Modified Logitech Trackball Mouse hybrid

[Mr. Hooker]

I made a wireless trackball mouse hybrid.

Using a Logitech M570 Wireless trackball
and a Logitech M317 Wireless mouse
both useing the same logitech "unifying" receiver (can use up to 6 wireless things on 1 receiver)

the bottom of both

the insides of the M570

the insides of the M317

the inside of the two combined

the bottom of the two combined

crappy vid just to show it working.

might do some upgrades to it later, but for the most part. its great.
might do a tutorial or worklog if I get enough request.

 

[Prog]

Pretty cool.

 

[Mr. Hooker]

best of both worlds.
I have a few idea's I might try out later.

1, A single AA would normally last 1 year+ in eather of the two, I had to cut out the batery holder and use a cingle AA holder inside making it where I need to take it apart to change the batery, I didnt have room for a 2nd AA without having to do some more cutting./ But now I'm thinking about using something like a flat cell phone battery, add a low profile socket, and convert the cell phone and its charger into a charger. Mostly since I have a old one laying around. Just need to stepdown the 3.7v to 1.5v. The software is set up as a power indicator so I can see on my desktop when its getting low.

2, The trackball side moves the curser, and has the left, right, scroll weel with click, and forword and back buttens, and the mouse part is just set up to move the curser also, one of my logitech programs I have instaled lets me remap mouse buttens and the scroll wheel, so I might re-incorporate them for added features.

3, Might try to sale this one, and buy a new trackball and a higher end wireless logitech mouse, but that could posibly require cutting its pcb and relocating a lot of stuff to make it fit. main down side is there multy layer pcb's and its a bit costly to experiment with.

edit; Wanted to also say, I never wanted a trackball till I seen this one, right away I knew the only reason I would get it would be to do this mod. Been using it all night, and already like it more then any mouse I ever had, it just fits my hand so well.

 

[Prog]

Well, for the first, just get a protection circuit and smart charger because the charging circuitry is all hidden in the phone.

 

[ttsgeb]

Pretty legit.

So, in everyday use, how does it turn out? Like do you do most of your moving as a mouse and then use the trackball for fine control, or is it the other way around? Or is there even a pattern?

 

[Mr. Hooker]

seems I'm using the trackball alot for web use, I have it set up where I bearly need to move the ball and the curser moves acros the screen. but the mouse is much better for the drag and drop / highlighting type controll.

 

[ttsgeb]

Have you tried any games or photo editing or anything with it yet?

 

[Mr. Hooker]

nothing truly noteworthy yet, I am doing a little editing to some video and pics for it with it.

 

[Kickback]

The M570 is already a mouse + trackball combo isn't it? i'm a little confused, have you removed the mouse from the trackball and put another mouse in there or something?

 

[Mr. Hooker]

(Moved from "Finished Projects" to continue upgared's)

Uploaded more pics to the first post. btw, how can I resize the pics?
The M570 is only a trackball, it does nothing by just sliding it around on its base.
The M317 is only a mouse, it does nothing by just rubbing your thumb on it.
combined, they do it all. + a few added features I'll show later.

Also, found a ps2 style Logitech TrackMan Marble+ for $2.00 at a thrift store today.
The ball is the same size as the M570, but the size is the only thing it has in common.
the red ball seems to have a much slicker surface, it spins much better, and has less drag from pressing on the ball with the thumb.
The TrackMan uses a optical sincer with a two infer-red led's/ and a light filter, The ball is red with small black spots.
The M570 uses a laser tracking, and a blue ball
If you use the red ball in the M570 it cuts the courser speed / movement in half, I think it only see's eather the black spots or the red. I'm going to do some experimenting with light filters and maybe a added light source.
The blue ball fits in the Trackman, but is not seen by the optics at all, so the cursor just sits still.

Trackman on the left, M570 on the right.

the ball's fit perfectly in both units, but the red ball is not seen as well with the M570 laser, and the blue ball is not seen at all by the TrackMan.

 

[Kickback]

Ah yeah you're right, I just noticed that the trackball itself isn't a mouse, just a trackball and buttons. Oops. Didn't mean any offence by my previous comment.

This is a good idea, bet it's handy for some MAME games like Marble Madness and such too.

Also, moved to Computer/Laptop.

 

[Mr. Hooker]

I'm playing with a few deferent programs, going to try a few new ideas with the software side of this too. I want to set it up to toggle between the standard two items sharing the cursor to using dual coursers, move the mouse one way, at the same time move the track ball with the thumb. don't know it it will have any real use yet or not, but being able to separate the movements of the two and still have my left hand open for the keyboard might just add something.

Also, moved to Computer/Laptop.

thanks for the move. thought I was done with it for a wile, but I feel I have the momentum and room for improvement to keep working on this a bit longer.