I tried to search but there are a lot of posts and they are all over the place and they are old in most places. Cand someone point me in the right direction on the best chance of fixing my trackball as right now it is unusable.
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Isopropyl alcohol on a piece of rug and rolling the trackball module ball down all over it did wonders. It went from āthis is an exercise in frustrationā to āI can use it quite comfortablyā
If you can find a Pimoroni trackball breakout, you can take the roller assembly out of it, and it works great!
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Pimoroni rubber ball seems to have slightly better production dimension, the trackball is a little larger with better frictions against the magnet roller comparing what you normally see from Aliexpress.
Hi!
I received a uConsole yesterday.
Assembled it and quickly discovered that the trackball is abysmal. My kit had 2 trackballs inside, so I tried the other one also and they both were terrible.
I looked at how they actually function and they appear to rely on the hall effect to judge movements.
Then I managed to roll the ball enough to access the input settings in the OS and maximized the sensitivity.
This helped marginally.
Then I looked at the actual assembly and I noticed the trackball itself is able to vibrate in the chassis as itās being rolled.
As I understand the hall effect, the proximity of the rollers to the sensors must be consistent in order to achieve reliable input.
So I tried a simple hack and it has improved my trackball immensely.
I simply cut a thin piece of plastic from some packaging I had lying around to fit along the top edge of the assembly which had a hole in the center so the track ball could still be rolled.
I installed this between the faceplate and the trackball assembly. This secured the assembly in place and now my trackball is actually very usable.
Occasionally it loses tracking, but I actually had to turn down the sensitivity because it works so much better.
The random plastic I used is probably about the same thickness as electrical tape, but I wouldnāt use tape to avoid gumming up the mechanism.
If you attempt this, be careful not to overhang the sides of the assembly because this may interfere with the rollers.
Hope this helps!
Are you sure you placed the trackball in the correct orientation? The trackball component has two tiny plastic pins which fit into holes in the pcb. The metal tonge on the downside of the trackball component must either show up or down but not to the side.
From software side I recommend to use the latest QMK firmware. It handles the trackball much better than the original firmware.
Yes, I recognized the two pins and placed them correctly initially even though the instructions donāt state this.
I attribute the slight amount of wiggle mine had to slight variations in the flatness of the faceplate and/or possibly the tension placed on the keyboard PCB by the contact pins being offset to the left side.
Currently trying several suggestions and gathering a selection of balls from rubber, to steel, glass, brass etc of slightly different dimensions (5.5mm - 6mm). Fine sanded where needed. VERY fiddly taking the trackball mech apart, ball and four tiny rollers fly out. Too soon to post resultsā¦ Yet.
The original trackball can be brought back to life using a lint free cloth/tissue VERY LIGHTLY soaked in IPA (so as not to run into the mechanism). Roll it over the ball for a few seconds and allow to dry, yes finger grease is the issue !. Currently testing the trackball mech removed from a āPimoroni Trackball Breakoutā. The trackball mech pops out easily when the black shroud is released using the two clips underneath and drops straight into the Uconsole !. Looks to be a standard mech (like on sale on AliExpress) with improved ball. Fourth day and still working well with very few slips !
Iād like to share my positive experience with the trackball:
My uConsole came with two trackballs, and when I was putting it together, I just picked one at random. Since Iāve been active on the forum for a while and have read a lot of posts, I knew what to look out for during assembly. And indeed, the trackball was quite jerky at first, and using it wasnāt what youād want for productive work. On the very first day, I installed the QMK firmware. The trackball movements smoothed out, and it became easier to use.
Whatās amazing, though, is that Iāve been completely satisfied with the trackball since the second or third day. The control became noticeably more precise without me changing anything technically. I donāt know if something has settled in mechanically, if the firmware is learning, or if my motor skills have improved. But for my setup, I can say that Iām satisfied with the original trackball, even though it didnāt look promising at first.
Perhaps this experience will help others to try the trackball for a few days first before making any major changes.
i think the dust or gunk sets in on the edge of those rollers with use -thats the improvement.
when new they work weird, then they break-in and work ok, then back to goddamn awful when covered in gunk and dust and finger grease. they are cheap on ebay though
Thank goodness dirt, dust, and finger grease vary from user to user. That will explain differences in experience, too.
Sometimes if Iām not careful and use my uConsole with lotion on my hands Iāll get the compound on the trackball and inadvertently lubricate it against the rollers, so even when it moves it doesnāt track. I just take an alcohol wipe from my first aid kit and roll it around the trackball until it dissolves and absorbs all the grease. Alcohol wonāt foul the mechanism because it evaporates and doesnāt get trapped, at least in my experience.
I have the one single trackball that came with my system and have used it daily since at least 2024 or so.
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