What's Inside a Space Mouse?

I've been using this 3d connexion space mouse for a long time and the whole time I have been wondering what was inside. Well it finally died so I took it apart!!! I think it is a very cool solution and design, I hope you enjoy!!!
Link to the magnifier
www.mcmaster.c...

[@CrimFerret]

I have a Space Navigator I've been using for around 8 years. The steel base has less chrome on it now, but otherwise it works just as well now as when I got it. I had assumed it used some sort of strain gauges or Hall effect sensors. Those springs are pretty hefty for what they are doing. There's little way for dust and such to actually get to where it would bother the photo sensors. It's a good solid reliable design.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

I know! I thought the same thing but it is definitely a cool and reliable design... 👍

[@CrimFerret]

@@thoughtbombdesign As it turns out, apparently the newer ones do use a magnet on a central shaft and 3 hall effect sensors on the upper board. With no active electronics above that, it would likely be faster and cheaper to produce. I don't know if there'd be any downside other than it would be prone to issues with nearby magnets. It might be more prone to being knocked out of calibration if you dropped it as well.

[@xaytana]

@@CrimFerret Do you understand the kinematic model for the newer variant of the mouse? The part I'm not understanding is how the mouse differentiates between say a rotation in the Y axis compared to a linear translation in X+Z, as they can both occupy the same position in 3D space. I also assume the magnet is segmented into three pieces, that way the fields can align with the three sensors, and this is how Z rotation is picked up. Would you also happen to know what patents belong to this design, the old design's patents have been expired for quite some time and are fairly easy to find, yet the newer design's patents seem to be fairly elusive.

[@fady492001]

People like you are why KZbin is great. Thanks man!

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Thanks! That's so nice! People like you make it worth it!

[@johnvowles9824]

I would like to repeat what fady492001 just said. Brilliant work thanks very much for your sacrifice :) I used this video to help me take apart a spacepilot I bought cheap. Really very very helpful. Thanks. John.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Wow, thank you! 😁😁😁

[@AdityaMehendale]

One correction: There are not six phototransistors, but twelve - each package that you "point" to actually contains a differential pair. One of the devices in the pair looks for an Up/Down movement, whereas the other for a left-right movement. If you look at the components at 6:03, you'll see that the orientation of the lower component is 90-deg whirled.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Oooo, good to know. Thanks for the info!

[@xikes]

Thank you for this video! Before this, I was wondering, how did they achieve 6DOF joystick. What insane network of gimbles were employed in order for this to work. And it turned out to be just few springs and light. So cool. Thank you for this video and the teardown!

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Yeah, no problem. It was a pretty cool solution huh!?!

[@mech3624]

I've wondered about this for some time (but not curious enough to open up my own) and did not expect photo transistors... I gotta say it's quite brilliant. My space mouse is still going 8 years strong and as accurate as day 1. Thanks for the video!

[@thoughtbombdesign]

I know, pretty smart right? No problemo 👍

[@isoslow]

As an electrical engineer I can say with a high level or certainty that your failure is in the USB cable itself and not in the device. They use STM32 microcontroller for the USB connectivity and they have ESD protection on the data lines, and these micros fail very rarely, while the cable is of poor quality you see on cheap mice and it doesn't even have a slightest strain relief. If you have plans to fix your device next time and not destroy it start with a multimeter: check all wires for continuity and then check supply voltages on the microcontrollet(you can find required pins Vdd and Vss if you google datasheet for that part number or simply pinout). That will narrow down the problem with such peripheral devices in 90% of the cases. But thank you for the teardown. Now I know how to make such thing for myself with a fraction of the cost. The only thing I need to investigate now is how to present my USB device to the software.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Thanks for the feedback! The usb cable does seem pretty likely now that I've seen how durable the insides look. Glad you got something out of it!

[@austindale3129]

Love it! I use one at work and wondered for years if it was optical, inductive, resistive, or magnetic. In fact I haven't bought one for personal use because I knew that question would have led me to tear it apart to find out. lol. Really appreciate the video!

