Well it tool a lot of tinkering, but eventually this was the best solution, I ended up ditching the screws

You will need an exacto blade and some double sided tape ( i am using a special kind from Japan so the stuff available here may not work)

The double sided foam tape from japan is a bit thinner than 3M stuff I have found here in the US, and its not as tacky, plus the foam is a lot less dense. It works well because it compresses easily and you still maintain tactile feedback.


Step 1.
Take apart button and cut it in half ( I used an exacto blade, then used a small saw)

Here's the picture I promised



cut the tape so that it looks like the picture

remove one side of the tape and apply it to the plastic case

now you have to remove the other protective tape ( the side that will be touching the buttons)

but theres a trick. Try to rub it, or keep touching it so that its loses almost all of its tackiness

after that place the mouse buttons on ( it will take some trial and error to get juuust enought tackiness)

You don't need the springs anymore

( also i would recommend sanding the sides of the buttons.. since they are not 100% smooth from the factory.. they have a mold line)

good luck



ENJOY GUYS !!!

This is what the stock button looks like... lame


( credit to forum user there, for this pic)

Finished Install

oh yeah can I get some stickies for these DIY's ?

good job and nice tut http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/12/8-msi-wind-mod.html

What is holding the inside of the buttons down? It doesn't look like the clips on the inside of the button would provide enough tension and the buttons might be prone to popping out.

Engadget picked up on this...

http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/04/msi-wind-mod-turns-one-trackpad-button-into-two/

newest info at top

linked http://www.electricvagabond.com/2008/12/msi-wind-touchpad-mods-sentelic-becomes.html

what about cutting it down the middle halfway through; that way it bends, but is still in tact?

that is probably the solution I would recommend for those who want a quick fix ... but its not really the reason i did the mod

the biggest reason for having two physical buttons is that there is no longer a dead spot in the center ( which was freaking annoying)


i redid my button design for the final time

I added springs that are now stronger ( more compressed) , and then i used some double sided 3m tape as well. The double sided tape keeps the buttons in place, while the springs give you a good rebound

im happy

I have attempted your mod. I am wondering what you did with the double-stick tape? Also, I'm having problems keeping the center posts to stay down. Maybe my springs are too large? Where did you get the springs that you mentioned in your last post: the "stronger" ones?

Thanx for the mod. It will be awesome if I can get it to work myself. I'm also going to attempt the synaptic swap when my pad gets here.

--Tavish

I was worried about how I might screw it up cosmetically, as I'm sure many would be. Though I do know how the dead spot in the middle is annoying and I wanted a solution. So what I did was remove the padding on each side. Once removed I get a much more responsive click and I can click closer to the middle and it'll click to the correct side. This way I don't screw up the cosmetics but still get the better functionality. Also I'm sure springs could still be added to give more push to it, but this way works fantastically for me and is so easy that any person can do it without fear.

But thanks for the mod still.

two things

a) Due to the rocker design its Extremely annoying trying to push both buttons at the same time

b) don't lie to yourself, even with the foam removed there is still a pretty big deadspace in the center





I actually updated my design once again and its perrrrrrrrrrrfect now

I ditched the springs and replaced it with some special tape I got from Japan

Its double sided but it has some give

Where do you live, I don't mind shipping you some of it ( it should cost me no more than a buck to send it out )

no offense, but what exactly would the purpose of pressing both buttons as the same time be?

really the dead space isn't that bad anymore. i can leave my finger right on the middle where the deadspace is and just slightly move to whichever side i want to click. it's not that bad at all.

I just received the tape that you sent. I was wondering if you could post your pics and instructions for the completion of this mod. I really appreciate it.

Also, just as a curiousity and maybe help for others, what is the tape called and where did you get it?

Thanx.

--Tavish

Here's the picture I promised



cut the tape so that it looks like the picture

remove one side of the tape and apply it to the plastic case

now you have to remove the other protective tape ( the side that will be touching the buttons)

but theres a trick. Try to rub it, or keep touching it so that its loses almost all of its tackiness

after that place the mouse buttons on ( it will take some trial and error to get juuust enought tackiness)

You don't need the springs anymore

( also i would recommend sanding the sides of the buttons.. since they are not 100% smooth from the factory.. they have a mold line)

good luck

just got my wind (few hours ago)

i'm still freaked with the Fn key (will fix it)
and im freaked even more with the one key (i cant do fast back/forw in opera like that )

I'll go for the mod and I'm requesting permission to use the pictures for a translation in greek

oh, i almost forgot: HELLO EVERYBODY

Ooooookaay, I just got my touchpad this evening (two freaking months and it turned out to be the fault of USPS; stupid temp carriers) and got it installed and my Wind put back together.

The results: it posted! Yay. Now I have to reinstall OSes and see if things still work (which I hope that they do).

When I get things going again I will post the results of my button mod -- the same one that shenaniganz08 has here.

--Tavish

K, I first got the mod functioning and didn't like it as well as I thought that I might. It was too spongy and the buttons were sticking up too much out of the case.

After reading through the thread again I noticed that there are pads that are removed in the pictures in the thread that were not removed on my buttons. I.e. the original padding was there and the double-sided tape was there creating a two-fold pad.

I removed the original padding to leave just the double-sided tape and it works great! The buttons toggle like switches; the tape keeps the buttons on the netbook and aesthetically they're flush with the casemold.

Thumbs up! Good mod.

--Tavish

Glad to help Tavish, I'm glad you appreciated the tape I sent you

Yo tavish can you post pics of you finished work ?