Cryogenics

After seeing the Cryo Mouse Mod on Metku.net and I desided to try this one myself.

So after a long decision to attack a $100 mouse I started to pull it apart! (I'm sure that the warranty has ran out anyways)
Following the guide I realized that apart from the lego person and blue LED I needed a 68ohm resistor (you can see that in a picture) which would ajust the voltage and prevent blowing the LED.
The first challenge was the window in the mouse. Since I don't have a Dremel (YET!) I had to do it the hard way.
I drilled 4 holes where I marked out where the corners would be.

Then I came to the hard part...

Getting my trusty Swiss Army Knife out I carved out the sides joining them to the 4 holes so I now have the rough shape of the window.
That was the end of the first night...

The second day was easier...

I got some fine sandpaper so I could sand the window back and get rid of the rough edges caused by whittling at plastic!
The next was easy. Attach the resistor to the positive on the capastior closest to the wheel and then from the resistor to the LED. One thing I did do was put some heat shrink around the resistor so that it wont touch any other part of the circuit and short out the mouse. (yes I know it's a silly reminder but silly things happen when you want to finish things quickly)
The last thing you have to do is ground the LED. There is a ground wire next to the back red LED on the left hand side of the mouse. I just soldered the LED to that point.
And then you do what I did and run to the PC to test if it lights up.

Congrats! you have a glowing blue light and a hole in your mouse...

Since it all works now here we go with the fun part!

Get your faithful lego person and after taking off his legs place him behind the blue LED.
Then run to the kitchen and get some alimunium foil and put it behind the person so it will block out the red from other LED's. The next thing to do is to place the cover over the mouse to check if the person lines up with the window.
once that is done glue the lego person in and he wont move from that spot.

The last step is the window

Get some perspex (only about 1-1.5mm thick) and hold it over some sort of flame (I used a zippo lighter) so it will have the right curve for the mouse it's self and then glue it in place.
the last thing to do is to make a second window to go inside the hole and not just from the inside of the mouse. Cut another peice of perspex to fit in the hole and then get the sandpaper you used before and rough up the underside of it except for the spot where the face is so it gives the look and feel of cold.

Now you have a Cryogenic Mouse!

Before

After

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Lord Shaper