I have noticed the problem with Optical Mice acting strangely and being hard to control on different surfaces. I use Regular Old Style 1/4 inch thick Mouse Pads and they work great. I have a thin 1/8 inch thick Pad with 3D looking image on it, that came with a Dell PC I bought new (only good thing about the Dell, it's now Dead) and it works fine too. I've never priced Teflon Mouse Pads, but this guy says they evidently cost more than $25 Bucks! That's what he paid for a Teflon Pan that he Re-purpose as a Mouse Pad. Anyway... might be a good Idea if you want a really Tough and Slick Mouse Pad! I wonder if he has ever heard of a Garage Sale or a Second Hand Thrift Store!;)

Don

Aluminium Teflon Coated Mouse Pad For Optical Mice

introAluminium Teflon Coated Mouse Pad For Optical Mice

Hey, this is my first Instructable so I hope I didn't mess it up to bad! Let me know how ! did!


I recently got a new desk and and I had a lot of trouble with my optical mouse and its not functioning with the surface.

I did a lot of research and found that new optical mice work very well on Teflon coated materials. Immediately I bolted up the stairs and grabbed my mothers T-Fal frying pan.  Upon trying it out i realized how responsive and precise the mouse was now reacting (not to mention the Teflon pads of the mouse on the Teflon top is slick as butter) . After looking at some Teflon pads online i thought... "hey, there expensive.... imma build one of those." The next day I stopped at Wal-mart an picked up a Teflon Coated pan.

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Scratches..oops

Alphonsus

This is actually a little wear on the Teflon.. while cutting the edges off it was rubbed by a piece of wood it was resting on.

Alphonsus

I left one side with a lipped edge

Alphonsus

i

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step 1Materials
Materials: Any Teflon Coated pan really. I used a two burner skillet cause I wanted something fairly large. This cost me about $25

step 2Tools
-A cutting device: I used a hand grinder with a cutoff wheel attached, but you could use a jigsaw, or maybe a Dremel. -A Metre stick, yard stick, or ruler. -A pencil -An old knife -A bastard file -Some sandpaper -A sink with soapy water

step 3Marking out what size pad you want
Use the Metre stick and pencil to mark out the size of the mouse pad you want. your probably better off doing this on the bottom of the pan so you can see the pencil better while cutting. Actually.. your probably better of not using a pencil at all, that all I had at the time so grab a Sharpie instead!

step 4Cutting it out
Cut across your lines using your cutting device. this will leave you with very rough and very sharp so be careful while handling.

step 5Scraping, filing and sanding
Use your old knife (and I stress old, cause it'll be pretty dull when your done with it) and scrape all the rough frayed metal from the edges of the board. Next use your bastard and file the edges semi-smooth. make them so there not  sharp any more just rough. Finally take your sand paper and give the edges a good going over. After this they should be smooth as a ba…

step 6The most important step: Give it a nice relaxing bath.
The entire process of cutting, scraping, filing and sanding will leave the mouse pad in an absolute mess of metal dust and debris. In order keep the Teflon topcoat in good shape and to keep from ruining the entire project.... We must wash! Just rinse all the the big metal filing off of the board first, then emerge the whole thing down into soapy water. Give it a …

step 7Finished!
Hooray! you now have your new Teflon coated mouse pad! Now! MOUSE! MOUSE like never MOUSED before!

Go there...
http://www.instructables.com/id/Aluminium-Teflon-Coated-Mouse-Pad-For-Optical-Mice/

Don