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Hahaha, you're welcome! To be honest I was kind of excited when it stopped working so I could take it apart :)

[@jarenhavell]

I died a little inside when you cut the springs. :) That said, un-soldering things just takes practice, and practice takes time. There are plenty of tools (solder wick, vacuum actuated tools, low temperature alloy solder, hot tweezers) and techniques (glob on extra solder to hold heat, blow through holes, smack it on the table, etc). Grab some old scrap boards of varying types and play around de-soldering. Certainly a scenario of "necessity is the mother of invention". Try not to burn yourself.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Haha, yeah I knew that was going to be kind of triggering for some people.... Sorry about that ;) I haven't heard if hot tweezer... I'll have to look that up. Thanks!

[@jucaesar4961]

Maybe also adding on some extra flux might help. Would definitely make the solder flow better, and, despite not having tested with extra flux, the bad flow of the melted solder on the board I wanted to de-solder had been what kept me from succeeding.

[@InspireFPV]

just dab a bit of flux onto a braid and mash it onto a joint with a hot iron. Easy :)

[@ericlotze7724]

Answered a question i had for a long time! Now off to go hunt for Open Source Designs based off this (or make one!) !

[@lightspeedlife8299]

would you share what you find?

[@YD_.]

Space Mushroom is probably the best one, uses 3 cheap joystick modules and has true 6 DoF

[@lorentzpebenito5685]

You are wonderful. I wanted to take it apart even before using it! Thanks for this video , and particularly for excluding background music.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Haha, no problem!

[@aam50]

I always wondered how these things have been so consistently expensive over the years compared to other “mouse” type devices. Now I get it.

[@nilomyki]

I was upset when you didn't take the time to desoldering @5:45, but then the thought "It's just for science" came to mind; so thank you for the awesome sacrifice and explorative share. BTW I got my Space Navigator back in 2008 and it still performs great (and still in great shape).

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Yeah, I had the same thoughts.. 😉 Glad yours is still working! They are great little work horses. I beat mine up pretty good in my backpack for a while.... 😁

[@LightCarver]

You need flux to de-solder with that braid. Flux transfers heat as well as cleaning joints. Solder flows to clean hot metal, flux makes the path easy. There's a good chance the actual fault is a broken wire in the USB cord.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Thanks! I have had a chance to use flux on another project and it definitely helps! Good point on the USB cord...

[@yakine13]

OMG thank you so much for this! I can't believe that they used light and hole to measure 3d tracking! So much smart ! I will definitely think about this when finding solutions...

[@thoughtbombdesign]

I know, so cool right!

[@PLr1c3r]

To unsolder those springs you need to crank the heat up because the spring metal acts like a heatsink and requires more heat to reach a melting point.

[@TheMetalButcher]

Also flux and a dab of solder to make good contact.

[@Pest789]

What you needed to get the solder on the springs to melt was a blob of fresh solder on the tip of the iron and more fresh solder fed into the connection as it heated. Contact with molten solder conducts heat into the joint far better than tangential contact with the bare iron. Also, adding fresh solder adds fresh flux and flux is what enables solder to flow.

[@nickwitvrouwen1865]

Very nice video. Have always assumed these 6DOF mouses must be using some kind of magnetic sensor like as5013. Thanks for proving me wrong!

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Glad you liked it. I was surprised too!

[@falkgerbig7787]

Thank you for the very interesting look inside. For me a space mouse is indispensable. The strange material for the rubber coating has changed since around 2007 and is reliable now.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

It is definitely an underrated tool. Oh good! I love that coating and I was bummed when it started coming off...

[@TheArtofWalls]

@@thoughtbombdesign I had to completely remove it form mine. It was begining to become rather gross and sticky so I rubbed it all out with universal solvent. (alcohol was of no help and acetone probably would have melted the plastic too)

[@davisdiercks]

That's wild! Never would've guessed it worked like that!

[@thoughtbombdesign]

I know right?!?!

[@tdtrecordsmusic]

for desoldering > I have an ancient radioshack desoldering bulb. It looks like a soldering iron with a bulb attached. that thing works amazing. My dad must have got it back when but never used it, lol. a quick google search shows there is a weller attachment which looks like the same thing. - Solder wicks kinda suck imho. Thnx for taking apart the spacemouse !! i've always wondered how they pulled that off !!

[@voxtelnismo]

We thank you for your sacrifice.

