Sticky Wacom

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Framar

Framar

WOW Framer
Joined
Jul 24, 2001
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Buffalo, New York, USA/Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada
Here's a problem so strange I couldn't even find an answer for it when I Googled it.

I have a small Wacom tablet, which came with both a stylus and a felt-bottomed mouse. The lower part of the mouse is made out of white rubber and the last time I picked it up I noticed it was really furry - not unusual due to my 4 kitties and their love of walking back and forth where my computer lives.

I cleaned off the cat hairs and discovered that the rubber itself is degrading and has become very sticky. Right now I have covered it with masking tape - but - other than spending $80 for a new mouse - anyone ever run into this weird problem and what did you do to solve it?

I also cleaned the rubber very carefully with isopropyl alcohol (found recommendation online) and was contemplating maybe gessoing the rubber or applying a coat of Frank's. The masking tape works but looks awful - maybe I should use J-Lar.....
 
Mar,

I'll bet Wacom has tech support or just plain customer support staff. You might try contacting them to see what they recommend for cleaning the rubber.

Would gluing a piece of felt to cover the rubber be an option? I'd be a little concerned (probably needlessly) that the tape might leave tiny scratches on the surface of the Wacom tablet. Not sure if that would be a problem even if it did.

Let us know what you find out. Good luck.
 
Anyone know where to get a replacement pen for a tablet that is at least 5 yrs old? i accidently placed the pen in a glass of water instead of the glass i keep pens in!!! ooops. the old light bluegrey pens with the dark blue clicker on side and white pen nib..... wireless? i adore it in leau of a mouse i use all the time with my 3 yr old mac desktop
 
I think the WACOMS work with a magnet, so it should be fine after the pen dries out. If it's wireless and doesn't have batteries, this is most likely the case.

For the replacement felt or teflon, I'd contact Wacom support.

Mike
 
My geek has three mice.... one with peel and stick felt for a more "traction" feel, one with peel and stick nylon skin from Rockler.... which he's liking most. and the regular recycled condom pad.

When mine starts to go..... I think I'm going for what ever I have handy... and it may be some 2oz leather. :D
 
Amy, scratches don't seem to be a problem on Wacom tablets. With all the use ours get, they are pretty beat up.

You can order replacements for just about any component of your Wacom on their website. We keep extra nibs on hand for the pens since we wear ours down often.

We have one pad that doesn't seem to work quite right with the mouse. It's sluggish and hard to get the cursor to move where you want it. The pen is ok, it's just the mouse that is having a problem. Maybe the magnets got messed up.
 
...and I'm reminded I've had my 12x9 Aiptek for ...10 years?!... and I've only had to replace the stylus once for $10. It's still available new, too -- down to $70 last I saw, but man, I can't kill the thing. Runs just as nicely on XP as it did on 98SE.

This might be a personal preference, but I tend to use a normal optical mouse in conjunction with the pad rather than the mouse included. Especially on the smaller WACOM pads -- my best friend had a 5x4 and I was pretty much navigating via keyboard whenever I used her computer because the mouse always seemed wonky and hard to control for speed. But that's just me.

I'm considering going to a trackball, though -- starting to feel the effects in the shoulder.
 
It ain't the pad on the bottom of the mouse that is sticky it is the rubber portion that the felt pad is glued to that is sticky - and J-Lar won't stick to it but cheap masking tape does - so it will be ugly but it won't be sticky.

Really stupid of them to make part of the mouse case out of rubber - any other mouse case I have ever seen is made out of plastic.

Of course I never use the danged thing - tried it a couple of times back when I still had Photoshop - couldn't get the hang of it and then it got buried on my desk with all of the other gadgets I keep acquiring.

Gonna try artist tape tomorrow - it is sticky as masking tape but not quite as ugly.
 
In case anyone else develops this problem with sticky rubber - artist tape works great, sticks nicely and is not ugly.
 
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