Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: hulkster on January 15, 2004, 09:12:13 pm
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alright, im going to start building my cp soon, and i want a blue illuminated trackball for golden tee mainly. ive never worked with trackballs...as far as buying and putting together and stuff....so i need to know the best place to buy. ive looked at happ and they have tons of trackballs and i want to make sure i order the right one. so once i get the right one, plus a mounting plate (from somewhere...wheres the best place?) what do i need to power this thing, or do i need power for it? im talking about the lights, and the trackball itself. can someone please enlighten me?
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Get the Golden Tee trackball for Happs for $69. Also order the Translucent ball and Happs mounting plate, the one that bolts from beneath. Buy Oscars mouse hack and trackball harness for around $6 to $12. Buy a couple bright LEDs to mount under the trackball and power them from either your IPac or the PCs power supply.
Thanks to Oscar, everything connects very nicely with the Harness.
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Here (http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=14813;start=msg115649#msg115649) is a link to a thread about the balls. Check for track balls there. You may find the cover plate as well. Try Arcade Amusements (http://www.arcadeshop.com) as well. You can try video connect (http://www.videoconnect.com) as well. Even Andy Warne (http://ultimarc.com)has them. You may consider checking Quarter Arcade (http://www.quarterarcade.com)
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okay, im not able to find this trackball harness and mouse hack on oscarcontrols.com??? where is it? remember i dont know anything about trackballs.
are you saying that i buy the golden tee trackball set thing from happ, and then take out the white trackball and replace it with a blue translucent trackball i buy from happ. and then hook up the other stuff somehow?
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okay i just went to ultimarc.com and was looking at the optipac. as far as i know, i need an optipac and a happs trackball and mounting plate, and thats all i need. no mouse hack and all that stuff. i dont want to solder or screw up a mouse or anything, im fine with buying an optipac. is this all i need?
-optipac
-happ blue translucent trackball
-mounting plate (not sure which model) from happ
i read some installation instructions on the ultimarc site and they said i didnt need any additional stuff. also, if i want to illuminate it with blue led's, do i just buy them from happ or something and then wire it to the optipac?
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Actually check the Buy/Sell section of this board, someone is selling their trackball... and might take 1/2 of $70. Plus about $20 for the ball you want.
The mounting plate from Happs is about $10
http://www.oscarcontrols.com/cgi-bin/cart.pl?DT=1
Trackball Harness is the very last item $8
USB mouse interface (with or without buttons) $8/$12.50
(You could hack one yourself, but a very reasonable price for saving so much time and effort)
The other stuff is very easy to hook up... plug n' play as it were.
I'm very happy with my Happ's Trackball... except that I never replaced the white ball. They should sell sets as well with the color trackball you want... but I think due to the current sale, you still wind up saving money by buying it seperate.
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okay so are you giving me an alternative to buying an optipac? im confused.
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okay so are you giving me an alternative to buying an optipac? im confused.
OptiPac is like the Cadilac of mouse interfaces. If you need/want one buy one. However, you don't need one. I have a trackball and spinner, and am using two of Oscars pre-hacked interfaces. So I can use them at the same time (not that I do). Saves quite a few bucks.
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oh okay, i understand now. i got another question though. in order to light my trackball....i have to have superbright LED's. well how am i supposed to power these? i dont want to do any soldering or anything like that or buy any crazy resistors. how do i get light to my trackball?
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A simple solution is to use USB powered light sticks like the ones here:
http://k3www.com/electronics/cc/items/Antec-Blue-LED-Dual-Mini-Light-Stick.html
I'm using these under my clear trackball and it looks great. I would recommend filtering the light through a piece of paper though, otherwise you can actually see the light sticks through the trackball. Filtering through the paper gives a nice uniform glow to the ball.
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alright, so how long do these last? i dont want to buy some and they find out they will go out real soon.
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You'll be long gone before the LEDs expire.
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okay one more question about trackballs.....i see that the golden tee ones are on sale. could i buy one of these from happs, and buy a blue translucent trackball from happs, and then buy some led's from that site, along with an interface like the optipac or the stuff from oscar and be good to go? i want to have a glowing blue trackball to mount flush underneath some cp art. i know i need a mounting plate, and i was told to get one that has the screws underneath. is all this correct?
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anybody?
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nobody gonna help me out here? i didnt think it was too hard of a question.
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I don't know what's sadder... the fact that people assume message boards always give real-time reponses or when they don't read an entire thread ::)
Wasn't your question already answered in the 2nd post ???
(with the exception of the LEDs, which jagnogg posted a suggestion for).
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answered somewhat. i wanted confirmation though. and i dont think thats sad. i just want to make exactly sure i get the right thing. a trackball doesnt exactly constitute as pocket change to me so i want to make SURE that i am getting all that i need the first time around. last time i made a cab, i had to order stuff like 2 or 3 times, cuz i didnt understand something. so im taking extra precautions. cool?