Xbox trackball...

[pinballjim]

Well, time to do something with some of these parts I'm gathering up for the eventual Xbox/LCD setup.

Already using an X-Arcade duostick with CoinOps, so I thought I'd do something somewhat inspired by their trackball.  Then I realized I had leftover wood from Konkey Dong laying around and I could just round off the corners and speed this along.

For freehand routing and two stools as a workbench, I was pretty pleased with how this came out.  (Bet you can't guess which side I did after my wife announced she was bored... grrr...)



Little wood putty and sanding.  Not too big a deal since I'm going to slap some kind of overlay on this anyway.



So there it is with the parts dropped in and t-molding slot cut.  I've since sanded the rough edges and gave it a coat of black spray paint.  I need to grab some L-brackets from the hardware store anyway, so I'll have them cut the boards for the sides.

Chugging along...

[pinballjim]

I seriously hate Lowes.

Anyway....



 

[pinballjim]

Sanded off all that gnarly wood putty, drilled holes for the feet, gave the bottom, insides, and outside walls a coat of black.  Then I dredged up a can of stone texture I had laying around to do the sides.  Obviously this will need repainted black when it dries.



Dimensions are about 14"x11" at 5/8" MDF for the control panel, the side panels are 13.5" and 10.5" by 4 at 1/2" pine 'hobby board'  Bottom boards are roughly 10.5" by 2" wide and maybe 3/4" thick.  USB cord is just going to dangle out of the bottom for now.

Approximate consumable costs thus far:

4x8 sheet of MDF - $20 (I've already used most of this for two other countertop machines)
3 sheets of 4x24x0.5 hobby board - $3/ea.  I bought an extra in case I screwed one up, I think I could have used it for the bottom.
USB mouse - $6 (I went through several to find one that would work with an Xbox)
Xbox USB adapter - $7
3 cans of black spray paint - $1/each
1 can of stone texture - $8
4 leveling feet - $3
Betson Trackball - $20
Trackball Mounting Plate / 6 pushbuttons - $20
4 pack of L-brackets - $3/each.  I used two packs.
T-molding - eh figure $10 worth
Wood Putty - $4
Various wood screws - $5


This hobby is NOT for the financially faint of heart.  This trackball is coming out rock solid, though.

[Louis Tully]

.

[pinballjim]

High tech carriage bolt painting.  79 nice cents foam slapped on with some Elmer's Spray Adhesive.  Need to let this all set for about an hour in the sun and then I can trim and put the t-molding on.  This project's just about over...

[pinballjim]

And this one is done for now... 100% functional with PC and Xbox.





 

[steveh]

Nice. If im reading this right, you hacked a mouse then used an adapter. Do you have links to the mouse and adapter you used. What games do you use this for on the xbox?


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[rablack97]

Nice. If im reading this right, you hacked a mouse then used an adapter. Do you have links to the mouse and adapter you used. What games do you use this for on the xbox?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Here is Jim's bad ass explanation.......

CoinOPs Trackball

Great work PBJ

[pinballjim]

Yep, this for use primarily with CoinOps.  Trackball support, of sorts, was added at some point in the version 3 revisions but I'd suggest just snagging CoinOps 4 (sitting on usenet at ~40GB).  You can play the usual suspects like Missile Command and Millipede. 

I believe with the addition of a Smartjoy Frag you could get this to map to the right thumbstick and use it for regular Xbox games.  I may end up doing that anyway so I can put a keyboard encoder in this box and add coin and start buttons.


Golden Tee has thus far kept me from migrating this from my desk to the gameroom.... 

[rablack97]

Hey PBJ,

This isn't dead and coming along nicely......the smartjoy frag hack has been put to rest.

Xbox Encoder Teaser

If you want a few more smartjoys to play with i have a few extra left over to sell cheap....

[pinballjim]

Turns out you can remap the controls in CoinOps, you just have to enable it in Advanced Settings.

I have it set so that mouse buttons 1+2 = 1 player start, 2+3 = coin 1, 1+2+3 = game exit.  Now it can all be played entirely with the trackball.  Shame there's no Golden Tee 2k but whatcha gonna do.

 

[pinballjim]

http://www.myleague.com/gtgoldtimers/

Found this website, they've got some weird hack of Golden Tee PC with a ton of additional courses.  It appears legit.