[ImagineParadise]

Cleaning the trackball-
Clear packaging tape can be used to clean out little pieces of debris, dirt, micro fibers, hair, etc from the trackball. What I do is roll it over the trackball in an increasing diameter circle (kind of like one of those hypnotic black and white swirl things) Believe me, I am a clean freak period. I used the tape and it seemed to pull up oil, little tiny tiny specs of dirt and micro fibers.

Some people say they donxxx8217;t need to clean it. Thatxxx8217;s fine for you. I like to keep things as if they were brand new. You can say that your trackball doesnxxx8217;t need cleaning. You can say that but if you try to clean the trackball with the tape, you'll be surprised to find what it picks up.

What I find good about using clear packaging tape is that the glue on the tape doesnxxx8217;t go anywhere. I'm talking about the tape that if you put your finger on the stick side, it will pull up the oil on your finger and leave a fingerprint on the tape. In other words, itxxx8217;s a good way of picking up tiny things.
Just try it!

Cleaning the device in general-
I took some pictures of my pearl recently to try and make a nice picture out of it. I had ultra fine mode on my 6 mega pixel digital camera and took a close up shot. To my surprise when I saw the full size photo on my computer in-between the keys...basicly every crevice, there was tiny micro fibers and dust!

I suggest using a modified q-tip to fit better in-between spaces. I'm sure I'll get lazy and switch over to compressed air one of these days. Any thoughts about the compressed air?

Smudges- of course a terry cloth or some sort of ultra soft cloth that is made for cleaning glasses or something like that.

Hope this helps.

[MythmbHurts]

i just took my pearl apart with the instuctions found on this forum you would be amazed at the stuff i found in the cracks of the side silver pieces! also i had some small dust under the front plastic on the LCD screen that could only be seen when outside and tilted right into the sun light but i knew they where there. I take great care of my baby so I'm thinking its a poor design as far as letting dust get in there. I also take a small paint brush never used of course and clean out the keys a few times a day then pull my battery and use an alcohol pad with just a little alcohol left on it to cleen the trackball i found thids keeps it nice and white..

[ImagineParadise]

Originally Posted by MythmbHurts

i just took my pearl apart with the instuctions found on this forum you would be amazed at the stuff i found in the cracks of the side silver pieces! also i had some small dust under the front plastic on the LCD screen that could only be seen when outside and tilted right into the sun light but i knew they where there. I take great care of my baby so I'm thinking its a poor design as far as letting dust get in there. I also take a small paint brush never used of course and clean out the keys a few times a day then pull my battery and use an alcohol pad with just a little alcohol left on it to cleen the trackball i found thids keeps it nice and white..

the paint brush idea is a great one! the alchohol, to me, would seem a bit iffy. I would be scared that the alcohol would take off more than it was suppose to ya know?

For example, I used to work at Best Buy and I had this idea to bring in some rubbing alchohol to sanitize the electronics so that we could stop the spread of germs. One of the guys there said that the alchohol takes off the shine of the electronics and eventually will wear the paint out.... I don't know if I believe it or not but sure scared me away from doing it to any electronics.

[gsxr150]

That's nasty...it's like knocking out your computer keyboard. eWW!!

[MythmbHurts]

well its only used on the trackball via cuetip.. Its what I do dos not mean you have to try it lol.... It has not done anything to any paint.. I owned auto detail shops for years and we used it to get off tar and other things from paint even brand new paint with the paints that are used these days all have some sort of clear coat over it and thats what protects the color under the clear. It will dull the shine for a second but once you wipe that film away its back to its best just totely grease free

[ImagineParadise]

coughbumpcough

[wrecker06]

use air can's and the premoistened towelettes from sunglass hut. get's all of the gunk, grease, etc. off and dries instantly. No film left over.

Of course the best way is to wash your dirty hands

[phungy]

Thanks for the write-up!

[KevinW]

I just use compressed air, works great.