[@Rob_65]

These things are great and I own different models (SpacePilot and SpaceMouse). The SpacePilot is too big, takes up too much space on my desk. The wireless version is substantially heavier than the wired version and the latter one sometimes is lifted from the desk when operating it so I use the wireless version at my main workstation and the other ones on different computers in the workshop. They all still work so I did not dare to take them apart - thanks for doing this for me ;-) About desoldering: add some fresh (lead) solder to the soldering joint. Lead-free solder has a higher melting temperature which makes it more difficult to desolder. Also, use a large (flat) tip to get as much contact as possible. The large springs and the large copper area on the PCB mean that you need to add a lot of heat before being able to desolder a joint. Most likely you will not get the springs free using the desoldering wick but since this is a 3-point mounting, I would just melt the solder and get the spring out with tweezers.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the de soldering advice!

[@GiGaSzS]

Funny, the mechanical part and sensors could be probably made for under 10$. Then there is also putting everything into a nice housing and some SW tweaking and valaa. They must have quite high price margins by selling these.

[@MinecraftBySlovet]

Anyone who was looking for information about tracking sensors is used there Hamamatsu S7105-05

[@artur3306]

Now I just need an alternative that's not 8€ a piece

[@MinecraftBySlovet]

@@artur3306 are you serious?) 8 euros is a small cost for such a chip; you won’t find alternatives and there’s no point in it)

[@adampohl1875]

Very cool to see, thank you to your spacemouse for its sacrifice

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Haha, no problem!

[@dubravkohubak5387]

Nice teardown. I always thought there were hal sensors inside.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

So did I!

[@jeffhowe2892]

Thanks for a great vid. I love my old SpaceMouse. The 3DConnection software tells me that it's no longer supported but it still works. Best of all it now works with Blender ad Substance.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Thanks. Glad you liked it! 😁

[@asbaDoce]

Awesome! I just bought one after watching this.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

It takes a bit to get used to but you'll like it ;)

[@mystic22222]

Odds are, the break was in a wire at the back of the USB plug. Always check that first. You could ohm it out between the attachment point inside and the plug contact. If not practical, just lop off the plug several inches back and connect another plug from another broken USB device or a short USB cable.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Good suggestion. I'll try that next time! Thx

[@chrisliddiard725]

Good spot. If in doubt, test the cable for continuity. The company may have had this crop up a lot, hence of course their wireless versions.

[@SpaceMarshalGyorni]

Production PCBs are usually coated, which is why you don't get a proper thermal connection right away. Pre-wetting your iron with some solder will help with the heat transfer, higher temperature might be needed because the springs themselves act as a heat sink, and because you don't know what the coating is, you should have some very good ventilation or be wearing a respirator.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

All very good suggestions. Thanks!

[@txm100]

Oh my god it's so simple. Impressive. Thanks for the video!

[@thoughtbombdesign]

No problem. Pretty cool huh?!?!

[@kurtnelle]

I have a newfound appreciation for my 3d mouse. I thought they were just doing some simple optical flow calculations.

[@EdwinClement]

Thanks man, I was wondering whether a DIY Spacemouse is possible. I can't seem to find a PSD for sales tho. Wonder if IMU will work instead(with a zero position detector to prevent drift

[@jameslaine2472]

DIY space mouse: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bXWunoCOh9aSjsU

[@tasmanwinchcombe9774]

I made a 3dof joystick with a IMU (magnetometer, accelerometer, gyroscope) and an arduino. It never made it off the breadbiard though. I gave up on 6 dof because of the drift.

[@EdwinClement]

@@tasmanwinchcombe9774 yeah, the drift would be an issue. Thanks for sharing the attempt

[@SianaGearz]

Desoldering is hard and there is no recipe, you just try things until it either works or you have caused too much damage. But flux always helps, always give your braid a bit of flux beforehand. And fresh leaded solder. Sometimes low melt alloy like Rose's Metal. You need lots and lots of desoldering tools and techniques. And hot and fast. Or not, whatever seems to work in any given case. Most people hate desoldering pumps but that's likely because they haven't found or made one that works for them, sometimes they work better to start than the braid but you have to finish with braid at the end regardless, it depends. I want to get a desoldering iron someday, maybe just a ZD211 for starters.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Thanks for the tips. Desoldering seems to be more of an art than science!

[@SianaGearz]

@@thoughtbombdesign Yeah every component, every footprint, every piece of material is engineered to easily and reliably get soldered and stay soldered, countless engineer hours, decades of fine-tuning. Desoldering? The only companies that care about that are tool making ones, but they're at the wrong end of the problem.

