Golden Tee Trackball Vs Others..

[Kaiser]

Im about to start building my cabinet, and ive been shopping around for parts for it.  Ive noticed theres several trackballs available on ebay, some which are for golden tee.. and others that arent.

My question is this, is there much of a difference in feel between the two?  Ive never played Golden Tee, most likely never will, but sometimes I see good deals on that trackball.  Will I be disapointed if I try to use it for games like Centipede?

[Donger]

I have the golden tee tb, it feels just fine.  Mounting it will be a pain though.

[8bit]

They should work the exact same.  Only thing I can think would be different would be a limit installed that would restrict you from hitting those long tee shots in goldentee

[dirt]

the trackballs on ebay that are advertized as golden tee trackballs are just regular happs or betson-imperial 3" trackballs. the only thing you have to watch out for is if the tb did come off a golden tee machine chances are that it is pretty worn out. the tb's on the golden tee machines see alot more stress and hard usage then say a marble madness or centipede. here is a link to betson.  http://www.betson.com/search_results.asp?search=&find_deptId=&find_PrtName=trackball&Pagecount=3 check out their refurb 3" trackball. with shipping it is like $36. i bought two from them, one for my golden tee machine and one for my mame machine and they work great for both. hope this helps.



dirt

[dirt]

They should work the exact same.  Only thing I can think would be different would be a limit installed that would restrict you from hitting those long tee shots in goldentee

i have never heard of anything you could install into a trackball that would limit its motion. i have owned probably 30-40 trackballs,mostly used ones, and have never seen such a thing. usually the reason you cant hit the ball as far on a certain machine is because either the bearings or the rollers or both are worn out.


dirt

[Kaiser]

Thanks for all the replies.  I thought I read somewhere that it had a higher lip on it or something.  

Thanks for the clarification!

[dirt]

Thanks for all the replies.  I thought I read somewhere that it had a higher lip on it or something.  

Thanks for the clarification!

there are two styles high lip and regular. but they both work the same its just on of them the ball will be protruding farther through the control panel thank the other.


dirt

[pointdablame]

They should work the exact same.  Only thing I can think would be different would be a limit installed that would restrict you from hitting those long tee shots in goldentee

huh??    This does not compute, heh.  Non golden tee trackballs are not restricted in any way, nor are any trackballs at all, at least not to my knowledge.

Anyway, dirt is right. Ebay auctions proclaiming "Goldend tee trackballs" are just to get your attention.  You could get a Happ or Betson 3" trackball and be fine.  You could also go high-lip or normal.  There is no real discernable difference.  The high lip will obviously sit a bit higher on the control panel and the betson and happ TBs physically look a bit different, but any will work.  Don't worry about it.

[u_rebelscum]

A new Golden Tee (aka high lip, aka high rim) TB does have a higher lip so it can be mounted on thicker CPs (3/16" vs 1/16").  The same amount of ball is above the top of the lip for both types, though.  Here's an old drawing I did showing a happs golden tee (middle "H lip") and a happs normal (right) being mounted under 1/8" lexan cover and a happs mounting plate (~1/16").

[rchadd]

suggest you get the flush mounting kit (happ code 55-1101-00) as well - should be easy to mount with one of them.

the Happ 3" GT highlip TB comes with a plastic spacer which when used allows the TB to be mounted without the Lip protruding above the mounting plate.

[goofy]

So, if one were to buy this trackball (or one similar) from Ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=13718&item=6117766794&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW), what would be required to get it working in a MAME cabinet?  It looks like you'd need a mouse hack or an optical board to plug into it, right? Also, does it need additional hardware, such as the mounting plate mentioned (about $7-$11)? Lastly, as stated, I assume it probably needs new rollers (about $8-10) and maybe new bearings (another $8-10 possibly)?

[goofy]

Oh yeah, if a mounting plate is needed, is it this one:

[goofy]

Or, this one?

[rchadd]

So, if one were to buy this trackball what would be required to get it working in a MAME cabinet?  It looks like you'd need a mouse hack or an optical board to plug into it, right?

you would need something like an ultimarc optipac to link optical outputs from the TB to PC via USB or serial port

[u_rebelscum]

So, if one were to buy this trackball (or one similar) from Ebay, what would be required to get it working in a MAME cabinet?  It looks like you'd need a mouse hack or an optical board to plug into it, right? Also, does it need additional hardware, such as the mounting plate mentioned (about $7-$11)? Lastly, as stated, I assume it probably needs new rollers (about $8-10) and maybe new bearings (another $8-10 possibly)?

Either of the mounting plates will work, as long as you get the 3" version (NOT the "3 inch high ball" version).

You can use a mouse hack, a pre-hacked mouse (oscar), or an optipac.  Assuming the trackball's optical boards are still working.  

Check out The Real Bob Roberts for multiple pages on repair/upkeep of trackballs, and purchase parts.

[benwillcox]

what would be required to get it working in a MAME cabinet?  It looks like you'd need a mouse hack or an optical board to plug into it, right? Also, does it need additional hardware, such as the mounting plate mentioned (about $7-$11)? Lastly, as stated, I assume it probably needs new rollers (about $8-10) and maybe new bearings (another $8-10 possibly)?

I had success mounting mine without a mounting plate, which allows the ball to sit higher from the CP. You need to route your CP like this:

And from the top it looks like this:

You can see more details on how I did this on my page at http://www.willcoxonline.com/mame/controlpanel/controlpanel.htm
and how I did the mouse hack.
Oh and mine was used and does need new rollers, but the bearings seem fine.

Ben

[maraxle]

So, if one were to buy this trackball what would be required to get it working in a MAME cabinet?  It looks like you'd need a mouse hack or an optical board to plug into it, right?

you would need something like an ultimarc optipac to link optical outputs from the TB to PC via USB or serial port

Or a mouse hack.

[Chris]

They should work the exact same.  Only thing I can think would be different would be a limit installed that would restrict you from hitting those long tee shots in goldentee

Actually, the opposite should be true.  Newer Happ Golden Tee trackballs have the "red" optic boards that are designed to work properly at higher speeds than the old ones.  The ones coming off eBay probably still have the older "green" optic boards.

--Chris

[bdsjake]

slighty OT, but re those new red boards for a Happs trackball, can I just drop those in to replace the green boards I have?

thanks,

[u_rebelscum]

slighty OT, but re those new red boards for a Happs trackball, can I just drop those in to replace the green boards I have?

Yup.