I am so stupid - drilled holes in the wrong places in plexi

[gdilly]

Yes I did and yes I am stupid.  So let the verbal abuse start.  

I just completed my first cabinet and it turned out even better than I hoped for.  Every thing works great and was a big hit with all my friends... except for the track ball.  When my friends got ready to play a heated game of Golden Tee we realized that it alignment of the ball was all wrong.

To my suprise I found out I mounted it crooked at an angle.  The unit is off about 45 degrees.  I now have to rerouter and drill new holes in the cp and plexi.  

Any suggestions on how to cover up the 4 holes that are now useless?

[REBIRTH]

I would spend the cash and get new plexi - better in the long run.  Not that hard to mount the trackball at an incorrect 45 degree angle, it is shaped at a 45 degree angle, so one would expect to install it that way, but you really need to rotate it.  I know I stared at mine dumbfoundedly for about 20 minutes until I realized how it should be situated.  

[gdilly]

That's what I figured I would have to do, but was hoping for a quick fix solution.

Thanks

[Apollo]

Yup don't sweat it dude I did the exact same thing. Drilled the holes on the trackball in a square rather than I diamond, had to make a hole new panel, lol.

[Hamselv]

I don't know the first thing about trackballs, but if they are built and installed like computer mice, maybe you can software-adjust your directions?

I am saying this because I remember in the 'old' Windows days when the mouse drivers would have a section where you could re-align the mouse axes (for those who might remember, it was the screen with the picture of a hot air ballon).
It was great fun to annoy your friends by reconfiguring their mice to move the cursor sideways when they moved the mouse upwards....  

But in the later years I haven't seen this option in the mouse drivers (Logitech, at least). Anybody know why?  Another XP incompatibility?

[jdfriesen]

I don't know the first thing about trackballs, but if they are built and installed like computer mice, maybe you can software-adjust your directions?

If it was flipped 90 degrees, then yes, you could do this, but it's flipped 45 degrees, so you'd have to map X+ to a combination of X & Y.

[Hamselv]

Ok.

In the 'old' mouse drivers I mentioned, though, you could map the cursor travel to any direction, not just switch the axes around....

[Tahnok]

The trackballs are mounted in a diamond shape? Good to know! How can you tell though (I will be using an Ultimark)?

[REBIRTH]

If the trackball is off 45 degrees, you could not fix this with software.  The trackball basically has 2 small wheels that sense where the ball is rolling - an "up/down wheel" and a "right/left".  When the trackball is installed correctly, the only wheel moving when you roll the ball up is the "up/down" wheel in the up direction, roll it down - the "up/down" wheel in the down, roll it left the "left/right" wheel in the left direction, right "left/right" in the right direction.  When you roll it diagonally then both wheels are moving - like if you roll it diagonally in a north-east direction, the up/down wheel is moving up and the left/right wheel is moving right.  If you installed it 90 degrees of like JD said you could just reverse the wheels (up/down would be left/right, left/right would be up/down).  If it is off by 45 degrees as it is here, you can't fix it because when you roll up both the up/down and left/right wheels are moving, so the software can only do a diagonal line with that no matter how you tweak it.

As for mounting it correctly, it isn't really a diamod shape, the up/down and right/left sides are actually at right angles of each other (with the corner cut out, so it appears to be a diamond shape).  The right angled sides need to be installed at that right angle, the top being parallel with one edge of the CP and the side parallel with the side of the CP.  Not sure about the Ultimarc, but most have an arrow imprinted on it which indicates which side is the "up/down" side.  This diargram is for mine, the Happ - hard to see with all the lines, but if you look closely you can see it is actually shaped like a square with the corners cut out.

[Tiger-Heli]

Yes I did and yes I am stupid.  So let the verbal abuse start.  

I just completed my first cabinet and it turned out even better than I hoped for.  Every thing works great and was a big hit with all my friends... except for the track ball.  When my friends got ready to play a heated game of Golden Tee we realized that it alignment of the ball was all wrong.

To my suprise I found out I mounted it crooked at an angle.  The unit is off about 45 degrees.  I now have to rerouter and drill new holes in the cp and plexi.  

Any suggestions on how to cover up the 4 holes that are now useless?

Not sure if this will work, but if you want a quick and dirty fix -

Sounds like you aren't using the trackball mounting plate.  If not, you could probably order one and cut a big square in your panel (obliterating the four holes) and drop the plate in with the correct orientation.

Assuming:

1) You have room to fit the plate (see www.happcontrols.com for dimensions).
2)  The basic aesthetics don't bug you too much.

[gdilly]

Thanks for all your suggestions.  Since this is my first cabinet and I plan to make a few more I think I am just going to leave it.  I might try to fill the holes in with caulk or something else but then again I might not.