Clear translucent trackballs..anybody use these ?

[spidermonkey]

Just wondering if anybody has one of these and how do they look when backlit ? I'm talking about a clear (no color) translucent 3" ball. They are much more expensive then the colored translucent trackballs so I'm guessing that may be why they're not very popular. Bob R. has em for $40.00 and Happ sells em for just under $50.00. I was thinking that one of those multi color changing led clusters that automatically fade from one color to another might look cool under one of these clear trackballs. I have a lighted translucent blue one in my first cab but I'm seriously thinking about shelling out the cash for one of those clear ones for my current project. I've yet to see one on anyones MAME cab so I was wondering if there is a reason for this. Do they not fuse (disperse) the light well when backlit ?  Or is it mainly a co$t issue ? Or both ? Does anyone have a link to someone's site that is using one of these so I could see how they look ?
I dunno.. they just seem like they would look mighty cool if they were backlit using just the right type of bulb/led. Since they are clear I suppose in order to get a nice even glow one would have to experiment with both the type of light source and what angle to position the light so that the ball doesn't act like a magnifying/demagifying glass and cause the light to be a concentrated bright dot in the center of the ball. Any ideas or experiances with these balls ?

[OSCAR]

Based on my recent experience with lighting a trans 2.25" ball with a super bright LED, I would think you would have to be pretty careful with lighting a clear ball so it doesn't end up like a spot light shining you in the face while playing.  A tinted ball diffuses the light fairly well, but I even had to readjust the LED a bit because it was too bright with the blue-tinted ball.  I haven't used a clear one before, but I guess that a clear ball would be more prone to showing a "hot spot" than a tinted ball would??

[eli curtz]

I haven't used one, but I do know you can get one of the completely clear acrylic contact juggling balls for a lot less cash if you want to try it out. They've been discussed here before or Google them.

[spidermonkey]

http://www.seriousjuggling.com/Balls_Acrylic.htm

Good call Eli. I found this site and they have all kinds of cool colors. Now I'm thinking maybe purple or a clear one with some nice cheesy glitter inside.  The cool thing about this hobby is that its okay to be tacky.
Thanks for the juggling ball idea.

[Xiaou2]

hmm, thats an interesting idea...

  The Translucent balls supposedly weigh less - thus can effect the roll durration and mess up the feel...

  However... what about using either a Glass ball,  or  a Crystal Ball !?

  Unfortunately, a crystal ball will be pretty expensive.  But... I doubt it would scrath up like the plastic ones do... and the weight would be great... and if it has those cracks in it - would look pretty wild lit up.  Kinda mystical too ; )

  Obviously, the glass ball has to be the right type of glass.  At such a thickness... and since it has very little 'play' in the housing... I think it would be safe from chipping and cracking.

 Would be durrable as well, and great weight.  I bet someone could even get custom colors and or shapes and things inside of them... like in the small marbles...