diy optical mouse into mame trackball

[oldschoolgamer21]

hello guys i thought i would share my small build of a mouse i turned into a trackball..
since i didn't want to spend a lot of money for a real trackball that i would only use on
occasion.. so i set out to build one i found on Google using a roll-on deodorant ball and an optical
mouse i bought at a local goodwill, some scrap wood and glue..

everything i used was stuff i had laying around or i bought but i spent less than $5 for the
build..
i was surprised how well it worked, it actually works better than i thought.. all i did was invert a few things
in mame and it works perfect.. on mine i also desolderd the tiny micro switches and hot glued them to a button on
top for whatever i needed it for..
the ball does light up red but you cant really see it cause of the flash but i think it looks pretty good.. what are your guys thoughts?
i didn't really take pics while building it since i didn't think it would actually work well, but it did..
but maybe ill make a revised one and take pics along the way..
as for the link for where i got the idea just Google "optical mouse into trackball" and its an inscrutable..

[Slippyblade]

Nice, I love hacker projects like this.  I've seen the deo ball trackball, but never tried it.  I might need to just for shits and giggles now.

 

[oldschoolgamer21]

thanks, it was fun to do and even better when it worked lol... i know a lot of guys don't have a lot of money to spend so this is a nice alternative... ill be working on a coin acceptor here today as well..

[Slippyblade]

Oh, welcome to the forums.  I assume you've been lurking for a while?

[oldschoolgamer21]

thanks, yeah i have, ill be sharing some more projects here soon.. im a big diy type and like building stuff for fun..

[DaOld Man]

Nice job!
I am definitely a "build your own" kind of a guy.

[severdhed]

awesome...great little project..i may need to try one of these myself.

[oldschoolgamer21]

thanks guys.. im currently working on a diy coin mech with an optical switch...