VXE MAD R fingertip mod

Ive tried couple of 3D printed fingertip mice but none of them were comfortable for me to use so I decided to design my own. The internals are from VXE MAD R, which is a cheap mouse (~60 USD), but it is lightweight and uses a good sensor and switches. Its my favourite mouse right now. Most mice being uncofortable for me means that I probably have a unusual hand or grip, so this mouse might not fit you. My hand size is 18x10 cm.

The mouse is designed to be used with dot skates and includes guides for cutting out grip tape. The heaviest configuration is 17.8 g (PLA, grip tape, 8 skates)

I have also included a step file of the PCB with the scroll wheel for anyone who wants to try to make their own mod. Its not 100% accurate as it is reverse engineered by me, but it was accurate enough for this mod.

BOM

mouse https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007575155257.html

• Any version should work. Dont get any "plus" version as they have large and heavy battery.

dot skates https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005617841428.html

double sided tape for the battery https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006926453576.html

grip tape https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005959793426.html

• You might be able to cut it out of the included grip tape.

Print settings

Ive included a .3mf file with my preferred print settings. I have optimized a lot of settings, so I recommend looking at it. You dont have to use these settings if you dont care about extra weight (You only save 1.2 g over 100% infill settings).

Material: PLA (ASA/ABS can be used to save weight)

Layer height: 0.12 mm

Wall loops: 1

Top shell layers: 4

Bottom shell layers: 3

Top, bottom, solid infill pattern: Concentric

Wall generator: Arachne

Infill: 1% lightning (Basically removes sparse infill but keeps the internal solid infill)

Maximum length of the infill anchor: 0

Minimum sparse infill threshold: 2 mm2

Ensure vertical shell thickness: None

Speed and acceleration: Keep it low for high quality (I use 50 mm/s 1000 mm/s2

Retraction: Reduce length if you see holes especially on the paddles

!SUPPORTS IMPORTANT!

Type: Tree (manual) - Paint it only on the underside of the mouse buttons, the rest can be bridged

Top z distance: 0

Assembly instructions

1. Print the body

2. Snap off these parts using pliers to get clean contacts for the buttons. Dont snip it but rather break it off by bending it to the side. You might need to remove some supports in order to do this. You can remove a little bit of material from the button contacts if you are not happy with the button feel in the end.

It should look like this:

3. Disassemble the mouse and remove the battery, PCB and the scroll wheel

4. Slide in the pcb and screw it in. It might not go in smoothly. Especially around the thumb area. Just carefully bend the body a little bit and it should go in. Insert the scroll wheel if you want to use it.

5. Test the fit, buttons and overall if you like it and proceed if you do :)

6. Stick the battery on the sensor using the double sided tape (you might need to use more layers)

7. Stick on 4 dot skates under the 2 buttons, thumb and pinky (red circles). Optionally you can stick on 5 more (Yellow circles) if the mouse is rubbing on the mousepad.

8. Cut out grip tape using the guides (index and middle finger use the same)

9. Stick on the grip tape

10. Let me know how you like it ;-)

Updates:

UPDATE V3_15

• Added space for another skate under the usb port. This could improve stability if you mouse is tipping over to the front.

UPDATE V3_14

• Optimized the model to be printed in PLA with 1 wall loop and no infill

• Modified the paddles so that they can be printed with way less supports

• Improved the strength and stiffness while reducing the weight

• Added a support for 4 aditional dot skates

• Narrowed down the back end a little bit for better ergonomics