[@AndersEinarHilden]

Thank you so much for this complete teardown. I just got a used one, and wondered how difficult if would be to replace the flimsy USB cable. Looks like it is quite doable w/o damage. 😄

[@thoughtbombdesign]

No problemo!

[@jimmym2719]

Thanks bro for sharing, mine is still working well and I love it as a Cad assistance. At least I know it’s using an optical sensor.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

No problem! Yeah, I went and got a new one. They are pretty great

[@chrisliddiard725]

Taking your space mouse apart, so we don't have to. Nice one. An incredibly efficient way to measure 6 degrees of motion. I thought the sensor were being used in part as proximity sensor, emitting and refecting back from that central post, with the other motions based those slits to get directon of twisting. eg dual purpose sensors.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

I know, super cool right? It would be cool to see all the different ways they tried before landing on this one....

[@maxhouseman3129]

A diy demonstration of that mechanism would be nice. With signal diagrams etc.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

I agree, but that's way over my head.... 😕

[@DarkMoonDroid]

Fascinating... Thank you!

[@TheArtofWalls]

I opened mine just for curiosity but failed to discover how to remove the crown from the electronics so I stopped there (mine still works). I'm sorry you had to cut it just to discover it comes out just by pushing the electronics through the top. But it was broken anyway, so thanks for sharing. I also have a SpaceExplorer (the one with a handrest and several more buttons) and although the six axis crown looks identical on the outside, it is somewhat different inside. the crown can be removed by removing the top disc and then there are three screws holding a plastic piece and a rubber cilinder covering everything. When you remove this you see the six LEDs but they are soldered under the top board and bent 45 degrees left and right and the sensor is on the bottom board facing up so they form an "Y" shape with the leds above hold in place by a plastic shape that guides the light to the slits on the sensor below. And there are of course three groups of this, disposed in 120 degrees one from another. And then there are also the same 3 springs. It is a more complicated disposition but it does the same. I guess they optimized the design for the SpaceNavigator since it appeared slightly later and there was already a serial port version of the SpaceExplorer. The red connector is the same but the pinout is not compatible. I know because I tried to use the SpaceNavigator head on the SpaceExplorer and it moves, but does the wrong movements.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

That's cool. I would love to see all the different iterations, sinse I'm sure there are 1000 ways to do it....

[@RamjetX]

Wildly informative... Thankyou for sacrificing your space mouse... I'd have bought it off you though...

[@satriamitrautama9752]

thank you for your sacrifice. Now i wonder if there is a space mouse project using led and phototransistor. Most of the project I found still using 4 joystick module to track 6dof

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Yeah I don't think so, but it will happen eventually!

[@glideking]

Thanks now I don't have to take mine apart!

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Glad to keep another one in circulation! 😁

[@ruftime]

Thank you! Yes, that’s some IP, still the only game in town(USA )in Nov 2021.

[@NavinF]

Do the phototransistors have a part numbers on the package? I wonder if they're actually linear cameras that send a 1xN pixel image to the PC

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Ahhhh, unfortunately i don't have the parts anymore... That would be cool though!

[@pinokio514]

For (un)soldering you need flux! If the flux is active you need washing it from flux (you can to do it with isopropyl) p.s. about "The spring take a heat from soldering" wrote in comments

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Thanks. Yeah since this video I have gotten flux and it makes a huge difference... 😁

[@pinokio514]

@@thoughtbombdesign The flux is power! 🤣😁

[@PaulSebastianM]

Seeing those slits for a moment I thought it might be measuring wave interference patterns. :D

[@NickC84]

Fairly certain it's just measuring light intensity differences, but a fun aspect of this is... In some ways it's the same thing. I was reading up on laser vibration sensors the other day and it turns out they use an interferometer setup and I was kind of puzzled how they figured out the interference fringes with electronics. Turns out the fringes cause differences in light intensity depending on the changes in length of the reflected path and I was kinda blown away. That's clever.

[@PaulSebastianM]

@@NickC84 that's what interference does, it's constructive or destructive. Yeah.

[@NickC84]

@@PaulSebastianM Maybe I'm coming at this from a Machinist standpoint but usually you're looking at the fringes to see what the pattern is to determine the differences. You can deduce a lot by the way the interference pattern looks. I personally never thought about the varying light intensity because of it though.

