Modding Kensington Expert Mouse buttons for a lighter click

[berserkfan]

I just got a very nice Kensington Expert Mouse trackball from Slip. (TY, Slip  )

I like it, but the buttons are a tad too heavy still, especially when compared with the Orbit Trackball.

So I'm thinking of doing some kind of mod. Does anyone have any idea how to lighten the switches? I wish it was something as easy as, say, desoldering the switch and putting in a lighter spring. But since I like this mouse I am loathe to take it apart and experiment right away.

[hanya]

It seems Expert Mouse uses Omron D2F-01(1.47N). You could change them to lighter D2F-01F(0.74N) switches or others.

[kurplop]

The Omron switch may only contribute partially to the stiffness. The shell that you push to engage the switch is a one piece affair that doesn't swing like a hinge but bends to activate the switch. To reduce its stiffness you could shave off some of the thickness on the legs.
If you ruin it I have a half a dozen spares I could send you.

[berserkfan]

The Omron switch may only contribute partially to the stiffness. The shell that you push to engage the switch is a one piece affair that doesn't swing like a hinge but bends to activate the switch. To reduce its stiffness you could shave off some of the thickness on the legs.
If you ruin it I have a half a dozen spares I could send you.
(Attachment Link)

Thank you all for your responses!

Now I have a new bottleneck.

I don't see any easy way to take apart the Expert mouse...

[Lanx]

do my cherry mx mouse mod!

[kurplop]

I don't see any easy way to take apart the Expert mouse...

The four foot pads on the bottom of the case hide four screws. The rest is pretty straight forward. Let me know if you need pictures. Also, it never hurts to take pictures as you disassemble just in case you can't figure out where something goes.

[Larken]

I don't see any easy way to take apart the Expert mouse...

fast forward to about the three minute mark for a video teardown. you could replace the switches with some switches from an old mouse you prefer (it is, just desoldering and soldering in a new one). kurplop's probably right in the structure of the four buttons playing a part in the stiffness too, but the stock switches in the Kensington is noticeably heavier than those in my old logitechs or razer mice.

[berserkfan]

this is absolutely great, guys!

I am learning so much from you people.

And hey, I do have some (more than one!) Cherry G80-8113s. Are the switches under the touchpad omron switches? (They look the same.)

Looking inside my G80-8113 PCB, I saw they said Dg2-t85 under the trackpad.
According to http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=39819.0 DG2 is a Cherry Mouse switch and it is listed online at 0.74n.

Is it correct to say that if I desolder the four 1.47n Omron switches from my Kensington mouse and swap them with the four Omron switches from my 8113 PCB, I have a very good chance of getting lighter switches?

I’d like to keep Kurplop’s suggestion on hold because it’s not reversible. Whereas switch swapping is reversible, to the extent that I don’t burn a hole in the PCB via my own clumsiness!

(I'll probably try this on my Slimblade instead, since my Slimblade is off warranty and also suffers from equally heavy switches.)

[kurplop]

First confirm that the replacement switches have 3 pins. The Expert Mouse requires an arrangement similar to 3-way switching on a house in order to have the chording function option.