Ultimarc trackball review?

[jcoleman]

Has anyone had luck, good or bad, with the Ultimarc trackballs?  They're significantly cheaper than Happ's units, even with shipping.

Thanks,

John

[SeanCyrusTowel]

just for a note, they are not 3" they are 2 1/4" which is the standard pool ball size

[GGKoul]

Yep.  If you order a ball from Ultimarc order the plate as well.  As 2 1/4 plate can be hard to find.

[gmorse]

I'm very happy with mine.  Only thing to keep in mind is if you hook it up to a mouse hack, you'll need to use a 2.2k pull up resistor on each x and y line.  Took me a while to get the thing to work because of that, but it's well worth the money.

Definitely order the mounting plate as well.  I didn't and it took me quite a while to jury rig a solution.  Would have saved a lot of grief.

[jcoleman]

I'm actually planning to mount it in one of the Multicade trackball panels over at www.arcadeshop.com (which require a 2.25" trackball), so I won't need the mounting plate.  I'm also hooking it up to a MiniPAC, so the resistor shouldn't be an issue.  Thanks for the responses!

[mahuti]

My review = I like mine, and don't want the larger size.

[mahuti]

One piece of advice I have about ANY trackball is to break it in. Install it, then press on it pretty hard and slowly roll it in every direction. Oil the bearings a bit too. There are a number of postings that have some pretty good tips on breaking in a trackball.

I spent a few minutes breaking in, then a few days working the thing over... it definitely worked much better after the break in period. It's down to personal taste... there isn't any objective reason that an Ultimarc 2.25" trackball won't work for you. If you want to get into a trackball for cheap, and don't have access to an ultracade company discount, the Ultimarc is a good place to start. You can always sell it and get most of your money back on the Buy/Sell/Trade forums if you find you really don't like it.

[Minwah]

My generalization is that the angular inertia of the rotation of the ball feeds back to your sense of touch and you can accelerate and decelerate the ball for more precise movement.  As the ball becomes too small, movement becomes too jerky.  As the ball becomes too big, things just get silly.  3" is the sweet spot in my opinion.  Also, small trackballs == crappy is my opinion.  This is easy to verify by trying one of the extremes like a 0.5" trackball that is built into a keyboard.  Very very crappy.

I don't altogether agree...PC trackballs aren't designed to spin as such, arcade one's are.  I must say I have only used a handful of 2 1/4" trackballs, but they played like a dream - one was in a restored Centipede so was probably a Happ style one.

I'm actually disappointed with my Happ 3" trackball's spin (it's notchy and makes a strange noise, there's a thread on here somewhere)...I'd considered trying a 2 1/4" one instead...

[Level42]

Ultimarc

[Minwah]

but I trust Minwah's judgement and I've no experience with either of these trackballs yet so I can't comment really.

Don't get me wrong Happ's seem to be rated the best.  But here's the thread with my trackball problem in for reference...seems a lot of other people have the same problem apparently:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=24473.0

[AndyWarne]

Ahigh, I don't think my answer was a "cop out".
I have advised several people that if the trackball does not roll 100% freely then this would be because of the grease in the bearings being rather stiff when new. The solution is to lift out the shafts and soak the bearings in WD40. I have had several customers reply that this has worked 100%.
Andy W

[Hoopz]

My Ultimarc one is great.  It fits well in my control panel, spins great and I have not had any problems with it. 

It was the best value for what I needed/had room for.  I wouldn't swap it for another one.

[mahuti]

Yeah, ditto. Fits in a defender CP.

[RayB]

I bought two of them.

[Crazy Cooter]

Is that before or after following Andy's advice?

[Level42]

http://home.comcast.net/~aaronhightower/trackball/

--
- Ahigh

Ah, this prooves my thought that the Ultimarc trackballs are Suzo's (STC Rotterdam embossed on the ring around the ball).

I'd say that the red actualy rolls about as good (or bad ?) as the Atari home version I "felt" recently. Not bad for a very cheap trackball.....if you can find one....

[jcoleman]

Thanks all - I ended up going with the Atari version (probably manufactured by Happ) from Bob Roberts.  He could get me a black ball for no charge, and I needed other stuff from him anyway.

[Crazy Cooter]

One thing I always do to old TB's is apply 3-in-1 oil (available at Home Depot for ~$3) to the bearings.  I clean them in WD-40 first, and oly use 2 drops.  Then I run them in the palm of my hand for about a minute in each direction.

They spin like a mofo after that  .  Try that and see how much of a difference it makes.

[RayB]

The trackballs have barely been touched since arriving from Ultimarc.

[Crazy Cooter]

I never thought about using a drill.  I have a set of bearings that have a TON of rust on them.  I bet a drop of "lock lubricant" (contains a touch of graphite) would scrub off that rust!

[u_rebelscum]

One thing I always do to old TB's is apply 3-in-1 oil (available at Home Depot for ~$3) to the bearings.  I clean them in WD-40 first, and oly use 2 drops.

Yes.  WD-40 is not really a lubricant, but a degreaser.  Regreasing or reoiling after using WD-40 is a Good Idea.

[Level42]

But I'll keep on being this way (hard to please).

[JustMichael]

But I'll keep on being this way (hard to please).  I guess it would be cool to have an arcade optical trackball (like my kensington).

I thought all trackballs were optical ??

Yes and no.  I believe he is talking about the kind of trackball that doesn't use rollers to sense when the ball is moved.  What I mean is there are trackballs that actually "see" the ball move and then communicate that movement to the computer.  My Logitech TrackMan Marble+ is one.  No rollers at all, it just has 3 little plastic beads that hold up the ball.  As for sensing movement there is just a window below and to the right of the ball.
Arcade trackballs turn rollers which have a wheel attached (to each direction roller) and the movement of these wheels are read and sent to the computer.

[Level42]

Got it, thanks !!

[johnnysmitch]

I'm thinking about getting an Ultimarc trackball for my next project - anyone have any luck finding a translucent ball for these?

[jcoleman]

Bob Roberts has 2.25" xlucent trackballs.

http://homearcade.org/BBBB/parts.html