My first (dusty) Trak-Ball!

[jnice]

I won an eBay auction for an as-is Trak-Ball with a blurry picture. As I feared, it has some problems: Fortunately, the buttons work (although the left side fire button is a bit stubborn sometimes...depends where and at what angle you push the button down). Unfortunately, the ball itself had some big problems!

 

After wiping the dust off of the device, I noticed the ball rolls well going up, down and right. Left and upper-left is a different story, however: The ball seems to jump out of its guides slightly, causing the ball to stop most or all of its motion. Has anyone else had this problem and, if so, what have you done to improve it? I tried turning one of the rolling...pins?...around (located on the bottom left side), and that seems to have helped significantly. It still seems to have a bit of the earlier described problem, though. Any suggestions?

 

The rumors are true: Centipede is a LOT more fun with a Trak-Ball! Too bad there aren't more games that work well with this thing.

[ignernt]

I just went through all the box scans a couple days ago, and the other games that work with the trak-ball besides the almighty Centipede are:

 

Missile Command

Super Breakout

Pole Position

Football

Tennis

Soccer

Galaxian

Space Invaders

Pengo

Millipede (If you can get it)

 

I've been playing a lot of Galaxian, Space Invaders and Super Breakout with the ball. There's nothing like passing your hand over it quickly to the left or right. It's definitely the best controller ever made, bar none.

 

As for your problems, the lower left is just nothing more than a bearing. You could try cleaning it, or if it's just giving you all kinds of problems I recall seeing somebody selling replacement bearings. If I had to guess offhand who it was I'd say Best Electronics.

[jnice]

Thanks for the help: I'll see what Best has to say about this problem. Is it a normal problem for the fire button contacts to become dirty? The main button on the left side worked for me yesterday, but not always. How do you separate the front cover from the circuits to get at the contacts? I'm afraid of breaking something if I just try prying (what appear to be) holders away from the structure, as I've never messed with...or seen...one of these before yesterday.

[ignernt]

I'd probably remove the wiring harness and get the top on a table far away from everything. Those clips for lack of a better term look like they hold the board in place, but after 20 years that plastic may be a bit fragile. If you end up breaking them I'm sure you could still hold it in place with something, even if it's duct tape or super glue.

[Laner]

I have the same problem with my trackball (the left fire button doesn't work particularly well).... I've tried cleaning it, to no avail. I've considered ordering a replacement board from Best, but they suggested that I "buzz out" the cord first - I know someone at work that could show me how to do that, just haven't had the time yet.