Ergotron Mouse Cleaner 360
Keeps your mouse operating like new!!
The Business
I covered the history of this company when I looked at their MacTilt monitor stand.
The Product
For the youngsters in the audience, computer mice didn’t always have lasers in them. Early mice used a rubber ball to record movement. Over time, the ball would get dirty and need to be cleaned. (I never had to clean one myself.) So, companies came up with ways to clean them. This is the story of one of those cleaners.
The Mouse Cleaner 360 was announced in the April 20, 1987 issue of ComputerWorld:
Ergotron, Inc. has announced Mouse Cleaner 360, a computer mouse cleaning system. Mouse Cleaner 360 is said to clean the tracking rollers inside the mouse to eliminate jerky movements and slow mouse reponse. The kit comes with a Velcro-covered scrubber ball, scrubber board, lint-free chamois cloth and a bottle of cleaning solution.
Mouse Cleaner 360 is said to be compatible with personal computer mouses using a 1-in. diameter positioning ball, including Microsoft Corp’s. Mouse for the IBM PC and Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh, Apple IIe, IIc and IGS.
Mouse Cleaner 360 is priced at $16.95.
Ergotron, 1621 E. 79th St., Minneapolis, Minn. 55420.
Family Computing mentioned Mouse Cleaner 360 in the “New Hardware & Accessories” section of their August 1987 issue.
Now that almost every computer can support a mouse, users are learning how helpful these devices can be. They're also learning that a mouse has the unfortunate tendency to pick up dirt as it's rolled across a table, which makes it become sluggish over time. Several products for cleaning the mouse are on the market, but none that I've seen is as easy to use as Mouse Cleaner 360 from Ergotron, Inc.
Instead of dismantling the whole mouse (as you have to do when using some other cleaning systems), with Mouse Cleaner 360 you simply remove the rubber ball from the cavity in the bottom of the unit. You then add a few drops of the enclosed cleaning fluid to the cleaner's Velcro ball (the spiky half of the Velcro), place that ball inside the mouse, and rub the mouse in a circular motion on the cleaner's pad (the soft half of the Velcro). This action removes most of the dirt that gets attached to a mouse's internal rollers, helping it move freely. Also enclosed in the cleaning kit is a chamois cloth for wiping out the cavity where the mouse ball rests.
The Mouse Cleaner 360 is effective. The various mice around the FAMILY COMPUTING office had built up layers of gunk over the years and had become quite hard to control. Now they run smoothly again. That's what you need from a mouse cleaner; and when combined with this product's ease of use, it's a good deal.
I found a couple of reviews of the Mouse Cleaner 360 in small newsletters for user groups. The first one I found was from the November 1987 issue of the Puget Sound Atari News. In this issue, they published a review from Bill Penner:
Do you get tired of cleaning that mouse? Tired of dirty mouse balls and having to remove the ball and then scraping all of the gunk off the rollers?
Well, now there is an easy solution to your problems. It is the Mouse Cleaner 360 from Ergotron Inc. The cleaner consists of a hard plastic Velcro ball, a soft Velcro pad, a soft rag, and a bottle of cleaning fluid. To use the cleaner, you remove mouse ball and then place some alcohol on the velcro ball. You then place the louse over the ball and then run the mouse around the velcro pad. If you have not cleaned your mouse for some time, you nay have to initially scrape some of the gunk off. After that, the cleaner works well to remove the rest. The soft rag is used to then wire the inside of the mouse to remove any remaining dirt.
The nice feature of the cleaner is the ease of use. It comes with a velcro pad to hang up the whole assembly, I place mine on the side of my monitor. The process to clean the mouse is so easy, I do it at the first hint of more junk piling up on my rollers.
I found the cleaner at the B Daltons in the Tacoma hall. It was located in the computer section located in the back of the store. The price was slightly less than $17.
The second was published in The Milwaukee Area Atari Users Group’s January 1989 newsletter and was written by Dale Phillips:
How many times have you been using your Mouse and discovered that all of a sudden it doesn’t move as smooth as when it was new? Then you think to yourself that it’s dirty again, and now you have to figure out how to clean those little metal rollers inside.
If you’re like me, you take a cotton swab, put a little Isopropyl Alcohol on it, and after taking the ball out of the mouse, go ahead and attempt to clean the rollers. Well, sometimes I get them clean, and sometimes they’re just so dirty that it all doesn’t seem to want to come off.
Your troubles are over, because I’ve found a product out there called Mouse Cleaner 360. The product is easy to use and does one nice job of keeping your Mouse like new!
First, you take your mouse ball out, then you take this little mouse replacement ball made of velcro and put it inside your mouse, leaving off the little plastic stop on the bottom.
Now, taking the bottle of cleaner that you get with the kit, you put 3 or 4 drops of it on the velcro ball. Then, you take this small flat board with the other half of velcro material on it, lay it down on a table, and put your mouse on it.
Now the fun part begins! Move your mouse around this board and the ball hooks onto the pad and spins around inside your mouse, cleaning the rollers of any grime and dirt. After about 6 or 7 revolutions, you just pick up your mouse and the velcro ball comes out and sticks to the pad!
With the supplied piece of chamois cloth, clean your mouse ball off and wipe off anything inside by the rollers that’s left behind. After you reassemble your mouse and try it out, it'll feel like you’re using your mouse for the first time! What a nice feeling to have a smooth-working mouse again.
This product is put out by a company called Ergotron Inc. I found this product at B. Dalton Computer Store in Mayfair Mall. It sells for $14.99 there and I believe it’s worth it.
If you are interested, you can find more reviews here:
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It was a badge of honour at some workplaces to extract the largest chunk of gunk from your mouse ball. The dubious logic being your mouse clocked more miles than the others.
I just used my fingernails :)