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Replaceing mouse buttons

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jcoffin1981:
Has anyone done this? I'm not an expert at soldering, but I've gotten really fast at soldering and de-soldering surface mount components, including LED's.  With that said, I had a bi$%h of a time replacing a mouse button.  The PCB holes are small and the pins are really wide.  I tried about 15-20 times and could not clear all the solder.  The wet solder almost has surface tension and it sticks to the pin and the pad, but they are so close that it clings to both of them.  Ultimately I broke the switch off, heated each pin and pulled them out individually. 

The mouse is a no longer made Roccat Kone XTD.  I want to replace the other buttons, but don't even want to mess with it anymore as the mouse is essentially irreplaceable.  I'm sure there is a technique that I am just missing. 

Leslieann:
Many of us have done it a few times... I destroy the switches about once a year.
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=81743.0
Certain mice are easier than others. a G700 for example is a ******* nightmare while the most difficult part of a G900 or 903 is removing the teflon pads or finding all the necessary screws.

You have the right idea, if all else fails destroy the exitisng switch if it means saving the pcb, the switch is dead anyhow so no loss there. Also do not be afraid to add leaded solder to the lead free garbage, you may even need to do it several times to thin out the lead free stuff.  As for irreplaceable, if you are that dead set on that mouse, start collecting parts spares on Ebay, working or not. That was what I and many others did on the older Logitech Revolution mouse and I think a few did it with the old  MX 1000. 

tp4tissue:
You need a soldering pump (solder sucker).

If you heat the traces for too long on mice pcbs they'll delaminate as it's very thin and small.

MajorKoos:
Here are the resources I used (admittedly not for the same mouse):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChnJZa3bQR7VDv61LD6pPsg/videos
https://ents.win/
https://mouseclub.co/
https://lethalgaminggear.com/

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