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Stein's trackball build, finished.

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Stein:
Thanks Bob, since I'm not quite ready yet to tackle a full mame cab I had some fun doing everything I could think of with this little controller ;)

I'm using the Happ interface for the TB SirPoonga, I honestly wasn't familiar with all the other interfaces out there right now. I didn't know about Oscar Controls either,  this hobby has really taken off.  I've known about BYOAC for a couple years since trying to decide weather or not to buy a Hotrod but was never a regular until I was in the process of building my TB.

I'm so impressed with some of the work I've seen here...

Anyhow the Happ interface makes things easy in that you just plug it in and everything works, I was really surprised that I didn't have to tweak the speed of the trackball for games like Missle Command, Centipede, Shuuz etc. it just worked :)

SirPoonga:
WEll, I figured you used happs because of size, otherwise I was suprised you didn;t get an optipac.

rampy:
so are you a luther, i.e. make guitars?

Do you have any pics of those?

rampy

Stein:
well a real luthier I'm not, tho I know one or two, I'm not on that level. I can do certain modifications and tune-ups are no problem, dress frets, align truss rods, intonation, pickups, wiring etc... but build an acoustic guitar out of a block of wood I cannot, I've seen it done and played some nice customs, but just a wannabe really ;) the only pics I have are of my own non-modified guitars and equip.

u_rebelscum:

--- Quote from: Stein on March 02, 2003, 05:55:40 pm ---but something to look at anyhow :)  just waiting on the light kit from Happ.

I was thinking of adding this to the project list, but I haven't seen too many small projects there, with all the great cabs I feel a little silly braggin about my tabletop controller. LOL

is it just me or does anyone else find happs trackballs a little on the loud side?

I put some "super slick stuff" lubricant on my bearings to try and quiet it down a little, that didn't work but it did add probly a good two seconds to the spin time :D

Stein

--- End quote ---

Yes, my happs ball is louder than my wico or betson TBs.  It's quited down some after using it a bit, but still is louder.  Funny thing is that the free spin time in the happs is longer than either the wico or betson, without adding any lubricants.  The wico and betson aren't silent, however; they're pretty loud too (in a quite room), and louder than my PC TB.  I went to an arcade and could hear TB spinning there, so I think it's normal to have "noisy" TBs.

I think there's three possible causes to the noisier happs TB:
1.  Since happs case is more "open" than the other two, the sound is not mufled as much.
2.  Happs rollers and/or ball is not as perfectly round as the other two.  If it's the rollers, the noise will decrease as they wear down.  I've swapped balls, and didn't hear any noticable difference (happs was still louder w/ betson's ball, betson still quiter w/ happs ball), so I don't think it's the balls roundness.
3.  The roller bearings, roller positions, roller mounting, and/or TB case in the happs conduct sound better.

My guess, a combo of reasons 1, 2 (roller only, though), and maybe some of 3.

Other way of quiting it some is cleaning the ball and where the ball sits on the rollers.  *shrug*

BTW, great work!  How thin did you route the wood down to?  The taper looks very good.

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