[@markmustermann8387]

Hey nice video, i was trying to figure out how i can build something similar myself. Do you know the Name of the Phototransistors? Or can you give some details on them?

[@markmustermann8387]

ok nevermind i finally found it. Something like a One-dimensional PSD S7105-04 from Hamamatsu.

[@marcvandoornik]

@@markmustermann8387 From the look of the round holes opposite the LEDs I think each LED illuminates two phototransistors through a slit. Moving the slit changes the illumination ratio of the sensors. Six such pairs are then sufficient for determining each DOF.

[@ziomalZparafii]

@@markmustermann8387 Thanks! This is the most useful comment under this video. I was just surprised that with so much sacrifice there was so little technical details.

[@laogx4026]

Thank you for doing this! Great Job!!!

[@thoughtbombdesign]

No problem. It was fun!

[@maozedong5265]

Have you used an oscilloscope to map the PCB by any chance? And remembered to record the values?

[@thoughtbombdesign]

No, sorry. I wish I kept the remains bc people have questions like that but I didn't even think of it.....

[@larryjeffryes6168]

I know nothing about electronics but will learn what's necessary for a project. What voltages and amps are we seeing here?

[@thoughtbombdesign]

It's a usb device so probably 5v and very low amps. Have fun!

[@platinumtach]

Great teardown vid! Do you know if it is possible to swap the blue LEDs (not the photo LEDs used for control/motion), and where they are located on the board? I know it is aesthetic, but I am thinking about swapping them to red rather than having it off or traditional blue. Any insight is helpful! Thanks! :)

[@thoughtbombdesign]

I am sure you could but they might be the small surface mount type. I really wish I had kept the parts, I didn't know I would get questions! 😉

[@TheArtofWalls]

you can see them clearly at 1:58. There are 6 of them disposed in a ring formation around the electronics on the motherboard. Six tiny yellowish bastards surface mounted. Very difficult to replace. I'm not sure but I think they are white and what is blue is the plastic translucent ring, so you would have to model and 3D print in red translucent a new ring (or make a mold of it in silicon and fill with resin). In any case, you can unscrew the metal base just like t 1:30 and then connect the device to the computer and you will see if the LEDs are white or blue (if they are blue, I would forget the idea of replacing them. If they are white, you can make a new ring).

[@Tedlasman]

Thanks for this.

[@tygo9500]

I thought it would measure the distance of the top stack on 3 points. Interesting approach to measure 6 degrees of freedom (6 dof)

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Yeah I was surprised too. Just makes you realize how many different solutions there are to any problem...

[@KiaranScath]

So It looks like 3DConnexion changed their design at some point. There is another teardown video of this same product that shows a different sensing mechanism that's much simpler: /watch?v=VSqkbxFZnuI Instead of the "optoelectronic" arrangement see in this version, it looks to only have 3 sensors of some sort. I'm not sure what kind of sensors they use, so if anyone knows, please tell me.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Interesting.....

[@xaytana]

