Used Atari/Happ trackball with different optic boards: what should I do ?

[Mamezilla]

Well finally, I went last week to an arcade shop that was 30 minutes from home, and got myself a used cab.  It is an old Atari cab that was converted to a Marvel super heroes machine.  I took a chance and asked the guy if he had some used accessories he could sell me.  He said yes and brought me in this huge warehouse where I found a couple of Star wars yokes, a Subrunner yoke, a Tron trigger stick, a 3" used Happ trackball, a steering wheel, a spinner, coin door and pedal, all cheap.  Boy was I lucky.  I bought all the good stuff.

Regarding the trackball however, I took the one that seemed the less beaten up, it needs cleaning an lubricating, but I believe it's mechanic is still in good shape.  However, it had an optic board missing, so the guy took one on another trackball and installed it on mine.  I was so excited with all the stuff I was getting that I didn't check further.  When I got home and checked the trackball, since I will consider doing a mouse hack as explained in Saint's book (which I find awesome) or get a Mini-Pac with trackball and spinner support, I noticed that both optic boards were not the same.  One had the mention "Atari coupler" and the other one "Shuuz coupler".  THe Shuuz one has a lot more electronics on it.

Will the mouse hack work on both boards ?  Should I try to get another Atari board, or something similar ?

Here is a pic.

[Mamezilla]

Another pic with the optic boards

[RayB]

Oh man... that Atari one is meant for steering wheel games (Pole Position, Sprint, etc). That's why the optic is curved.

Even if you got them working, you risk having one axis be more or less sensitive than the other.

[NoOne=NBA=]

It shouldn't be a big problem.

I've seen the curved boards alot on older trackballs, which would lead me to believe they were a "one size fits all" item originally.

If the two boards are different in their sensitivities, you can compensate for that in the MAME software.

[RayB]

I've seen the curved boards alot on older trackballs, which would lead me to believe they were a "one size fits all" item originally.

That depends on the trackball. For example, a Missile Command upright, with the 3" trackball used the curved optics, because the optic wheel is actually a sort of cylinder with the holes cut into the cylinder part.

Then on the other hand, Wico, Happs and Missile COmmand cocktail (2 1/4") use the flat optic wheels and straight optic.

[NoOne=NBA=]

I'm talking about pre-Happ Atari trackballs.

I've seen them with straight or curved optics.
I'm not sure if that's from operators swapping them out with whatever they had on hand, or if they were originally shipped like that.

The curved ones will work though.
You just don't have as much room for slop as you do with the straight ones.

[NoOne=NBA=]

If it really bothers you, you can pick up the optics pretty easy on ebay from people who have swapped out their optics for either the Happ USB kit, or for Happ red-boards.

[pcates]

I just picked up a striaght set of optics, and I need a curved one for a wheel that I have. If you are interested in a trade,  I will pull this one out and test it to see if it works. PM and let me know.

[Mamezilla]

Well, I've checked on E-bay to see if there were some optic boards, as NoONE=NBA= suggested, but there were none so far. If someone has a spare set to sell or to give away, please PM me.

PCates, I'll try to check and see if the curved one works, however, i might consider keeping it as a spare part.  Thanks for your offer anyway, I'll PM you with that in the next few days (as soon that the board is checked).  Ideally, since I don't want to have any sensitivity/compatibility issues and mess around with the settings in Mame, I'll want to have 2 identical optic boards for it.

I'll have to stay cheap for the next items I'll buy, before my wife flames me.  My saved money went for all the goodies I got last week for $25.00 canadian each.  The StarWars yoke that has the missing handle was taken mainly for parts, but I think those handles can be bought from Happ.

[Mamezilla]

Other goodies I got for the same price.  The trackball , another coin door and a pedal were also bought at the same price.

[Chris]

Good haul!  I think we all officially hate you now.  

[Tiger-Heli]

Good haul!  I think we all officially hate you now.  

Yep, great finds.

Regarding the optic boards, as long as the boards work, I think you'll be fine as is, but since you don't want to hear that (half the fun of this hobby is tinkering with stuff):

http://www.happcontrols.com/trackballs/a052101000.htm  These are the Cadillac "Red" optic boards.  A little pricey at $19.75 each, though.

http://www.therealbobroberts.com/ has the standard Happ Optic boards for $15.00 each.

http://www.oscarcontrols.com/cgi-bin/cart.pl?DT=1 sells his optic boards for $7.50 each, but you might have to do some engineering to get them to fit in the case.

http://www.ultimarc.com/optipac4.html  - The real low buget option.

http://www.cheeptech.com/cuhack.html - The extreme low buget option - if you read through this, he is using the original optics as well as the electronics of the mouse hack to "read" the trackball encoder wheels.

Hope it helps!!!