Cheap trackball Hack -- is it possible?

[aristotle]

I was thinking about how I might save some money on arcade parts.  In a previous idea I had, I used a cheap laptop optical mouse (you know, those really small ones) under an old record player's turn table to use as a controller in beatmania.  So, in trying to figure out the cheapest way to get my trackball to work in my cab, I thought that the previous solution would hold true for this one.  Basically, attach the little mouse so it is right under the ball with only a small space about the thickness of a penny between them.  Hopefully, this should work...  Just wondering if anyone else has tried this before and if so could share their experiences with it.  Thx

[DaemonCollector]

The only way that would work is if the trackball had a odd texture or colored dots all over it. An optical mouse works by picking up changes, so a smooth solid colored ball won't work.

[oldsage]

Maybe you should litter the trackball (just a little dirt... , i just slid my optical mouse across a clean surface on my keyboard, and it didn't work, but then i slid it along the bottom (just a little dirt, not a lot...), and it worked perfectly... Also, you'll need to flip the X axis, 'cause otherwise one you move your ball right, the computer thinks your cursor moves left...

BTW, i forgot to mention both surfaces had a solid color, and they were both relatively straight...