The patent wasn't making a whole lot of sense to me, there were some missing parts from the drawings. But the patent history is interesting. Granted in 2007, expired on 2012-01-10 due to failure to pay maintenance fees with an effective expiration date of 2011-11-20 due to lapse of failure to pay, patent discontinuation on 2011-12-19, and 2023-08-09 is adjusted expiration. Patent is US7296463B2, the manufacturer as far as I know only holds one other patent that seems to be irrelevant to this, but has a similar history of events around the same dates, patent US7302350B2 expired effective on 2011-11-27 with an adjusted expiration for 2023-09-01. I don't understand patent law, so adjusted expiration coming after actual expiration somewhat confuses me, but logically the patents do seem to be expired for some time, and discontinued beyond expiration. I'm honestly surprised nobody has replicated this, it seems so simple once it's torn down, I know the market for these isn't huge, but the only alternatives seem a bit lackluster in comparison, like that gyro-mouse with the 'deep click' buttons whatever its name was. Sadly, I don't believe the patent goes over the kinematic model of the sensors. Although, looking at another video by jamieleben, there seems to be significant design disparities within the same model of mouse. Theirs seems to be based on what I assume is some kind of hall sensor, though they didn't get the upper portion of the housing out of the knob, only snipped off the lower springs. Flat ICs connected to nothing else, and considering they're on a plane parallel to the PCB, there's no way they're using light sensors as there'd be no way to read a light source within the six degrees of movement. Though I can't make sense of it, realistically wouldn't you need two axes of sensing to actually interpret the full range of movement? Do planar hall effect sensors even exist? To further the issue here, I cannot find patents relating to this, though they might belong to Logitech, but it's odd that the patents I could find belonged to 3DConnexion themselves when they've always been a sub-brand of Logitech (they were formed by combining LogiCAD3D and Labtec's 3D peripheral business), and the 'inventor' of the magnetic Space Mouse is not the same as the photo-sensor variant, Logi has almost four thousand patents and this isn't a rabbit hole that I particularly want to dive down. But, at the same time, how much power does this patent actually hold, using an arrangement of hall effect sensors to detect movement is nothing novel, and by extension using an array of sensors to detect a broader range of movement shouldn't allow enough footing for patent law to become problematic as long as you don't entirely replicate the entirety of the device itself. It'd be nice if I could actually find the patents, but I have no idea which brand they belong to considering Logi has become an absolute conglomerate of a company within the past decade, and between all the sub-brands I wouldn't be surprised if that 4k patent number easily doubles if Logi isn't already consolidating all current patents to be under the one parent company. It's also odd how easily they just abandoned old patents, I found more than just 3DConnexion patents that were similar and abandoned, yet the newer ones seemingly can't be found without diving down the rabbit hole. I've also wanted to consider the idea of using a gyroscope and accelerometer, just as all motion controllers do, except in a grounded mouse that has a physically retained zero point, thus flawless calibration. This should be able to dodge all patent law, all things considering. Also seems like the simplest DIY solution as well. I've been interested in compliant mechanisms lately, there are a few designs for a 6dof manipulator, and at this scale they can all realistically be one-piece parts, but I have no idea how you'd be able to read physical movement with a sensor, especially with how intricate the design is; though this could be viable when combined with the previous, rather than a complex multi-piece build, just throw a gyro-accelerometer into the middle of the compliant mechanism. I'm also curious about the feasibility of borrowing ideas from VR tracking, but minimizing it to fit into a device like this.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Wow, that really interesting! Patents are interesting but just as frustrating to figure out legally. Yeah, there must not be a huge market.....

[@AliKhorshidi]

Wow!!!!! Creative Idea!

[@tablatronix]

I was not expecting that, its essentially just a 3 axis mouse very mickey mouse. Surely they do it differently now in newer units.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Maybe. But it worked well and has very few moving parts, so I'll bet they are pretty happy with it.

[@tablatronix]

@@thoughtbombdesign just found another teardown with a new revision, they replaced all the pcb stack with plastic and a single pcb and the ir leds are powered through the springs and shine downwards now onto it, fascinating

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Interesting! I'll have to look that up. There always another way!

[@radcontrols3d115]

can you find out the name of the LEDs and the photodetector?

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Unfortunately I didn't keep the parts. I didn't know people would have so many good questions! I'll do better next time ;)

[@graememoores9267]

My 3d connexion space mouse (which is very good with Sketchup BTW) has stopped working like yours. Its not recognised as a USB device. No lights. Like you said it seems to have a broken connection. When it started to fail, I thought it was the USB plug end of the cable, but that's just a feeling. Did you ever get to the bottom of what had stopped yours working. Any thoughts welcome. Thanks for the video.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

No, once I got in there I didn't see anything obvious.... Plus once I started getting inside I really wanted to see how it worked!

[@andyz4972]

​@@thoughtbombdesign and @Graeme Moores I have had one of these for at least a decade, and I it would stop working here and there. Usually performing flawlessly for more than a year or 2 at a time. Once or twice reloading the drives seemed to work, but that was an INCREDIBLE pain IMO. So completely by chance, I just tried using (Ironically @John Connor HAHA) a nail file inside the USB port on the cord end, NOT THE COMPUTER or Laptop. I basically grounded each of the 4 gold contacts to the shell, and to each other and plugged it back into the laptop and VOILA it worked immediately. Hope this helps some of you all out there. Keep us posted.

[@yukhnevich]

Bro, please measure the diameter of the cylinder that is spinning by hand. Bottom diameter, top diameter and middle diameter.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

1.85" dia at the top and 2.08" at the bottom, and it's about 1" tall

[@fredericostaib]

Thanks a lot!

