I got these blue and whote dots on my desks from two optical mouses: Intellimouse 5 button, Sony VAIO optical mouse w/ scroll. They seem to be right on the space where the mice are used on. The VAIO produces white dots, the MS Intellimouse produces blue. Oak finish desk trim.
Sony mouse:C:\Documents and Settings\natasha\My Documents\My Pictures\My Logitech Pictures\Pictures and Videos\P7120015.JPG

I use a very thin mousepad with my optical MX700 mouse so it won't leave plastic smears on the desk.
:)

my Dell optical mouse did not cause damage (yet) to my other blue wood desk.

hmm, funny, now that I look at it I see the same dots on my mousepad, these ones appear to be a dark color, possibly black or blue (i'm color blind). I am using a microsoft intellimouse optical as well. Any theories as to how these marks are made?

-The Bumstedman

Well I'm optically mouse challenged :o , but what you are describing is something in reverse of bleaching. More like staining :confused:

Can any one of you take a screenshot with a webcam or a digipic of it? Upload it here to PCG if the pic comes out well enough... It's been awhile since I've seen spots in front of my eyes :D

I'm tryin' to figure out if I'm missing sumthing... :rolleyes:

A pic of the bottomside of your mouse may have 'bearing' too (Mine uses a rubber ballbearing...) It doesn't work worth a craps-table (http://www.louisville.com/loumag/may99/gam2.jpg), but it doesn't do well as a SuperBall™ (http://www.wham-o.com/content/superball.html) either. :(

He-he-he...mouse droppings, I love it.....(what're ya feedin it, ah?)

Dots cause by an optical mouse, hmmm, I don't suppose that's has a (genuine, now) shellac top on it, is it? Shellac is an insect secretion and could be photosensitive (I'll have to go digging for that). If it's verithane or urithane I wouldn't think that would be a problem, although (I work with this stuff) there is a product called Fabulon that is (was anyway) used by bowling alleys that some manufacturers have used on commercial furniture, and it has some strange properties--sometimes photosensitive. I've seen it bubble up a new coat of urithane on areas of the floor that are in the window light, weird. Well, whatever.

The point is--is this desk an antique? Is it from the orient, or is it an expensive piece of true furniture, something someone would have hired a real craftsman to finish with shellac or real (sandarac-type natural) varnish? If so, that might be what you're looking at. Photosensitivity of the finish coat on the desk itself....

I use a plain white piece of copier paper taped to the desk mainly because I use the mouse on the metal slide-out. A friend sent me a 3-D mouse pad with sharks on it and it screwed up everything, as did the bare desk top (which is actually an old sliding closet-door)--as soon as I started using the blank white paper...no more problems.


Please, applaud politely ...:D

I would like to see the pictures of the described spots, I suspect contact with the glider surfaces of the mouse are more likely the cause than photo-reactive changes from the red LED light of the mice.
:)

This comes from a search of SCIRUS.com with this in the search bar:

("Shellac") AND ("lacquer") AND ("photosensitive")

http://www.p2pays.org/ref/03/02453/lithography.htm

Plates

There are a number of different type plates used in lithographic printing: photomechanical, electrostatic, bimetallic, relief, paper, and polymer plates. Photomechanical surface plates are most common. They are made from thin anodized or grained aluminum coated with a light-sensitive material. The most common plate coatings are diazo compounds and photopolymer resins, although asphalt, shellac, gum arabic, and polyvinyl alcohol are also used. An image transparency is placed over the sensitized plate. Then a framed glass sheet is placed over the transparency and a vacuum is applied to pull them tightly together. The plate is exposed to ultraviolet light, which passes through the transparency and hardens the coating on the plate to make it insoluble to water or other solvents (Jendrucko, 1995).
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So it would seems that shellac, and other resins of a similar use and type could be photosensitive, and what might be happening is a reaction to the close intense light.



:cool:

Originally posted by PrntRhd
I would like to see the pictures of the described spots, I suspect contact with the glider surfaces of the mouse are more likely the cause than photo-reactive changes from the red LED light of the mice.
:)

Yep, very possible to me. I have four dot-shaped cushions on the bottom of my mouse, and if he is, moving the mouse through a stain source and leaving it sit for a while, that could be it also. However, it would seem that kind of thing would rub off. (tee-hee-hee, mouse droppings, that's what it is....:D)

Here they are: Desk has nothing like that.

Those look like glider smears to me, a good automotive paste wax might rub them out and protect the desk, just a suggestion without having to refinish the desk. Hand oil, plastic gliders and furniture finish can do strange things if you rub long enough. Sort of what hardwood floors look like where chair legs make contact with the floor.
:)

Yeah, I guess we all forgot to ask: did you try to rub them off? Formula 409 or any commercial cleaner like tht should do it if it is just grime from the dot-shaped pads underneath.