UPDATE: I have changed this thread to take out the "color change" in the title since there are now programs to change the trackball color. But the disassembly/assembly How To still applies.

OK, seems the rage now is to change the color of the Pearl's white LED, so to change the color of the trackball.

Actually, as long as you follow my instructions below, in the picture tutorial, it's an easy process.

Bonus Tip: You can clean your trackball assembly while in there. There are other threads on taking apart the actual trackball assembly. But if you can get away wiping it or blowing some canned air here and there, I suggest doing that.

UPDATE: The below pics are copyrighted. Do not copy or post
on other sites without permission from me.





























THIS IS SIMPLY A PIC FROM A FEW DAYS AGO SHOWING THE 4 LEDS
LIGHTING UP ON AN INCOMING CALL. NOTE THE WHITE LED, BEFORE I COLORED IT!

very nice write up SF... very nice..

BTW, where did you get that theme ?

I have a quick que for you. What do you use to get the pictures to look so good? Digital SLR camera?

You need to edit your post and take out my pictures in the quote. Please. It is cluttering up the thread.

Mods, can one of you edit his post if he does not, so to take out the repeat of my pics in his post.

I must say, as a lurker on this site for awhile... this is one of those post that a mod should stick. Nice write up SF, very very nice.

Cool photos.

Not yet ready to do the mod. But this post would also be useful to clean the trackball rollers (when it gets dirty).

SF, you rock!
That is a sweet write up, and a great mod!!!
I'm going to try it this weekend!!
Thanks

Thanks for the nice words. It took me about three hours last night to take the pics, edit and insert comments and post. Watched History Channel, News, Jay Leno and Conan.

I wanted to get it posted before the weekend since I figured many people would want to try it as a weekend project.

By the way, I'll answer questions about the camera, theme, etc. as soon as Canonbomb edits his post to remove my pics from his quote, which is cluttering up this thread.

The pics are removed....spill the beans on that theme! lol

It's not good to tell lies.

They are still there.

And now I am leaving, so too bad.

I don't see them:

While we wait for the clutterbomb to clean up his mess, can you tell me how long it took for you to actually take out the trackball and put it back together ? wanted to get a feel for how long the entire process took ya.

Did I mention your write up ROCKS !!!!

Thanks

Well the first time it was about 1 hour, just to be careful and all. Snoop around, look at everything with a jeweler's loupe to see how things fit and to make sure I did not break something.

Now I can do it in about 5 minutes.

So plan an hour just to be safe. You mostly do not want to force or push anything. If you do, that means things are not lined up. Lined up everything comes apart and reassembles with ease.

Also, if you put little reference marks, that saves a lot of time. That chrome ring is confusing because there are about four notches that look like the one that should be right above the #2 key.

Those are exceptional pics and a nice write-up along with them.

Brilliant!! It took me about 5 minutes to execute the procedure thanks to your perfect instructions and pictures. I, for the first time in my life, am excited about having a blue ball.....In any case, the only advice i might give to first timers taking apart small parts is to do the following. Have all your instruments laid out ahead of time--the smaller the screwdriver and forceps the better. Lay down a clean white cloth to work on in case anything pops out on you, and if you are a cat owner like me I suggest you bar them from your work area till this is complete. Also, when working with small parts, especially with delicate prongs, NEVER NEVER apply force. If something is not coming in or out easily, stop and re-examine your alignments and positions and apply force gently. The marking of the placement pieces is essential and obviously comes from an experienced person, it saved me all worries about where things were supposed to be. I also chose the blue color, and its simply fabulous with the black and silver colors of the pearl, hats off to San Francisco for a terrific idea, perfect instructions and the best assembly pictures I've seen on a post ever. Thank you, and once I get my black piel frama case next week Im going to be in hog heaven. To hell with windows mobile crap, this bberry is the best thing thats happened to an old ppc and windows smartphone hacker in ages. Since I still consult for them I have to show up to work with my tmobile dash, which isnt half bad, but the 8100 is a sheer pleasure compared to all the work I need to do on the dash to get it to do the things it ought to do all by itself.

Cheers,
W.S. Churchill (better known as lowell)

No, actually it's a Canon SD400 5 megapixel camera, set with flash off and in macro mode. But I also edit all pics with Adobe, for size, saturation, sharpness, grain, balance, etc.

I don't set up any special lighting, although I can. But I do turn on two 200 watt and two 100 watt incandescent bulbs in the computer area. It ends up being bright, but not as bright as it should be for closeups.

how about your theme SF ?

Sry about cluttering up the thread. That wasnt my intention. I was gone all day and just got back to my comp now. Thanks John for taking care of the problem for me. Once again really sorry for the inconvenience.

I'll post it Saturday since the friggin rain will keep me off my bikes [both road and with motors].

Excellent tips. I am going to separate them into separate sentences so people can read them. WSC would not have written one long paragraph like that.

People... READ THESE!