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Alteon

3DConnexion is going to have to pry my SpaceExplorer from my cold, dead fingers. (lemmy.world)

submitted 8 months ago by BoxOfFeet to c/mechanical_engineering

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I can't stand the SpaceMouse Pro. They ruined it! Why would they swap the nice tactile buttons for stupid gummy membrane buttons? And why coat the whole thing in nasty soft touch coating that is going to turn to goo? We peaked with the previous generation of space balls.

Since I've been working from home though, it has gotten quite annoying to unplug my SpaceExplorer and take it back and forth to the office. It would be so nice to have one of those fancy new wireless ones. But that's not happening, since they ruined it.

So, I added USB-C to mine, instead. Now, I'll just have a cable at the office, and a cable at home and just take the unit itself back and forth. I can even leave a USB-C to USB-C cord in my case, in case I need to use it with my laptop away from my docks! If anyone is interested, I can share the STL for the little breakout board mounting piece I made.

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[–] Windswept 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What was the breakout board needed for? How does it interface with the SpaceMouse?

[–] BoxOfFeet 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

It's just a USB-C breakout board, I had one laying around. I snipped the connector to the main board off the original USB cable and just soldered it to the breakout board.

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/15100?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA6KWvBhAREiwAFPZM7obTO2bQh5HcNHZBj8gt0KLSopopn03xI8KztYiHM9FUrwu4jzHvmhoCY5kQAvD_BwE

[–] Windswept 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Ah, so there's no ic or anything on the board, it just helps connect all the pins from the USB connector.

[–] BoxOfFeet 1 points 8 months ago

Yup! Exactly.

[–] Alteon 1 points 8 months ago

This is fantastic. I love the old version of that space mouse as well. The wrist support was awesome. I can't stand that shitty lead weighted puck the most places provide.

I think I'm going to invest in a personal one for myself.