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How do you clean rusty trackball rollers ?

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SirPeale:
To remove the rust from the rollers, you can try Kens approach, or:

Put the roller into a drill, and get some fine steel wool.  Hold the wool around the roller, and start the drill.  You should be able to polish the rust right off.

jcoleman:

--- Quote from: SirPoonga on July 10, 2004, 04:42:42 pm ---From the wd-40 website:
What does WD-40 stand for?
WD-40 literally stands for Water Displacement, 40th attempt. That's the name straight out of the lab book used by the chemist who developed WD-40 back in 1953. The chemist, Norm Larsen, was attempting to concoct a formula to prevent corrosion
--- End quote ---

Mamezilla:
Thanks guys for all your replies.  I will start with Peale's suggestion, since I got a bag of 00 very fine steel wool I bought last week at my local "Home Depot" type hardware store, for the finishing touch with the chemical paint remover on the side of my used cab I want to mame. I had a bottle of CLR recently but used it for somethig else, so I'll have to get some more.  BTW, it's true that this stuff does wonders.

However, since the rollers have some wear on them as I can see a "dimp" in the center of them where the ball touches ("dimp" is the only word I can think of for what I mean, since english isn't my native language as I'm a french-canadian), I'm wondering if it's worth it.  I guess I'll just have to check it.

I'll have to start another topic to see if optic boards can be tested or checked without plugging them into a mouse hack or an encoder (with a multimeter for example), since I tried to do a mouse hack yesterday with a cheap PS/2 mouse I got at the local Wal-Mart, but while doing so I fried the PS/2 port on my second computer I use in my workshop.  This is the trackaball I was reffering to in my post a few days ago that has different optic boads.

Thanks again.

MonitorGuru:
Repeat after me: WD-40 is not a lubricant!  ;)

But you CAN use it as a part of cleaning them, if you don't want to spend the money buying new ones.

Honestly, if the bearings are locked up, just throw them. If they spin very rough, consider throwing them.  If they spin but just not for long and are rough, there may be hope.  Consider time/materials vs new cost.  You will not make them feel like new ones in most cases, but you can salvage some of the bearings if you pick your battles :)

Here's what I did:

1-Soak them in WD-40 to help remove the old grease/dirt/oil

2- Soak them in CLR (Note: this is the most dangerous step as too long and it will eat away at the metal since it's corrosive, too little and you won't get enough rust off)

3-Rinse in water, or ideally 90%+ isopropal alcohol, to prevent rusting.

4-Soak them more in WD-40 to remove the last of the CLR and other marterials

5-Rinse in 90%+ isopropal alcohol, dry them fully

6-Lubricate with a very fine oil.  3-In-1 oil generally is acceptable but only use a TINY amount, otherwise you will have oil everywhere.


Note: Between each step, take the bearing and put it in a drill and spin it for a long time to help work out the rust and whatever gunk. Be carefull doing this. A battery operated drill wont have enough torque/speed to do much good, and AC powered drills can  be damaging if done too long or too fast, but work better, but of course dangerous to hold the bearing while drilling. If you can drill with the bearing in the liquid(s), it's better to help clean it out, but watch out for splatter.

Also note: If you have sealed bearings (most are), you can either try to remove the cover or just try to clean with the cover on, but you wont get much out of it without removing the cover. Removing it you may bend it and may not get it back on.

Good luck!

PS: If you need to clean the ivory balls... place them in highly concentrated Deck Wash (chlorine bleach).

SirPeale:
It would depend on how bad the wear spot (dimp) is.  If it's very deep, you will have to replace them.

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