Trackball hack . . .

[evoluder]

I have been looking around at the various designs for cabinets and what not for a "MAME" cabinet. I have also been looking at the various ways to make a trackball, the easiest of which seems to be just to buy one from Happ controls, but ~$100 seems a little steep. My question is this, wouldn't it be easy to just pop an optical mouse (~$20) underneath the control panel and stick whatever size ball you want in there (with some kind of mounting bracket that would allow it to move) and the mouse would just "look" at the ball. This might be a little vague but I think you get the idea. The only problem I see is getting the orientation right. Anyways . . . any comments?

Spencer

[hyiu]

well... easiest way to make a trackball for control panel...
and probably one of the cheaper way.... (I think....)

is to buy a kidsball... (now called crayola trackball)....
I got 1 from overstock.com.... like $32....

and it just plugs right in and works..... (serial.. not ps2...)

according to what I read from others, you can just take the top part of the case away and mount it under a panel....

I find the trackball well enough for me....
(but I have read some people say its feel is not arcade enough....) so... depends on how authentic you want....

hope it helps....      

[evoluder]

Yeah, most of the PC trackballs I have used have had a real "cheap" feel to them. The arcade trackballs really feel like they can take a beating (and you can really spin the crap out of them on games like centipede). I figure it would be easy enough to make a ball (pool ball?) fit into some kind of housing that you could really spin and just stick an optical mouse underneath. That way there aren't any real moving parts (other than the ball). Seems like it would be pretty sweet if you could find a way to flip the mouse orientation. Just a thought.

Spencer

[BombProofPlane]

wouldn't work
reason a the ball is shiny
reason b optical mice can t track the ball that fast it will jump everywhere

[evoluder]

wouldn't work
reason a the ball is shiny
reason b optical mice can t track the ball that fast it will jump everywhere

Hmm, I don't know about that. I think you could find a dull enough ball for it to work (besides, they have optical trackballs). With my logitech dual optical I can whip it across the pad as fast as I want and it doesn't ever "jump around." The real question is what drivers/os you would have to use to be able to take advantage of the fast speed of the mouse (usb 2.0). However, I have seen many of the older mice do this, in fact I have an older (1-2 yr) microsoft mouse that jumps all over the place if you whip it around, you can really see the difference between the two mice in those fps games. I think the only real problem is if you place the mouse upside down under a ball, the orientation will be reversed, and you have to have some way to "flip" it.

Spencer

[u_rebelscum]

Someone on this board tried this, but IIRC, had problems placing the ball in the correct location and distance from the optical sensor (or vice versa).  He also said something about optical mice expecting to "watch" a flat surface, while the ball being round, causing problems (maybe adding tto the hard to place problem?).  Maybe search to it, it will be more definite than what I remember.  

[BombProofPlane]

LMAO highbandwith mice with usb 2.0???

the mouse only sends coordinates takes very little bandwith

usb just has a lower latency usb 2.0 wont help if there was a usb 2.0 mouse

These are 2 different standards its like how you can play a ps1 game on a ps2 but it wont look any better

the optical trackballs have an array of dots across the ball which makes it easier to track

the earlier optical mice had 2 optical units 1 for horizontal 1 for vertical and it needed a special mouse pad with coresponding lines horizontal and vertical

on a side note imho i believe usb 2.0 blows it got nothing on firewire check some benchmarks in every situation it is much slower

[sirhcman]

Imperial/Betson sells a trackball with ps/2 hookup for around 80 bucks, a little cheaper than happs

[nullb0y]

the way i wish i could do it would be get one of those clear trackballs and wire it to a control pannel  and use it for a system and gaming  device i really wish i had one heh... but i ordered on ebay a regular trackball  mouse.. i hope it works im gonna have a 1player control center hooked into my joystick port my reg keyboard a usb controler and a trackball mouse thois is gonna be fun

[BombProofPlane]

yah i got that trackball too its great many say its better than the happs

but clear balls don't have a good feel and you can barely see the light

[nullb0y]

wanna trade trackba;;s??

[BombProofPlane]

no

[twist]

Why dont you take a pool ball and an optical mouse and do it the EASY way.

Take the axels (sp? the things with the slits in them) and slip a rubber knob or something else on to it, mount the axel, and put the pool ball in so it spins the the axels. That should work well...

[neuromancer]

wouldn't work
reason a the ball is shiny
reason b optical mice can t track the ball that fast it will jump everywhere

Solutions
1) start with an optical trackball instead of optical mouse.
2) draw circles on que ball with fine tip marker.

Bob

[Xiaou2]

  Its all in the breaings.  

The store trackballs use super tiny bearings... and they have poor rolling characteristics.

  The largest ive seen is in the kenningtons... and even those arnt good enough.

 Happs uses bearings that are twice as big with a great roll.   You could use rollerblade bearings and rebuild the assembly... but after all the work you'd put in, you would end up spending almost as much, and a Lot of time and energy - not to mention, probably not as good as a real happ trackball.

 They say, you get what you pay for... and mostly, its true - especially here.

 

[BombProofPlane]

do you people even read the previous posts

the betson trackball is 80 bucks 3" and rolls better than the happs

[Smack]

I used a couple of cheap 2 1/4 Wico trackballs ($25 each) and an Optipac (I think it was like $40). Nice an' easy. I replaced the trackballs with 8-balls to givve them some wieght to spin.

Cheap easy solution if you ask me and works like a charm and a lot less work than a hack.

Smack

[neuromancer]

  Its all in the breaings.  

   The largest ive seen is in the kenningtons... and even those arnt good enough.

The main bearings on my Kensington Expert Mouse are a good 2/3 inch across. The idler is about 1/3 inch. How big do you want?

Bob

[Howard_Casto]

Actually I've experimented with using an optical mouse on a tb.  It will work but it takes proper alignment, a ball with just a little wear and tear (read some scratches)  and most importantly DUAL optical sensors, which eliminate the flat surface problems and gives it more accurate resolution.  Just soemthing to think about.  

[Xiaou2]

  Its all in the breaings.  

   The largest ive seen is in the kenningtons... and even those arnt good enough.

The main bearings on my Kensington Expert Mouse are a good 2/3 inch across. The idler is about 1/3 inch. How big do you want?

Bob

 The Idler should be the same size.   That smaller one will end up causeing drag and slow it all down.   Also,  I forgot to mention the placement of the bearings.  If they are too far appart, it will have the effect of adding more weight or pressure to the bearings - thus drag.   This is why the happs 3"+ inch trackballs arnt as fast and smooth as the 2.5's.

 As I said though,  Kennington has the best bearings Ive seen in a home trackball.