I'm working on my mame arcade cabinet, and I think I will have room for a nice Trackball unit. I was wondering how hard it would be to buy a used trackball and fix it up. Is it hard to find the parts? I know Bob Roberts has lots of parts, but are all trackballs different internally?
Here is an example of one on ebay that looks pretty bad:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=13718&item=6146788669&rd=1
Would it be possible to find parts for this?
You can find them, but it's really not worth it to me.
You're going to pay minimum $18.00 for that one, as-is.
Then you are going to pay $21+shipping ($6.00 usually, iirc) at Bob Roberts for the bearings/rollers.
If you don't like that ball color, add another $15.00 at Bob Roberts.
That puts you at $45 without a ball, $60 with.
You can get a BRAND NEW Happ's one
HERE for $60+$9 shipping.
The Happ's ones are generally regarded as a better trackball anyway, so I don't see the purpose to rebuilding one, unless you get it free in a cabinet, or something.
Can anything inside the trackball be broken beyond repair?
You CAN buy everything for the trackball at Bob Roberts, but again you are getting into a price vs. return issue.
At some point it becomes cheaper to buy a complete new unit.
The pieces to build one are about $90+shipping at Bob Roberts.