[@antikrabe8646]

What do you think about tearing it down without cutting the knob? I mean just pull the board out. Is glue strong enough to break down the springs or boards?

[@_FSync_]

I've tried this, can't get it out, I even tried using the long screws as a base to pull (the screws that binds the transparent blue plastic to the knob, if you unscrew those, remove the blue plastic, and directly screw them in to the 3 holes in the knob but not all the way in, you can use those screws as a base to pull the plastic that's attached to the ceiling of the knob, I've tried this with a lot of force with the fear of almost breaking it, the glue is pretty strong, best way to open it is to solder the springs out of the bottom board.

[@strayblackcatsmeow]

Hindsight is 20/20. That one died so others may live.

[@kaoz3tausend]

Maybe you can try to warm up the top with a Hairdryer so the glue melts a little bit. On Apple devices you have to so this all the time ;-)

[@suniltanwar7625]

Yes this was super interesting ,and you did it personally I feels like you are doing it just for me but yeh thanks for this awesome vedio.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Thanks! I am so glad you liked it! 😁

[@WebOSDevelops]

This is weird. I have never watched or viewed any CNC related content on KZbin or Google. Yet I get recommended a video of the exact same SpaceMouse my dad uses to 3D model for his CNC milling. Interesting…

[@paulwhittaker1008]

Just wondering how the motion detection works when the LEDs are turned off through the software?

[@thoughtbombdesign]

The LEDs that you see on the outside aren't the ones that are being used for motion tracking on the inside. 👍

[@LordOfNihil]

i always figured it was some kind of 6 axis flexure. the machining in creating something like that would explain why these things cost so damn much. disappointed to find what is effectively an optical system and some math. but its still a clever design.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Haha, yeah. $$$ for sure... Gotta pay for that fancy patent somehow! 🤣

[@CrimFerret]

I'm not disappointed at all. Mine is going on 10 years old and still works as well as the day I got it. This design more or less is impervious to dust and even spills. In that same amount of time I've gone through like 3 mice and 2 keyboards. From my standpoint, the price is incredibly reasonable. This isn't a toy. Consider the top end X-Box controller costs more than one of these and that's basically a toy.

[@LordOfNihil]

@@CrimFerret id expect better resolution for 'not a toy'. though i mostly bought mine for kerbal space program. its a great little thruster controller.

[@CrimFerret]

@@LordOfNihil It has plenty of resolution for it's intended purpose. It's not a drawing tool. I hadn't thought to use it for Kerbal. Will have to try that. I've also heard it works well for controlling your ship in Elite Dangerous which I also haven't had time to test out.

[@LordOfNihil]

@@CrimFerret ive tried ed, used it for lateral thrusters. i mostly use it for fine control when docking. the resolution is 8-bit as far as i can tell. i upgraded the adc in my joystick to a 16-bit unit and dont regret the mod. but that required gutting the electronics and substituting my own. i dont think thats a mod i could do to the space mouse.

[@bucklogos]

Mine is working, but for some reason is drifting and I can't figure out why, calibrating it fixes it for a few minutes and then it starts again. I took it apart, washed it all in alcohol, dried it out and it seemed to be fixed, but a couple of days later started doing it again. Wondering if I need to use stronger 100% alcohol instead now as I see there are photovoltaic sensors there, if there's a bit of dirt still on the sensors it could possibly be causing the issue. Would be a shame to throw it out :/

[@thoughtbombdesign]

That sucks! Have you tried tech support? Maybe they have some tips? Whenever my model starts drifting off into space I realize something on my desk is leaning against the spacemouse.... 😜

[@pluma3537]

I had the same problem. I just unplugged it from the pc and plugged it back in to get it to behave.

[@catalinalb1722]

Thanks for the teardown, I do have the wireless version and was wondering how dose it work :) I am searching for an option ot install it without the admin rights... :)

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Interesting, that's way over my head software wise. Good luck!

[@CrimFerret]

Depending on what you're using it for, you may not even need to install the software. The wireless dongle should install like any USB device.

[@altamashparwaiz2097]

I was not expecting led mechanism inside there

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Neither was I!

