Components hacks have some thing in prevalent with renovations that require getting down a wall: right up until just one basically receives started and opens points up, there is no telling what type of troubles could be lurking. [voussoir] has a project that demonstrates this nicely: modifying a rechargeable mouse to use USB-C alternatively of micro-B turned out to have fairly a few very little glitches in the method. In fact, shifting the precise receptacle was the simplest part!
On one hand, the mouse in dilemma would seem like a perfect prospect for easy modification. The enclosure is not also tricky to open up, there is sufficient house inside of, and USB is made use of only for recharging the battery. So what was the difficulty? The difficulties is something familiar to any individual who has labored on modifying an current piece of components: present parts are boundaries to hacking function, and some are less conveniently modified than some others.
In [voussoir]’s situation, the very first very little glitch was that the compact PCB web hosting the first mini-B receptacle experienced a screw gap in it, applied to retain it secure for the duration of recurring plugging and unplugging. Making certain the new USB-C receptacle applied the similar screw was a little bit of a soreness, but soon after dealing with that there was a different problem: [voussoir] experienced mounted the new USB-C receptacle flush with the plastic of the mouse, but that did not permit a cable to seat entirely. The receptacle desired to protrude a bit, or the charging cable could not plug in considerably enough. Again to the workbench, and so it went for a couple of extra iterations.
The modification was eventually prosperous, but the ordeal demonstrates how obtaining to work about bodily structure constraints can deliver unforeseen troubles. It is lousy plenty of when 1 is just producing a minimal hardware tweak to an existing mouse, allow on your own completely recreating classic Apple mice models for present day pcs.