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Trackball Booster Kit from GGG and other trackball sensitivity questions

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markronz:
Hello everyone-
    I have posted before about my new trackball having "drifting issues".  Where you spin the ball, and it will drift a different direction eventually.   I've tried what everyone has said to do.  I cleaned out all the existing oil in the bearings, I used 3-in-1 oil, I've spun the bearings on a drill.   I even tried that with 6 other new bearings too, and those weren't any better.   Well, for all my efforts, the trackball does seem to spin a little better, but it's still far from perfect.   It very hard to pin point what exactly causes it, but some times it just doesn't go in the direction I intended to.   I will play a bowling game, and about every other frame, I can roll the ball straight, the other frames I get gutters.   I'm hoping that over time all the bearings will get even more broken-in, and will start to roll with some consistency.   I seem to be able to drive ok in Golden Tee maybe 80% of the time, but the real problem comes with putting.  I CANNOT put in Golden Tee right now.   If the putting surface says even 1 to the left, and I try to account for that, the ball will go WAAAAY left.  Like it's over sensitive.  Seems almost like there's only a straight up direction, or a diagonal direction, but nothing in between.  Just had a thought, in my MAME config settings, I have the trackball set so that you can control it with the trackball (Mouse 1) OR the Player 1 Joystick.   Do you think that this would have an adverse effect on how the trackball would operate?    I didn't think that it would, and that the trackball would still operate like an analog control, like it should.

I've also been playing with the analog sensitivity settings.    Do you think that tweaking these settings for the different games might help?

Is it correct that the speed settings does NOT change anything with the trackball, since that's analog?   I believe I am on MAME v.128.

Also, I was looking at the trackball booster kit from GGG:
http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=74&products_id=283
Do you think that this will help me at all either?

Or any other tips you have for me?

VanillaGorilla:
Wow dude, you are obsessed! This is how trackballs have always worked. Ultimately they always 'run out' in one direction, the one with the highest coefficient of drag. The only thing you could do, POSSIBLY, is guarantee that the runout of each bearing is EXACTLY the same. That is, with an equal application of force, each bearing will spin precisely the same number of times. Have fun doing that exercise.... >:D

I have the booster kit. It will not solve this problem, but may help with others....

I'm having a vision and I see your future:

 :banghead: :cry: :cry: :cry: :banghead: :cry: :cry: :cry: :banghead: :cry: :cry: :cry: :banghead: :cry: :cry: :cry:

markronz:
Yeah, you must be looking at my past and my future, as I've done my fair share of banging my head on all this already.   

Now I hear you, on everything you said, but something here just isn't right.  While I understand that all trackballs will have some level of drifting, I would have to say that it doesn't affect the gameplay on the others arcades.   For some reason on mine, it does affect the gameplay and makes certain games just unplayable.  If I can't putt in Golden Tee, that's kind of a big deal.   If I can't bowl straight more than half the time, that's also a big deal.  So I know drifting will exist to some extent no matter what, it shouldn't be doing this to the gameplay.   So I am extremely confused why I am having such a hard time with this.   If the drifting isn't causing the issues, then I don't know what is.  I am just looking for some help here because I like my golden tee and bowling games.  Just looking for suggestions on what I can try!

Nephasth:
It's been a while since I read your other thread, but have you tried, or has anyone suggested swapping the ball itself? The ball in your set up may be unbalanced (unlikely, but still a possibility). If you don't have another ball you could take yours out and make a visible mark with a dry erase marker and roll it across a level surface where your mark should stay in the center of the ball while rolling. Doing this will eliminate any difference in drag between the bearings. If it doesn't roll straight and the mark doesn't stay in the center, it's probably unbalanced.

markronz:
Thanks for the suggestion Nephasth.    But yes, I have tried another ball.   I got the lighting upgrade from GGG, so I have the original trackball and the translucent one.  Swapping them out doesn't seem to make any difference.

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