Translucent Trackball question...

[Effayy]

I've been mulling this idea in my head for a while, but I'd like to get some opinions from those of you who already own a trackball....

I've seen (somewhere, but I forget) that you can buy a crystal-clear trackball.  I was wondering how (if) they diffused light properly if backlit by LED.  Would the entire trackball light up properly in a dark room, or would the light simply pass through it and project on the ceiling? 

I was also wondering if there was enough room at the base of the trackball itself to insert a peice of cardstock with a design cut out of it.  If The LED sat underneath the pattern, which in turn sat underneath the trackball, would you be able to see that design clearly when looking down on the trackball?

- FA

[MovingTarget]

I think the light would be somewhat diffused but I'm confident there would be angles that wouldn't show any light at all (like maybe if you were standing directly to the side of it.

As for the pattern idea, there really isn't that much empty space beneth the ball to put a pattern much bigger than a quarter.  I'm guessing you could see it if you looked straight down the ball at it or at least a warped view of it (like a fun house mirror). 

I'm not sure the effect you're imagining would be very dramatic.  Maybe you could pick up a cheap translucent ball (glass or plastic) from someplace like Pier One imports and do some experimenting.  That would be cheaper than buying the trackball.

[rdagger]

I have a clear 3" Happ trackball and it does not diffuse the light well.  If you put an LED directly below the ball, you will see a round colored circle on the ceiling.  The ball tends to focus the light.  An incandescent bulb works better because it disperses the light more, but is still not great and can be distracting to game play. 
Your best bet is probably this one:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=51991.0

[ahofle]

I agree that the translucent trackballs do not disperse light well with one LED. 
The other option is to wait until this is available from whammoed:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=51658.0

[JustMichael]

Clear trackballs act as a spherical lens and will focus the light on the ceiling.  The milky white translucent trackballs become the color that shines into them.

[Cameronj]

Groovy Game Gear has their Electric ICE balls that glow well without the above problems, but your graphic image wouldn't be accomplished through that route.

[Xiaou2]

 
 Simply cut one of those white plastics cutting boards up.. and place the piece between the LED and the trackball.
That should diffuse the light perfectly..  and still be very much lit up.

 You could even embed the led into the plastic,  by drilling a hole into it.

[KillerArcades]

Simply cut one of those white plastics cutting boards up.. and place the piece between the LED and the trackball. That should diffuse the light perfectly..

ehhh,.... I'd stick with what was mentioned above. The plastic from a cutting board would definitely spread the light well - within itself, but that's not going to change how the light interacts with the clear trackball enough to make the tball capture the light properly though, imho. And that type of plastic (if it's like the two white plastic cutting boards we have in our house) will most likely catch most of the light and not pass much of it through like you would need to get the same level of intensity within the tball.

From my experience, you have two options, buy the totally clear ball and have a nice glow on your ceiling that people chuckle at and enjoy for the first 20 minutes, or you can get the "milky white" translucent ball mentioned above and have it glow the way most people envision and it will look great with whatever color LED's you mount. But you're not going to be able to get that stencil light working like you want, because even if you REALLY want that and get a clear tball to do it, think of how much damage you'll do to your friend's retinas every time you have one of them look down the center of that magnifying glass of a ball to look at your cool batman logo (or whatever image).

you know what they say: "With friends like that....."
 

[Xiaou2]

 not the case.  People have done it already with transparent buttons.
The high  intensity LEDs are so bright that even when shining thru the white plastic,
create a strong light source -  simular in nature to a typical screw in bulb.

 

[ahofle]

Simply cut one of those white plastics cutting boards up.. and place the piece between the LED and the trackball. That should diffuse the light perfectly..

From my experience, you have two options, buy the totally clear ball and have a nice glow on your ceiling that people chuckle at and enjoy for the first 20 minutes,

You should really check out this video from the link I mentioned before completely writing off translucent trackball illumination:

http://www.nicemite.com/LightmiteTB/lmtbProto.MPG

Granted it's not available yet, but it demonstrates that it's certainly possible to beautifully illuminate a clear trackball.  I personally think the translucent trackballs look much cooler than the frosted ones, but that's just me. 

[MovingTarget]

I'm guessing you want a clear trackball because you want to change colors?  If that's not the case then just get a translucent ball in the color you want.  I've got a blue Happ Trans ball lit with 3 high intensity blue LEDs and it looks great.  No light spot on the ceiling and the color is evenly spread throughout the ball. 

However, I couldn't put a graphic at the bottom and expect it to be visible from the top.

[Effayy]

Thanks for the replies. 

Just for a little background.... I'm building a MK Themed cab, and one day while I was avoiding work and thinking up ideas, I thoguth it'd be neat to somehow position the MK Dragon logo (cut out of black card stock or something) at the bottom of the trackball.  The LED light would still shine through the holes in the logo, and illuminate the TB, but if you looked down at the ball, you'd see the logo.

It's nothing too serious, and I don't want to invest too much dough on an idea that wouldn't work out in the end, which is why I was asking those of you who already have a clear ball.

ahofle:  That does look sweet, what product is it?

MovingTarget:  Nope, just a red LED. Well, maybe cycle different shades of red/orange/yellow to simulate the look of fire.  Who knows.

[ahofle]

ahofle:  That does look sweet, what product is it?

It's a custom board designed by one of the members here: whammoed.  This is the thread where he announced it:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=51658.0

Unfortunately, last we heard he was in the process of moving and hasn't had time to release them yet.