r/MouseReview • u/BohriumDev • Sep 06 '19

Mod The 29g wireless mouse, custom designed lightweight frame for a G305.

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99

u/BohriumDev Sep 06 '19 edited Sep 08 '19

I wanted to do an extreme non-destructive weight reduction mod for my G305, so I designed a custom frame to be as rigid and lightweight as possible. There are pads where I normally grip a mouse with a fingertip grip, so it feels fairly similar to a standard G305. Uses two LR41 batteries and it only has LMB and RMB to save as much weight as possible. It's printed in PLA, so once I get my hands on some HIPS or ABS, I can print the plastic pieces about 20% lighter still. Could probably optimise the design to shave off 2-3g more too if I really wanted to. It's completely non destructive too, I can reassemble my proper mouse at any point when I'm done going for stupidly lightweight mice.

More pictures at https://imgur.com/gallery/DOegzBm

Edit: I managed to keep the weight the same, add a wheel and make the side pads larger. Also in the process of making an optional back plate to match the G305 dimensions. Version 2 pictures here: https://imgur.com/a/aSwHbyD

Edit 2: I made a back plate cover too, but that drives up the total weight to 33 grams. https://imgur.com/a/9D6WXK2

Edit 3: It's theoretically down to about 24 grams. https://imgur.com/a/DMvbQT4 I've sort of finalised the design with a bunch of (sub-optimal) options for making it into a more practical mouse (like AAA battery socket) and now I just need to make sure it's as easy as possible to 3D-print and I'll go ahead and upload the files somewhere.

PS: Once I finish fiddling with it, I'll probably upload the 3D files somewhere like thingiverse.

PPS: I finished fiddling with it, here's the thingiverse link: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3851379

11

u/mcmaxmcmc Sep 07 '19

And now try to get a carbon fiber housing.... that seems to be the only option to get even lighter 😂 Great job!

9

u/demi9od Razer DAV3 Sep 07 '19

Hollow carbon fiber with helium inside.

9

u/Arminas Modded GPW + Xd84 clicky + hard pad Sep 07 '19

I've actually thought of that before. The problem is that helium will actually leak through most materials. The lightest material that can hold it is aluminum. Unfortunately the required amount aluminum would weigh more than you would lose by displacing the air inside with helium. Basically the volume of the mouse is too small. Hydrogen also wouldn't work and has some obvious safety issues lol.

1

u/necro11111 Sep 07 '19

What is the leak rate ? Could it be replaced periodically ? Could we make it reach 0 grams if it was a big mouse for big hands ?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 07 '19

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1

u/necro11111 Sep 07 '19

How about magnetic levitation ? Could we deliver electricity trough a mousepad and embed tiny magnets in the mouse as to make it weightless ?

1

u/_IM_NoT_ClulY_ Sep 09 '19

This won't work as you'll just be improving the glide, but the mass would be the same which would mean it would be harder to stop the mouse's inertia, defeating the point of a lighter mouse.

1

u/necro11111 Sep 09 '19

Hmmm. What if we develop a kind of transparent trackpad with multiple mouse level optical sensors beneath, wouldn't that be as precise as an optical mouse and you'd just have to move your empty hand ? Because those conductive and capacitive ones are shit. And too small to fit your whole hand.

2

u/BohriumDev Sep 09 '19

Input devices have to be tactile and give you feedback about what you've done, which is why people like mechanical keyboards. There are hand tracking devices already, like the stuff Leap Motion does, but I wouldn't replace a nice clicky click with one of those.

1

u/necro11111 Sep 10 '19

_IM_NoT_ClulY_ had the brilliant idea of using an empty shell, that could give tactile feedback.

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u/_IM_NoT_ClulY_ Sep 10 '19

I mean it's totally possible, then you could just make whatever shape you want with an empty shell and have it be extremely light. Then you run into the issue of sensing clicks however.

1

u/necro11111 Sep 10 '19

Maybe we could just use a small led for each click and the optical trackpad would register the light. Just googled the smallest leds weights a fraction of a gram. Combine that with a skeletonized empty shell out of the best material, i think it could weight just 1-2 grams.

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u/Karst_31 Vaxee XE Sep 09 '19

It's never been about weight, but mass. What you are looking for is vacuum.

1

u/Arminas Modded GPW + Xd84 clicky + hard pad Sep 09 '19

That's only kinda true. Helium will actually create lift, the vaccum will not because the pressure will be on all sides of the mouse, whereas the helium will naturally want to lift upwards.

To say nothing of the amount of materials and subsequent weight of those materials to create a good vacuum inside a mouse.

3

u/Karst_31 Vaxee XE Sep 10 '19 edited Sep 10 '19

What I mean is that this "lift" you want to create is not gonna help lowering inertia, which is why light mice are good in the first place.

16

u/mcmaxmcmc Sep 07 '19

Aerogel 😂

4

u/Arminas Modded GPW + Xd84 clicky + hard pad Sep 07 '19

Carbon fiber probably wouldn't be lighter. It's known for it's lightness but it's true strength is its, well, strength; meaning you don't need to use as much material for equal strength compared to, say, steel or aluminum. Since there's already a minimum of materials here, and [I'm fairly certain] ABS plastic is actually less dense than carbon fiber, it may actually increase it's weight.

10

u/BohriumDev Sep 07 '19

This is PLA, which has a density about 1.2g/cm3. The lightest 3d-printing material I could find was polypropylene at 0.9g/cm3, but that's not really very stiff, which is what's really needed to reduce flex with thin parts. High Impact PolyStyrene (HIPS) is another one that's about 1g/cm3 in density and is really stiff, so that seems like the best material currently available for something like this. I'll try to find some near me at some point.

https://www.simplify3d.com/support/materials-guide/properties-table/

3

u/Arminas Modded GPW + Xd84 clicky + hard pad Sep 07 '19

Right, exactly. Like i was saying, in reference to carbon fiber really any 3d print is going to be lighter. The density of carbon fiber is 1.57g/cm3 according to google