Anyone dismantled a mouse before?

[artoodeeto]

I would imagine it'd be rather simple. I want to build a computer to display pdfs on my piano music stand (see this thread http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24588 ) and of course I'll need something to turn the pages. There's a lot of USB foot pedals out there that would be ideal...except I have no $$. I have a couple extra mice, and could probably convert them into a device similar to a foot pedal.

The mechanics of it should be quite simple, I'm just wondering about mouse innards. I can't imagine they're too complex but I'd like to know what I'm in for before I potentially destroy a perfectly good mouse :)
Also, would I maybe be better off using a keypad? I'm thinking in terms of windows having issues assigning pageup/pagedown to the secondary mouse's buttons and still using the primary mouse normally if they're both Microsoft wireless mice.

Alternatively, I just noticed these on ebay:
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_trkparms=65%253A12%257C66%253A2%257C39%253 A1%257C72%253A4070&rt=nc&_nkw=usb+foot+pedals&_dmd=1&_sticky=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_sop=15&_sc=1
they're single pedals, but so cheap I could just get 2. However, they may be junk. any thoughts? Thanks!!

[x88x]

Unless you use a multi-button mouse that has buttons that aren't present on the one you're using as a mouse, I would say go with the foot pedals. It's not that the innards of a mouse are that complicated to mess with (with a simple mouse it's a single PCB with an LED, a sensor, and a few microswitches), just that it'll be a whole lot easier to implement.

[d_stilgar]

If those pedals are easy to program, then yeah just go with the pedals. If the pedals suck, then rewiring buttons from a mouse is sooooo easy. The buttons are tactile and soldered to a little PCB inside the mouse, just solder leads to where the mouse buttons are and then connect those to some foot pedal buttons.

My .02 would be to get a couple of those cheap pedals and if they suck and you can't get them to work then rewire them to be the mouse buttons.

[artoodeeto]

ok, cool. I was leaning toward the foot pedals too, especially once I realized I really only need 1, for pagedown. I'm not going to be in the middle of playing something when I need to use pageup, so I don't really need a pedal for that function. And at $8 after shipping, it's not like it's a huge wasted investment if it doesn't work.

[blaze15301]

id say be careful when you take the scroll wheel off i snapped mine becuase it what very small and i didnt know about it.