DIY Data Glove

I always wanted to have a wireless mouse glove that I could use on the go. This glove can perform mouse functions without a surface, just by waving your hand around Minority Report style and clicking the tactile buttons. It took an evening to build since I'm not that great at soldering and was figuring out the design as I went. If I built it again I think I could do it in just an hour or two.

NOTE:

I have revisited this project and created an improved version.
DIY Data Glove V2:

https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Data-Glove-V2/

To build this glove I used the following tools:

Scissors
Hot Glue Gun
Soldering iron
Multimeter (though a simple circuit tester is all that required)
Wire Cutter/Strippers
Foam tape

I built it of the following parts:

A Work Glove (Set for $7 hardware store)
Some black and red stranded light gauge wire (<$5 electronic shop)
5 Small Momentary Microswitches (<$5 for a lot of 10 on ebay)
A Measy RC9 Gyroscope Mini Air Mouse (<$20 on ebay)

I chose this mouse as the guts of my project because it was cheap and had a compact form factor. The board was laid out perfectly for my uses. I removed 2 screws and pried the case apart. This revealed a rubber button pad that come right off. Under that was a sticker that had some springy contact pads. I pealed off the sticker and was left with a circuit board that had a small battery wired to it (the battery was glue taped into the case with a little foam tape)

I chose some tiny momentary microswitches to use for the buttons. If I did it again I might use slightly bigger ones that are a bit less fiddly. They are super simple to wire, just check the contacts with a circuit tester and solder wires to two of the contacts, I used red and black wire but polarity is not actually a factor.

I attached the circuit board to the glove with a combination of foam tape and hot glue. Then I soldered wires to each of the contacts that I wanted to use. I measured how far I needed the wires, cut them and soldered them to the microswitches. then I attached the switches to the glove with hot glue.

I added 3 switches to the side of the index finger, Right-Click, Left-Click, and the Track On/Off that allows me to turn off mouse tracking. I added switches to the end of the middle and ring fingers to control Scroll-Up and Scroll-Down. This layout allows me to easily reach any of these buttons with my thumb while making a fist. I designed it as the pointing device for a wearable computer I'm working on and it seems like a good layout, but I'm sure there are other good ones possible.

That's it! It's a pretty low level skill build a good project to learn some tools on.