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Missile Command Cocktail Trackball rebuild
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Question
SpudJones
Recently one axis stopped working on one of my Missile Command trackballs so I figured I could just buy a Happ trackball and use that instead. After all, on a Centipede cabaret, you can just use a Happ instead of the original Atari and it works fine.
But when the new Happ replacement arrived, I discovered that Missile Command cocktail trackball assemblies are different. The mounting holes in the control panel are not in the same place and a Happ trackball will not fit.
According to the Bob Roberts trackball page, the parts are compatible, with some wiring and mounting differences - http://www.therealbobroberts.net/tracks.html
While the new Happ opto boards are supposed to be an improvement on the originals, the holes for mounting them are in different places so you can't use the original mounting brackets for the opto boards.
In the end though, by stripping down the brand new Happ trackball, I was able to rebuild the original Atari trackball using the bearings, rollers, opto boards, encoder wheels and wiring from the Happ assembly. I just had to fabricate a new mounting bracket, which turned out to be an easy job using some aluminium strips from Bunnings.
The result - fully rebuilt Atari trackball assembly works better than ever before!
Even though you can't use the original brackets, fabricating a new mounting bracket for the Happ opto board with aluminium strips was easier than I thought it would be.
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