Imperial/Betson TB's Parts Compatibility

[pfriedel]

Since I hadn't seen this before, I figured I may as well write up my experiences with Imperial/Betson Trackballs and their compatibility with other products.

  I won an eBay auction for $8 ($15 w/ shipping) which got 2 Imperial Trackballs in varied levels of disrepair - one had a cracked case, a bad roller and a crunchy bearing, the other simply had a bad encoder board.  Obviously, I could merge good components into one case and have a working trackball and some spares.  (1 roller, the idler, 1 encoder board, both encoder wheels, a somewhat used ball and the harness.)

  With that auction won, I went ahead and ordered 2 things that I'd heard rumors of compatibility, but no definitive answers. I ordered the Happ boltless mounting plate (http://www.happcontrols.com/trackballs/55110100.htm) and Oscar's USB Interface w/ Happ harness.

  The mounting plate does _not_ work with what I'm guessing is an older style of Imperial TB case - the case is molded with only an Imperial International logo (w/ a billiards ball).  The through holes are just too small to fit over the mounting studs.  No biggie, that was the broken one anyway.  If you're more adventurous than I am, you might be able to drill out those holes to fit as I don't _think_ they're structural.  I believe modern Imperial/Betson trackballs are labelled with "Betson Imperial" on the bottom, and the serial number is a lot more professional looking.

  (Additionally, and on a side note, I hear from Bob Roberts that the "boltless" mounting plate has issues with stripped threads and snapping and other miscellaneous problems.  I guess time will tell.)

  The newer TB _does_ seem to have a Golden Tee "lip" that should be fixable with a few washers.  The plastic lip off the top of the case is higher than the top of the mounting plate, which is a bit, I dunno, sloppy looking.  Not a major problem, though - some washers twixt case and plate should level it up.  (I would guess that's the difference between #47-4300-011 and #47-4300-03 on betson's site.)

  The Oscar USB Interface w/ Happ TB harness worked as advertised, and I didn't need to swap any pins or change anything.  It worked so well that I was able to diagnose why the better of the two Trackballs was failing in one direction - my guess is that the encoder board is fried.  I might be able to fix it with my multimeter and an IR detector, but even if I can't, no biggie.  But that's a testament to how easy the interface/harness is to use - confirm the power lines, figure out that you have the proper line pairs going to the proper pins on the harness and voila, you're set.

  Although I didn't hook it up to the older model, the harness looks the same.  It might not be original to the rest of it, though - it certainly has a few indicators that it's not quite original.

  So I may have a spare trackball that's fixable.  Repair would run from $10.50 for a new encoder and I just live with the roughness to $26 for a new encoder, new chassis, new roller and new bearing.  Not a bad return on a $15 investment.

  To do: Build a new control panel.  *sigh*

[u_rebelscum]

FWIW...

... the Happ boltless mounting plate (http://www.happcontrols.com/trackballs/55110100.htm) and Oscar's USB Interface w/ Happ harness.

  The mounting plate does _not_ work with what I'm guessing is an older style of Imperial TB case - the case is molded with only an Imperial International logo (w/ a billiards ball).  The through holes are just too small to fit over the mounting studs.  No biggie, that was the broken one anyway.  If you're more adventurous than I am, you might be able to drill out those holes to fit as I don't _think_ they're structural.

The old betson TB sounds like the wico $50 3" TB: the TB mounting holes are a little too small to fit the happ mounting studs.  I drilled the TB holes a little bigger, and now it works on happs boltless mounting plate.

Thanks for the info on the old betson TB too-small-hole for happs-boltless-mounting-plate problem.  Good to know.

The newer TB _does_ seem to have a Golden Tee "lip" that should be fixable with a few washers.  The plastic lip off the top of the case is higher than the top of the mounting plate, which is a bit, I dunno, sloppy looking.

If you got the TB from Betson, they'd send a 1/8" thick spacer so the TB mounts correctly.  You might be able to get a "replacement" from betson (happs 1/8" highlip-to-oldschool-lip spacer would work, too), but you can sure get by with washers for less $$.  
(New Golden Tee highlip = 3/16" tall, old standard lip = 1/16" tall).

Good luck on getting them both working!

[pfriedel]

If you got the TB from Betson, they'd send a 1/8" thick spacer so the TB mounts correctly.  You might be able to get a "replacement" from betson (happs 1/8" highlip-to-oldschool-lip spacer would work, too), but you can sure get by with washers for less $$.  
(New Golden Tee highlip = 3/16" tall, old standard lip = 1/16" tall).

Good luck on getting them both working!

 Yah, $1.27 in washers and screws from the local hardware store and it's all set.  The screws that happs supplies are _just_ long enough to hold the TB in - once you stand it off they only begin to thread.  D'oh!