How To Properly Open CX5200 Trak-Ball Controller

[Cobra Kai]

I had something rattling around inside my Trak-Ball unit for some years now, so I decided today to open it up and take a look. It turns out it was a piece of plastic from the underside part that you can wrap the cable around, one of the plastic prongs busted off at some point.

 

Anyway, I learned a valuable lesson when taking this unit apart. 

-There are 5 Philips screws on the underside. Take those out first.

-Next, hold the unit together and carefully flip it over to top-side up, the same as you would use it to play a game. <---Most important step!

-Then carefully lift the top half off, exposing the Trak-Ball itself.

 

From here you can examine the device and carefully remove the loose parts and do some cleaning, or whatever work you were planning. The important thing to know is that the Trak-Ball and the hardware it touches inside, are just in there loose, held in with gravity, so you do not want to take this unit apart upside down or the parts will fall out and possibly break!

 

The rollers used inside are really cool I think, they look like Dremel saws, but they are extremely fragile, so handle them with great care if you want to clean them. 

[phuzaxeman]

I was planning on doing this. Thanks for the heads up.