Question on mounting a 3" Betson Trackball

[Wyluli]

Ok, yes, I managed to build a working control panel and I have a nice cab and I'm working on putting together a computer to run it all!!!  Yippee!
I'm still a Newb to the whole Trackball thing though.  I bought a Betson Trackball (pictured below) and I have a few (probably stupid) questions.  I plan on purchasing a mouse hack from Oscar's to interface it.
1. My first question is I need to mount the thing.  I was looking on Bob roberts website and noticed he has a 3" Happs NB trackball mounting plate.  Is this what I need to mount it?  Do the screws go thru the plastic trackball housing and then connect to the plate from underneath?  I'm guessing I will have to cut a huge hole in my 3/4" MDF to open up space for the trackball and just have the plate hold it into place.

2. How can one tell if the rollers/bearings need replaced?  I noticed Bob sells imperial trackball replacement parts.    The trackball seems to roll fine, but doesn't keep rolling long if you give it a  good hard spin.  What should I look for?

I'm not really into golf games, just all the other non-golf games (centipede etc..)
Any advice on this would be great.  Anything else I should consider for this trackball before attempting to hook her up and order stuff?

Thanks.

[Will]

Im not a trackball expert but I think that your trackball is working just fine.Supposedly imperial trackballs do not spin as long as Happ's.As far as good games that use a track ball look no further than Marble Madness probably the first game after centipede to make great use of a trackball.

[hiperco]

I got this one here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=13718&item=6148096380&rd=1

It worked well.  But you do need to make a large hole.  There is some margin for error, but not a lot (about 1/4 in on each side).

My trackball was used but with new rollers/bearings installed.  It doesn't spin for a tremendously long time, so probably yours is fine.

[Grauwulf]

I have 4 of those trackballs, and none of them spin all that long, even the one with new rollers and bearings. So you're probaby fime. Io would take it apart and clean it though if you haven't already. It's probably full of dirt and crud.