[@AWildNoodle]

Interesting I would have thought it used hall effect sensors, atleast that's how I would have done it, but im sure the people that designed this must have considered that and went this route for a good reason.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Yeah, that was one of the ways I thought they might do it as well!

[@itsthatYEStoogoodguy]

Interesting I love it !

[@mgtazco]

Great video

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Thanks!

[@testla3383]

A flux capacitor? Space time are entangled, makes sense.

[@othoapproto9603]

thanks, that interesting.

[@funksterdotorg]

Any part numbers on those photodetectors?

[@thoughtbombdesign]

I wish I had looked bc you are not the first to ask but I don't have the parts anymore....😩

[@hahmisc8808]

Can someone tell me about the metallic looking figurine in the back?

[@thoughtbombdesign]

If you are talking about the blob looking thing on the right side of the screen it's a wooden sculpture I did a loooong time ago and painted with silver paint 😁

[@pluma3537]

So did you find out why it died? Or did I just miss it in the video?

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Nope, I never found a smoking gun....

[@CSLFiero]

Was expecting some kind of omni directional rotary encoder

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Me too! Somebody gets creativity points!

[@allenlorenz]

was there any markings on the sensor chip ?

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Probably, but I don't have the parts anymore....

[@larryjeffryes6168]

Are there photo resisters that operate in this range?

[@thoughtbombdesign]

I have no idea....

[@MKO2037]

@@thoughtbombdesign Thanks for the teardown. Always wondered how they worked. Those sensors look like one-dimensional PSD like the S3274-05

[@markoglazersout611]

Now we need a cheaper version. Their prices are a bit mad

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Yeah, no kidding...

[@miecz23]

This device is 129$/€. Is it really that expensive for such credible tool you use during your design every day? Look at the comments, people work with this for many years.

[@markoglazersout611]

@@miecz23 I should try the puck only, I was really looking into the Enterprise $$$ as I have an established workflow. You are correct they have been around for a while )

[@miecz23]

@@markoglazersout611 Even if you look at the top of the range device, go for it. You buy it once and then work with this for ever. Whenever you start you work with your 3D software you keep your hand on this device. You use it, very intensively every day. You will not regret this purchase.

[@markoglazersout611]

@@miecz23 thanks man)

[@unknownblueblue]

Thanks

[@maxheadroom1506]

battery change on the wireless version of this mouse

[@alexandrevaliquette1941]

COMMENT # 100 What would be the main benefits between a gaming mouse and a space mouse for Cad? Ps Thumbs up as usual!

[@thoughtbombdesign]

A gaming mouse and a space mouse do totally different things. A gaming mouse would do what a regular mouse would do but maybe more precisely. A space mouse is purely for rotating 3d cad objects in 3d cad space. That frees up your regular mouse hand to rest or click on something else. It also allows smoother and faster rotations. Make sense? Thanks!

[@alexandrevaliquette1941]

@@thoughtbombdesign So you can use both at the same time, right. Oh, I got it, thanks a lot! I'm a beginner on Autodesk Fusion 360 and Davinci Resolve video editor. I'm always looking for better tools to be more efficient. Do you know if we can use that space mouse for video editing as well?

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Yep, both at the same time for sure. The space mouse will scroll up and down in some other programs but it isn't very useful for anything but cad.

[@thoughtbombdesign]

I don't think it does much in DaVinci either.....

[@CrimFerret]

This is really designed to be used in conjunction with a mouse. The space mouse can be used to rotate the object your working on or move the camera view around it. If I were doing serious cad work, I'd probably invest in one of the versions of the space mouse with all the programmable buttons. I mostly use mine with Blender and for Second Life. It's hard to describe how useful it is. Then when you try it and use it for a short time, you wonder how you ever managed without it.

[@zurichsee706]

Those nails, arrrrrrgggggggggg................. thanks for the video.

[@Broman536]

now it doesent feel so bad spending 200$ on this thing.... 🤣clever design

[@thoughtbombdesign]

I know right!?!?

[@geterdnboy]

link ?

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Good catch, thanks! Here you go 👍 www.mcmaster.com/1493T26/

[@radcontrols3d115]

Good afternoon. and where is the link to your instagram?

[@thoughtbombdesign]

Just search thoughtBombDesign 😁

[@wolfganggosejacob779]

you can't clean your fingernails? gross!

[@bangzhenpang7481]

Thanks