Trackball wiring/mounting question

[bhille]

First, I want to thank everyone that helped me on my last post.  That really helped out a lot.  I love you guys!  

Now I have a new problem.  I'm really torn between the Wico and Happs 3" trackball.  I'm going to have a wooden panel, so I'm trying to hide as many screws as possible.  WIth both of the trackballs, I need to get a mounting plate, right?  Will the "Atari trackball" mounting plate from the Real Bob Roberts work?

Now, will both the Wico and Happ will feed directly to an Optipac without any additional hardware?  Is there a big difference in the way these feel?  Are there any other trackballs I should be looking at that will connect to the Optipac?

Thanks.  Brian

[Vesper]

I can't comment on the Wico trackball, but I can tell you about the Happ.

The Happ trackball with mounting plate shows no screws.  It's flush, although has a black slightly textured surface.  You can also wire the Happ trackball directly to the Optipac.  Or, if you want to be adventurous, you can hack the Happ trackball to a PS/2 or USB mouse.  I went this route so now my trackball acts as a mouse in Windows.  Works great.  (Actually, I hacked my spinner to a mouse too, and avoided the Optipac altogether).

The other thing I did was "sink" the trackball mounting plate into the CP with a router.  This allowed me to overlay artwork and only the ball itself is showing.

- Mike

[SirPoonga]

Well, The Wico is essentially the same, thanks to JAMMA.

A 3" track ball is a 3" trackball, whether Wico, Imperial, Happ/Atari, whatever.  All the trackballs mount exactly the same.  I have a happ plate with a wico trackball, no probs there, because manufactures pretty much have to make them alike.  Kinda like spec racing.

BTW, there are two mounting plates at happ, one that showsw screws and one that doesn't.

[bhille]

The Happ trackball with mounting plate shows no screws.  It's flush, although has a black slightly textured surface.  You can also wire the Happ trackball directly to the Optipac.  Or, if you want to be adventurous, you can hack the Happ trackball to a PS/2 or USB mouse.  I went this route so now my trackball acts as a mouse in Windows.  Works great.  (Actually, I hacked my spinner to a mouse too, and avoided the Optipac altogether).

So, if you use the trackball through the Optipac it won't work as a Windows mouse?  I thought that was all the Optipac was for, much like the IPac is for a keyboard.

Thanks again.  Brian

[Carsten Carlos]

So, if you use the trackball through the Optipac it won't work as a Windows mouse?

Of course it would!

Hm, when I put Lexan (and my artwork) above the mounting-plate, is there still enough ball left? I got two of the 3" golden-tea-trackballs from Happ.

[MrBond]

I just recently hacked a Wico trackball directly to a ps/2 mouse.  Took me a while to figure out the wiring, but works great now.  Next step is to get a spinner.  Any suggestions which to get?

[bhille]

Where is the cheapest place to get a trackball?  I saw that Happs and Wico want $90.  Is this something you guys are watching ebay or refurbished somewhere?

I heard that a 3" trackball is all the same (Happ/Wico/Bensen/etc) in terms of hook up, mounting, etc.  Is this also true as for replacement parts?  I'm thinking about refurb kits to fix the rollers, etc.

Thanks.  Brian

[Vesper]

So, if you use the trackball through the Optipac it won't work as a Windows mouse?  I thought that was all the Optipac was for, much like the IPac is for a keyboard.

Yes the Optipac will let you use the trackball as a mouse.  The only problem you may run into is that you are limited on the number of serial-mice in Windows.  Normally, the Optipac sends all of its inputs through 2 serial cables.  In Windows, you'll be limited to one, so you can "save" a channel by wiring to a PS/2 mouse.   I hacked up 2 mice to avoid the Optipac altogether and it ended up being cheaper.  ($7 for each mouse and a little time for the soldering/wiring).  

[bhille]

Maybe I'm thinking about this too hard.  If I wanted to have a real mouse plugged into the PS/2 port, and have the Optipac plugged into the serial port what issues would I face?  I'm gathering that windows will have the Optipac and the PS/2 mouse as the system mouse.  Is that the only issue?  I guess if people got too rough with the cab and bumped the mouse, that would effect gameplay.  How are others that have a keyboard/mouse drawer handling this?

Brian

[Tiger-Heli]

Where is the cheapest place to get a trackball?  I saw that Happs and Wico want $90.

Wico's were $50, last I checked (about 2 weeks ago).

[rampy]

Where is the cheapest place to get a trackball?  I saw that Happs and Wico want $90.

Wico's were $50, last I checked (about 2 weeks ago).

FWIW you can get a refurb betson imperial for 29.99 from betson

You can search for stock number  47-4300-01R

*deleted* - bad link
rampy

FYI I ordered one  when it arrives, I'll be sure to post my findings...

***EDIT*** better url this time maybe

[OSCAR]

Hm, when I put Lexan (and my artwork) above the mounting-plate, is there still enough ball left? I got two of the 3" golden-tea-trackballs from Happ.

You should be okay.  I was just playing a GT 2003 tonite at a local bar, and that has about 2mm (1/16") lexan over the control panel artwork.  I hardly noticed the difference over my cab that has a 3" Betson with the mounting plate installed directly on top of my control panel.  The top of a Betson 3" ball sticks up about 15-16mm above the top of the mounting plate, so losing a couple of mm due to lexan shouldn't cause you much problem.

[SirPoonga]

Yeah, I have plexi on my CP, no issues with my tball.  But my tball plate is ontop of the plexi.

Also, Atari tball=Happ tball.

[u_rebelscum]

I got a 3" wico and a 3" (high-lip/golf) happs trackball.

My happs spins longer and the ball/casing fitting is better (no rattle) than my wico.  My wico feels little smoother when I roll the ball, but the ball rattles a little if I hit it the right (wrong) way.  I think others have found the wico smoother also.  IMO, my happs has a slightly better lip around the ball than the wico; there's less space between the ball and the lip to catch my skin.  Not that I even pinched my skin with either while playing; I did pinch once while mousing around in windows.   I'm still debating which 3" I like more, though.

I bought two a happs mounting plates.  I had to enlarge the wico mounting bolt holes a little so it would fit onto the plate, but it was very easy.  Just re-drilled the holes with a slightly bigger drill bit.  

Oh, and the happs trackball fits the mounting "perfectly", while the wico lip diameter is a little smaller, so there's a small gap between the plate and the trackball lip.  (Not that I can see it; with the black TB casing & black mounting plate.)  If you cover it with graphics, no worries at all.

As for lexan, the happs high-lip (I didn't know about the high-ball) and the benson have spacers that can be removed so the lip of the ball sits higher than the happs mounting plate.  The wico I got and the older happs 3" don't have the spacers, so they can only be at the level of the mounting plate.

Casings:
The happs trackball casing is the smallest, the wico a little bigger, and the benson the largest of these three.  So a bigger hole would need to be cut for the benson than the wico, a little smaller hole for the happs than the wico.

Hope not repeating stuff you already know.

[Tiger-Heli]

Where is the cheapest place to get a trackball?  I saw that Happs and Wico want $90.

Wico's were $50, last I checked (about 2 weeks ago).

FWIW you can get a refurb betson imperial for 29.99 from betson

You can search for stock number  47-4300-01R


attempt at direct link
rampy

FYI I ordered one  when it arrives, I'll be sure to post my findings...

Great deal,  Is this just something they run from time to time, your link came up "no longer available"

[Howard_Casto]

Ebay is also a good source.... I picked up a full control panel to an old bowling game with a new happs tb in it for a little bit of nothing.  You have to expect the worst though when you go that route as the optics are often bad.  You can make optics for a little it of nothing though.