title of this thread..
 
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