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trackball repair kits
u_rebelscum:
--- Quote from: Wade on March 11, 2003, 08:53:52 am ---I noticed the ball will kind of lift up off the rollers sometimes. I wasn't sure if this was normal or maybe if it was caused by slack from the grooves worn in the rollers. It's been a long time since I've spun a trackball in an arcade.
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Arcade trackballs sometimes lift off, but it'll lift off more often if the rollers have grooves.
--- Quote from: Mike on March 11, 2003, 08:46:47 am ---The grove may not be from wear my wico ball which i think is very similar to the imperial has a groove in the rollers.
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New Wico rollers don't come with grooves (mine didn't). If you don't have problems with the grooves, don't worry about them. If they're deep or uneven, however, you will get better performance if you replaced them. Bob Roberts has some good information on trackballs, rollers, & grooves. (http://www.dameon.net/BBBB/tracks.html is one good page; he has others, too.)
Wade:
Wow, thanks for all the good info. My grooves are very small compared to those in Bob's picture. I might just go with a new ball and bearings.
Thanks,
Wade
MameFan:
Here's a tip if your ball is physically in good shape, but just is yellowed from age:
Buy a gallon of the "Deck Wash" stuff at Home Depot/Lowes/Menards or similar places. It's HIGHLY concentrated bleach. Get an old pickle jar, slide the ball in, then fill the jar over the ball with the deck wash bleach.
Let it sit 12-24 hours, swill it, let it sit another 12-24 hours, swirl again. Perhaps wait one more day. Swirl as often as you like (to prevent a single spot from not geting as much bleach).
A few days later, the ball should be NOTICEABLY lighter (more ivory not yellow, depending on type).
I've brought many a ball back to a nicer condition by doing this.
Wade:
I was thinking about getting a translucent blue ball but I might just try that. My ball seems to be smooth enough but it just looks bad. It has lots of marks on it too. Thanks for the suggestion, if I try it I'll post my result here.
Wade