Is my Happ trackball dead?

[Skadar]

My cabinet has a SlikStick classic that I purchased in September, 2005 and it seems like the Happ trackball might be dying.  My cabinet gets used by other people when I'm not around, and the other day I noticed that the vertical tracking was pretty much dead.

In Windows or in MAME I still get good horizontal movement, but spinning the ball forward or backward will only produce tiny jerky movements up and down.  In order to "work" the cursor up the screen I have to spin the ball forward with slight back and forth angles.

Is there any thing to look for physically with the trackball unit?  Might this be repairable?

Thanks for any tips.
Steve

[Kaytrim]

Sounds like one of two possible issues.  The ball or roller is dirty.  The encoder wheel is busted.  The only way to find out for sure is to open it up and look around.  Post some pics when you do so we can help you better if needed.

TTFN 
Kaytrim

[unclet]

Possibly the encoder wheel is no longer aligned properly with the optics.   Perhaps this is due to someone pounding on the trackball to here, thus bending something out of alignment?

[Skadar]

Thanks for the tips!  I just started up the cabinet and tried playing with the trackball more in Windows.  It appears to behave a bit differently now.  The vertical-up tracking is much better, but still jerky.  Vertical-down is still as bad as before.

However, the fact that the behavior is different leads me to believe that perhaps it just needs a good cleaning!  I'll take it apart later to see what I find.

Cheers!

[Kaytrim]

That very well may be the case.  I have to do that with the old style ball mice on occasion.  It's why I like the optical mice better.    More than likely you will find some gunk built up on the rollers.  Just scrape that off and you will be golden once again.

TTFN
Kaytrim

[u_rebelscum]

Another possibility is GT is played a lot, so the vertical roller has worn down a lot.  Check the wear on the rollers, and replace if needed.  (see bottom of page.)