Main > Main Forum
Trackball problems - any tips for me?
markronz:
--- Quote from: bpark42 on December 07, 2010, 10:26:32 am ---
--- Quote from: markronz on December 07, 2010, 10:15:05 am ---About the "regular lubricating oil"... I'm not normally a very mechanical person, so all I have is WD40. I can get other stuff at the store, but could you clarify a little more as to what "regular lubricating oil" is exactly? Or what I would be looking for when I went to the store?
--- End quote ---
Get some 3 in 1 oil. Just ask for it at home depot/lowes/your hardware store.
--- End quote ---
Thanks! I will ask for this. Is it like a spray that I just spray onto the bearings? Or is it a thicker stuff that I need to rub onto it? If thicker, I assume I would just rub this onto the sides of the bearings and that's all I'd need to do right?
--- Quote from: BobA on December 07, 2010, 10:33:11 am ---New trackballs most times have thick grease in the bearings and this has to be worked out for the trackball to function properly.
--- End quote ---
When you say worked out, what do you mean by this? Should I just spend some time spinning my trackball to get this worked out then?
bpark42:
--- Quote from: markronz on December 07, 2010, 11:36:49 am ---Thanks! I will ask for this. Is it like a spray that I just spray onto the bearings? Or is it a thicker stuff that I need to rub onto it? If thicker, I assume I would just rub this onto the sides of the bearings and that's all I'd need to do right?
--- End quote ---
You just drip it on. The spout is made for precise direct application. Afterward give the rollers a good spin, either by hand or in a drill. Make sure the rollers and the ball are clean before you put everything back together.
nancyd589:
Hi !
I've just visited this forum. Happy to get acquainted with you. Thanks.
__________________
Watch The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Online Free
markronz:
Ok, so I am finally revisiting this issue as it is still not resolved. I bought new bearings for my trackball from GGG, and its a little better, but still not quite right. I did a little testing. If I pick up a roller, and give the bearings a good spin with my finger, 4 of the 6 of them will continue to spin for 6 - 8 seconds. The remaining two bearings will only spin for maybe 2 seconds. So I'm gonna have a crazy guess here, and guess that my trackball problems are directly related to the poorly spinning bearings.
Tomorrow I am going to go get some 3-in-1 oil from the hardware store to put on all of them. I've read in this thread and in others that applying a drop to one side, then spinning for a while on a drill works best. Then flipping and repeating. Can someone give me more details about this process?
What's the best way to spin them with a drill without them flying off?
Is there a limit as to how fast I should spin the drill? Can I just give 'er?
Is there a length of time I should spin them for? Is a minute enough? Is there such a thing as too much spinning in this fashion?
Oh, and is the one drop of 3-in-1 accurate? Or should I soak them in it? Or is less oil better?
Thanks!
markronz:
Alright, I purchased some "electronics cleaner" from Radio Shack, and used this to clean out the bearings. This was what someone suggested on a different thread. After using this on them, they all seemed to spin much better than ever before. I then used some 3-in-1 oil in each bearing. This slowed them down a bit, from when there was nothing in them, but they still spinned pretty well. And in the long run, I am sure having oil in there is best. I spun them on a drill for a few minutes each as well. Basically I just put a pencil and tightened it in my drill. Then I put the bearing on the tip of the pencil. I held onto the bearing, and turned the drill on. So anyway, I did this for a few minutes each. I put my newly cleaned, newly oiled, freshly spun bearings back into my trackball. It still does not spin correctly. When I give it a good push upwards, the cursor still goes up straight for a moment, and then drifts to the upper left. If I spin it downward, it drifts to the lower right. As shown in my picture that I originally attached. However the drift is much much much more severe than what I've portrayed in my picture.
I feel like throwing this trackball out the window... :angry:
So, I now have two entire trackballs, complete with bearings and encoder wheels and everything. I also have two more additional encoder wheels, and 6 extra bearings. With all of these items, I cannot get one single working trackball. No matter what combination of bearings, wheels etc, I use, I can't get it to roll right. The drift ruins everything. It makes games like Golden Tee and any bowling game virtually unplayable. I rarely, if ever, can get a straight drive/roll. I've tried using both trackball cases (with their included optical sensor things). Both do the same thing, so I know it's not the sensors that are the problem.
What am I doing wrong here guys? Do your trackballs go completely straight up and stay straight when you give them a good push? Should I just give up here? I am at a complete loss.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version