IT'S ALIVE!

[joeybastard]

What do you get when you have a dead trackball and some broken joysticks lying around...

 

FRANKENSTICK.

 

It works great and is much more fun to use than a regular 5200 stick due to better fire buttons and Start/Pause/Reset that always works.

[jetset]

Wow, that is sweet! How hard was that to do? And does it play well?

[eegt97]

Interesting, does the console *see* it as a stick or a trackball. In other words, do non-trackball games work correctly? Nice concept!

[JB]

Ooooohhh, that IS spiffy.

I like "arcade-panel" style joysticks, too.

[keilbaca]

I like it

 

It gives a much more arcade feel to it, in which I love.

 

I want one...

[joeybastard]

It plays great on joystick games because it is a 5200 joystick essentially. I removed the trackball innards except for the board with the firebuttons/keypad on it. I had to cut out most of the mounting plastic for the trackball spinners too to make room for the 5200 stick. The stick was cut just below the bottom pot to fit into the TB case. I then cut the TB cord and matched up the joystick wires to the TB connector. I then mounted the joystick to the top half of the TB case with 2 big ugly screws but you can't see those in the picture. I'll take a picture of the inside later on when I get home. It's ugly in there but it works great so far. No more hand cramping for me.

Edited April 6, 2006 by joeybastard

[Lord Helmet]

Nice mod. It's always good when you can save dead Atari stuff from the graveyard

[joeybastard]

Here's the inside of Frankenstick

[vdub_bobby]

That...thing...is BIG. I guess it's appropriate.

[jetset]

I'm inspired. Doesn't sound all that difficult to do.

BTW what did you use to cut off the bottom of the joystick, a steak knife?

Man that is one ugly chop job on the stick!

[Zonie]

Looks like it cam from the factory. I like that.

[walter_J64bit]

WOW! Atari should have did that!

[jpfalcon2003]

Very nice piece of equipment indeed.

[Lord Helmet]

I'm inspired. Doesn't sound all that difficult to do.

BTW what did you use to cut off the bottom of the joystick, a steak knife?

 

 

 

LOL...I just spit coffee all over my monitor...

 

don't know why I found it that funny though...

[joeybastard]

I'm inspired. Doesn't sound all that difficult to do.

BTW what did you use to cut off the bottom of the joystick, a steak knife?

Man that is one ugly chop job on the stick!

 

It's not hard just measure out the stick placement carefully, that was my mistake and the reason I needed to use the "big ugly screw" I mentioned.

 

I cut the plastic out with a pair of dykes. I wasn't concerned with what the inside and bottom of the unit looked like so I just did it the quickest way. Some of it was just broken off with my fingers.

Edited April 7, 2006 by joeybastard

[Zonie]

I know that it would no longer look factory, but If that was mine, I'd add four nice shiny new round arcade style buttons if they would fit.

[joeybastard]

That's probably what I'll do next time I'm bored and looking for a project. I have some arcade buttons lying around anyway.

Edited April 7, 2006 by joeybastard

[darklord1977]

very nice...

[+Allan]

I did one of these as a kid. The nice part was that I made sure I didn't damage any of the trackball parts so that I could put the track ball back in. Had to sacrafice a joystick though. The trackball was too expensive back then to wreck. Not that there cheap now.

 

Now someone has to make a steering wheel out of one like Dan Kramer, the designer of the trackball, wanted to do. The hard part is finding a small, light-weight, wheel. So far the only one I can think of is the Coleco one.

 

Allan

[joeybastard]

I did one of these as a kid. The nice part was that I made sure I didn't damage any of the trackball parts so that I could put the track ball back in. Had to sacrafice a joystick though. The trackball was too expensive back then to wreck. Not that there cheap now.

 

Now someone has to make a steering wheel out of one like Dan Kramer, the designer of the trackball, wanted to do. The hard part is finding a small, light-weight, wheel. So far the only one I can think of is the Coleco one.

 

Allan

 

I couldn't figure out a way to fit the joystick in there without hacking out the plastic mounts for the trackball spinners. Did you rig up something else to hold the stick pots?

[Zonie]

I did one of these as a kid. The nice part was that I made sure I didn't damage any of the trackball parts so that I could put the track ball back in. Had to sacrafice a joystick though. The trackball was too expensive back then to wreck. Not that there cheap now.

 

Now someone has to make a steering wheel out of one like Dan Kramer, the designer of the trackball, wanted to do. The hard part is finding a small, light-weight, wheel. So far the only one I can think of is the Coleco one.

 

Allan

Why not use parts from one of the newer PC, PS2, or Xbox units?

[sku_u]

I did one of these as a kid. The nice part was that I made sure I didn't damage any of the trackball parts so that I could put the track ball back in. Had to sacrafice a joystick though. The trackball was too expensive back then to wreck. Not that there cheap now.

 

Now someone has to make a steering wheel out of one like Dan Kramer, the designer of the trackball, wanted to do. The hard part is finding a small, light-weight, wheel. So far the only one I can think of is the Coleco one.

 

Allan

Why not use parts from one of the newer PC, PS2, or Xbox units?

 

I thought those were stationary? The only one I know of that actually moves is the Colecovision one.

[sku_u]

I did one of these as a kid. The nice part was that I made sure I didn't damage any of the trackball parts so that I could put the track ball back in. Had to sacrafice a joystick though. The trackball was too expensive back then to wreck. Not that there cheap now.

 

Now someone has to make a steering wheel out of one like Dan Kramer, the designer of the trackball, wanted to do. The hard part is finding a small, light-weight, wheel. So far the only one I can think of is the Coleco one.

 

Allan

 

What about using a driving controller or paddle inside a trakball shell and attaching an older steering wheel to it? That's the easiest alternative I can think of (unless someone is sitting on a stash of arcade steering wheels and lets them go cheap).

[+Allan]

I did one of these as a kid. The nice part was that I made sure I didn't damage any of the trackball parts so that I could put the track ball back in. Had to sacrafice a joystick though. The trackball was too expensive back then to wreck. Not that there cheap now.

 

Now someone has to make a steering wheel out of one like Dan Kramer, the designer of the trackball, wanted to do. The hard part is finding a small, light-weight, wheel. So far the only one I can think of is the Coleco one.

 

Allan

 

I couldn't figure out a way to fit the joystick in there without hacking out the plastic mounts for the trackball spinners. Did you rig up something else to hold the stick pots?

 

I think what I did was cut the joystick keypad part off and then used something like a piece of wood to make the joystick case fit tight into the trackball case. It was a long time ago but I remember it worked great and was easy to put the trackball parts back in.

 

Allan

[+Allan]

I did one of these as a kid. The nice part was that I made sure I didn't damage any of the trackball parts so that I could put the track ball back in. Had to sacrafice a joystick though. The trackball was too expensive back then to wreck. Not that there cheap now.

 

Now someone has to make a steering wheel out of one like Dan Kramer, the designer of the trackball, wanted to do. The hard part is finding a small, light-weight, wheel. So far the only one I can think of is the Coleco one.

 

Allan

Why not use parts from one of the newer PC, PS2, or Xbox units?

 

I don't mind that just as long as the wheel doesn't look to 'modern' or 'space-age' like many of them do.

 

Allan