Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Mouse: can you disassemble it? (for cleaning)

From http://forums.windowscentral.com/ask-question/348901-does-anyone-know-how-i-could-disassemble-microsoft-sculpt-ergonomic-mouse.html

The removable part of the mouse is the top cover (which includes the left and right button areas). It can be easily removed by wedging a spudger under the right mouse button area and going around until the whole top snaps off. There will be a few torx screws that need to be removed for the inner frame and you'll have access to its innards when that is removed

Basically you need a thin plastic tool to remove the top cover of the mouse and a set of Torx screwdrivers to finish the job.

In my case return button was stuck.

Tools needed: cross screwdriver, torx 8, lift tool (i.e. credit card or other material that is not sharp/could bend).

1. Start with inserting plastic tool under right button, than go to back and finish removing cover under left button. Be careful with rubber parts - in my case they were harm - I peel of a bit, but I glue them to mouse frame without any problem

2. Remove scroll wheel by popping out bolts

3. Unscrew as much screws as possible. Button/scroll pad has 3 screws. When they are removed you can remove this board. Notice that connecting cable is stiff so on first look it may look that this board is still attached somehow.

4. Now I was able to remove back button. It was quite tricky - after removal of black board I was not able to remove black plastic panel that was beneath it. But after unscrewing all visible screws I was able to bend a little left side of mouse, so I was able to put out windows and back button mechanism. In my mouse, repair was done by refitting back button mechanism in place - it fixed stuck back button.

So I just fixed a stuck back button on mine. This could come in handy to the next person finding this. I did disassemble the button assembly for the back and meta buttons, which is a PITA, only to find the actual switch was fine. When I replaced the assembly back into the shell without tightening the screws yet, the button worked. Only when I tightened firmly the screws that go against the shell of the mouse (not the two that go on the little blue board beneath the meta button), then the problem re-occurred. Slightly untightening both screws fixed it for me.

So try this:

• Remove the plastic overshell from the top
• Remove the plastic undershell beneath
• Remove screws and put aside the board that houses the mouse wheel (although you might not even need to do that if you can reach the screws on the next step, big win as this is a pain)
• Slightly untighten the two screws on the meta/back button assembly that go against the mouse shell while checking back button operation until it works