As far as short comings, we feel it is mostly due to the color choice, and the texture. The color was Robins Egg blue and only his best mice will track on it. I think it is just a function of the wavelength of light that gets emitted and being absorbed instead of reflected. Or it could just be to much texture which is scattering the light to much to reliable sense. So I will be talking with the paint shop on how to get a much smoother surface finish. The rough texture also has the effect of wearing out mouse feet very quick. I believe mstarr has switched to felt feet.
i think the reason that black cloth has always been so popular, is because it
doesn't specularly reflect light (which can 'confuse' the sensor) and because it has more than enough texture for the sensor to work with.
my understanding is that you actually do not want a reflective surface, for LED sensors to work properly.
so have you considered that it might actually be
too reflective..?
because this is exactly the issue that my LED mice have with my aluminum pad. (at least, i assume it is.)
and when you say 'too much texture', could it be the other way around? because in the pictures i've seen, it looked like an incredibly smooth finish. while i believe LED sensors actually make use of texture to determine where it is and where it was.
the LED light creates shadows, which gives the sensor patterns that can be compared. with too little texture, the sensor won't have enough pattern to work with and it will just 'make mistakes'.
i suppose this is also the reason why reflective surfaces work poorly for these sensors. light that gets reflected into the sensor will just interfere with these patterns.
so yeah, a well-textured and non-reflective surface should actually be beneficial to these mice. : )
i'm not trying to annoy you, btw.
i am actually interested in such a pad, but my main concern is sensor performance.
i play games frequently, and a pad is useless to me if my mice don't track well on it.
the aluminum pad that i have is great in terms of glide and longevity, but the issue is that LED sensors track poorly on it.
The cerakote was my idea. They use it on tight tolerance parts in guns that require low friction, high abrasion resistance, and high corrosion resistance. It can be applied with a film thickness of ~.001". I just cut and rounded the edges with a 4" angle grinder and then some hand work to smooth out scratches from the grinder. Nothing new as I do that sort of thing at work all the time but with steel. I could put shape in it, but I am not the best at drawing, so simple circles and straight lines is best.
i don't suppose you have some close ups that show your work on that pad?
would be nice to know what i can expect if i ever order one
btw, how durable is this coating? is there a risk of it coming off? i don't really know how well it 'binds with' or 'glues to' a surface like aluminum.
i suppose scratching it is virtually impossible?
edit: maybe his 'best mice' are laser mice? laser mice work differently and are perfectly capable of functioning well on any kind of surface.
i would love to help out and test by ordering a smaller one, but especially with the international shipping it would still end up high in price
