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Trackball Purchase question

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Richardgregory:
DaOld Man:  How does the Sparkfun trackball "feel" in terms of trackballs from Happ per se?  Is it good enough for games and offer a great feel.  Ie. Golden Tee, Centipede.

How tall is this trackball?  The website says 1.6 inches high, but watching the video it looks a lot taller than the specs.


Thanks for the info.



--- Quote from: DaOld Man on August 11, 2014, 09:44:38 pm ---I used that sparkfun trackball on my "A Little Rage" build. It is still holding up pretty good.
How I mounted it is in the build thread (link in my signature below.)

Edit by moderator:  Trackball mounting in the DaOld Man's thread begins here.

--- End quote ---

Richardgregory:
I'm going to get one of these Sparkfun trackballs too....looks like a decent price for what you get.

But, now the dilemma:  I don't want to rebuild another control panel!  So this might sound nutty, but I was thinking of just taking out the trackball and placing it on top of the control panel when needed - I don't play much trackball games, but if I do, the option is there.  Now the question is:

How would I mount it to the control panel if I go through this route?  In a way, that I can attach or detach quickly.    I'm sure some bright minds here can give me some ideas.  So far, I've thought of suction cups. 

Thoughts?

BobA:
Industrial strength Velcro?

DaOld Man:
Sorry about the late reply, Im just now seeing your questions about the trackball I used on "A Little Rage".

I didn't take pictures while I was doing the process, but this is how I did it.
First, yes, I used 1/2" MDF.
After cutting out the CP and test fitting it, I figured out where I wanted the trackball to be on the panel.

I then cut a hole in the CP the same size as the black plastic lip on the top of the trackball, that surrounds the ball.
I cut a round hole the same size (maybe slightly larger) in the CP.
I cant remember if I used a hole saw or my circle cutter rig for the router, but the hole turned out slightly larger than the outside diameter of the lip on the TB.

I then sat the trackball into the hole and figured out how where I would put the mounting bolts.
I drilled the holes for the bolts and counter sunk the holes on the top side of the CP. I used carriage bolts, the heads of the bolts recess into the CP, which I later covered with bondo.
I then shelved the trackball and cut out the other holes in the CP for joysticks and buttons.

I then laid out my plexi-glass on the top of the CP. I cut out all joystick holes and button holes with the router.
I mounted a few buttons to hold the plexi steady. I then cutout the round trackball hole, using the trim router bit with a bearing, so the hole in the plexi wound up being the same size as the hole in the CP.
I verified the trackball fit the hole in the plexi, then I sat the plexi aside.

Back on the component side of the CP, I laid the TB in the hole and lined it up nice and straight.
I then marked around the trackball case. I then cut out the mark in the CP with a jigsaw and cleaned up with a file and sandpaper.
The trackball fit nicely into the now square hole. I went ahead and put the TB mounting bolts in, used a nut to secure the bolt to the CP (4 bolts total).
I then flipped the CP over, put bondo in the holes above the carriage bolt heads, sanded them down nice and neat.

After bondo completely cured, I mounted the plexi on top of the CP, using a couple of buttons to secure it again.
I then taped off the plexi around the square TB hole, I "framed" the hole with frog tape.
I then removed plexi, flipped it over and taped around the frame on the opposite side that I had made with the tape.
I made sure I covered all the plexi with newspaper and frog tape. (Except the square where the trackball will be). I then spray painted (black), the square around the TB hole in the plexi.
The idea here was to paint the underside of the plexi to cover the top of the trackball case.
Underside of plexi so that the paint looks nice and smooth and cant be scratched from the top side of the plexi.
 
I then  mounted the TB in the hole, used some aluminum flat stock (lowes), which I had cut and drilled to fit the carriage bolts and the holes in the bottom of the Trackball. and attached the ball to the flat stock with plastic anchors and screws.
I mounted the plexi back onto the CP, installed all buttons and joysticks.
I then used nuts on the carriage bolts to adjust the trackball to be flush with the topside of the CP. (the lip around the ball wound up being flush with the top side of the plexi.)

Oh, I forgot, before I mounted the trackball, I painted the top of the lip around the ball green, to match the cabinet color. Used same paint so it matched pretty good. I dissembled the TB to do this (its easy to take apart).

Side note: This TB does not have a ground wire like the more expensive ones do, so I grounded the aluminum stock strips, not sure if this is necessary but it let me sleep a little better.
Also I had to cut out an angled hole to allow the cable to exit from the trackball. It was maybe 1/2" width on component side of CP and down to where the wire exits the TB.

I know this sounds complicated but its not, but it is time consuming.

Now about the ball. It doesn't "feel" like a happs ball, but its not bad. I tested it pretty good on my PC before committing to use it. I tried some bowling and golfing games with it, it works pretty good but don't expect it to feel like an expensive track ball.
This is a cheap ball, it has cheap rollers, no ball bearings (may explain the feel), but I guess you get what you pay for.
I did try to make it easy to change out so it can be replaced in the future if need to.
My grand daughter is 4 1/2 years old so she wont mistreat it too bad. Its been in use now for a year and a half and no complaints about it yet.

The lights on it only change colors when you press one of the three mouse buttons.
I removed the LEDs for this function and used a tricolor led assembly that tied back to the led wiz. (you can see this is the pictures on my thread).
I also removed the button harness from the TB because I didn't need it.

Hope this helps and thanks for the kind comments about my build. it was a labor of love and my Grand girls love it, so it was well worth the time, expense, and headaches!

Good luck with your project.

Edit: Heres a picture of the underside of the trackball, just to save you some searching for it:


And a pic of the finished top of the CP:

DaOld Man:

--- Quote from: Richardgregory on August 21, 2014, 06:24:23 am ---DaOld Man:  How does the Sparkfun trackball "feel" in terms of trackballs from Happ per se?  Is it good enough for games and offer a great feel.  Ie. Golden Tee, Centipede.

How tall is this trackball?  The website says 1.6 inches high, but watching the video it looks a lot taller than the specs.

Thanks for the info.

--- End quote ---

Again, sorry for late reply.
I didn't measure the trackball, or don't remember it, but if you look at the picture in my thread, it is buried in a 1/2" MDF, and looks like maybe an inch sticking out below the CP, so 1.6 inches sounds about right.
read my previous post to see how I think it feels.

This is a pretty neat little trackball, but you got to remember it is not a happs, but it would be hard to find a happs for the price of this one, so you decide if you want or can afford to go with the better ball, or can make do with this one.

I used it mostly for its compact size, as I was squeezed for room on my build.

I highly recommend to disable the lights on it (I snipped the leds off), because they are way too bright, but that's your choice. You can change them out to leds that are not so bright or even different colors if you want. But the color changing only by pressing one of the mouse buttons is pretty useless for me.

I did look into modifying the board to allow me to switch colors externally (printer port or led wiz), but the add on tri color button led worked pretty good and was a lot simpler.
Hope this answers your questions and good luck on your project!

Thanks to the moderator for fixing my link, I get a little lazy sometimes LOL.

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