track ball matenence

[vide0bug13]

hello every one, im sorry that my first post is a question, but ive been looking around the site for a while and now i have a problem.
im building a home made mame cabinet and its mostly done, (gotta build the frame) and i have a track ball i got from a centipede game, its really gritty(as in it doesent roll... very well)
any one know how to get it rollin good?
and one last newbie Q, i got to hook the track ball up to a mouse i know how to do it but it has 2 chips... i belive mabe transcoders(corect me if im wrong please )  can i solder these to the mouse?(and if so mabe how).
ive searched google up and down.
sorry for my extreme use of the  (  and  ) .

[shardian]

I restored a centipede TB with some steel wool, some 3-in-1 oil, and LOTS of elbow grease. The one I did didn't move at all, and by the time I was done, it rolled great.

Soak rollers & bearings in the oil for a day.
Put the rollers in a drill and spin them in increasing finenesses of steel wool to get a smooth roller.
Alternate working the bearings until the spin freely and the rust that comes out is much less.
Then spin the bearings. I used a fat phillips bit and it worked fine and was pretty safe.
Keep repeating method of soaking and working on bearings until you can get rid of all or most of the rust inside.
Soak the ball in some bleach or clr to get it back to fairly white, or buy a new cue ball for a few bucks.

[BobA]

Search BYOAC Forums for trackball mouse hack and I am sure you will find lots of info.

[vide0bug13]

the ball is supposed to be white?
well thanks shardian and BobA.
and on a side note, did you know a keyboard has alot of weird un used keys
that mame realizez?

[Ken Layton]

Visit here:

www.homearcade.org/BBBB/tracks.html

www.homearcade.org/BBBB/moretb.html

www.homearcade.org/BBBB/track1.html

www.homearcade.org/BBBB/track2.html

www.homearcade.org/BBBB/minilyot.html

In my opinion, I wouldn't dink with cleaning the bearings or shafts. Generally 99% of the time the bearings are shot and the shafts have grooves worn into them. Bob Roberts sells complete trackball rebuild kits with brand new stainless steel shafts and new bearings. If you need a new ball, he sells those too. Actually the 2-1/4" white trackball itself is really a pool cue ball. If your existing ball is pitted/chipped/gouged, buy a new one.

If the existing ball is just dirty or lightly stained it can be cleaned up quite nicely with some elbow grease, a clean rag, and either Novus #2 plastic polish or Wildcat # PBC-15 Pool Ball Cleaner.

[vide0bug13]

thanks Ken Layton my rollers are grinded down so the ball drags on the bottom = no rollin thanks in need new rollers though

[RayB]

"mame realizez"

[vide0bug13]

i meant that mama32 realizes keys like "non-US genaric 01"
i got a keyboard chip hooked up to a "wire block" and i was testing for
work-able keys.