Ploopy Adept Trackball Kit Assembly
Do not flash new firmware until you've verified that the electronics are all working.
That means, finish building the trackball, plug it in, use the stock firmware for about five minutes. Verify that the cursor is moving.
Once you've verified that it all works, you're good to go flashing new firmware.
In this section, you'll go over how to build an Adept Trackball from the official Ploopy Adept Trackball kit.
Note that some of these pictures were taken at different times, so they may show a bit of inconsistency in between steps.
- A #1 Phillips head screwdriver (or similar; you're looking for a small-ish screwdriver here)
- Soldering iron
- Solder
A pair of tweezers and needle-nose pliers may also be helpful during this process.
- In the photo, a "tab" is being pulled by the pliers.
- There may be up to six small tabs on the outside of the PCB.
- Use a set of pliers to gently break the tabs off.
Prepare the following components:
- Printed circuit board
- PMW-3360 chip
- PMW-3360 optic
The PMW-3360 chip will come in a small piece of foam. Go ahead and remove it now.
Before soldering:
- MAKE 👏 SURE 👏 THAT 👏 THE 👏 PMW-3360 👏 IS 👏 ORIENTED 👏 CORRECTLY 👏 BEFORE 👏 YOU 👏 SOLDER 👏 IT! This is a really easy step to mess up, so CHECK IT TWICE!
- See the photo for clarification. Note the orientation of the text on the chip, as well as the pattern of dots on the chip. Also note the "1" on the printed circuit board.
- One warning to double-check the sensor orientation isn't sufficient. Stop what you're doing, right now, and check it. Seriously. Be kind to your future self, and save yourself a headache.
- Once you are absolutely sure that you have oriented the PMW-3360 correctly, solder it down.
- The sensor must be flat down as far as it can possibly slide into the holes before soldering. Don't let it "float" while you're soldering the first pin down.
- There are two small tabs of orange tape covering the sensors main holes. Remove them now.
- Try to do this in a dust-free environment.
- Check your solder joints during this step to ensure that they are good.
- Orient the optic correctly before insertion. It should NOT require any force to insert fully; if it does, remove it and check the orientation before trying again.
- The Sensor Cap doesn't snap onto the PMW-3360 optic. It "floats" on top of the optic for now. Once fully assembled, the Sensor Cap will be securely held down.
- The position of the Sensor Cap doesn't precisely matter for the moment. Just try to get it roughly centered on the optic.
- If necessary, adjust the position of the Sensor Cap as you're lowering the Top onto the Base.
- Go slowly as you drive screws during this step. When you feel significant resistance, stop.
Prepare the following components:
- Bearing press jig
- 3x roller bearing
- 3x roller bearing dowel
This may require a surprising amount of force. Try your best not to bend the roller bearing dowel, but if you do, there should be spares with your kit parts.
At the end, all of your bearings should look like this.
- Ensure that the bearings are pressed all the way into the case. If the bearings aren't seated all the way, there's a good chance that the ball will become badly scratched.
- Needle nose pliers or some similar tool can be used to ensure that the bearing is fully seated.
Prepare the following components:
- Adept body
- 4x Friction Pads
- Do your best not to cover the screw holes with the friction pads, as this will make opening the case more difficult in the future.
Plug the trackball into your computer. If you move the ball, it should move the cursor.
The bearings are a bit scratchy when they're new. To prevent them from jumping around during initial use, spin the ball with some Latin dance vigour for about three minutes. That should be enough to break them in.
The bearings will take about a week to become fully broken-in.
Congrats, you finished building the Ploopy Adept Trackball!
It's done! Love it, use it, but don't you dare abuse it!
Sometimes, the buttons on the Top need to be adjusted so that the distance between the button and the switch on the PCB are correct. You can do this either when the Top is installed or when it's removed.
The buttons can be adjusted quite far without breaking, but still, do this slowly. Don't move the buttons too far at one time.
A video of how to adjust the Top when the Top is removed is available here. This is the recommended route as it has the lowest possibility of damaging the Top.
A video of how to adjust the Top when the Top is installed is available here. This is only recommended if you have the capability of reprinting your own Top in case you break this one.
I've plugged in the Adept, but none of the buttons are working, and the cursor isn't working. What's wrong?
You have a bad cable.
To expand: many USB-C cables only provide power, and their data wires aren't actually connected. If your computer seems to recognize that a device has been plugged in, but none of the buttons are working and the cursor isn't moving, the problem is almost certainly the cable.
Try using the Adept with a cable that you've verified to work with another device. If that still doesn't solve the problem, send an email to contact@ploopy.co.
Take a look at this photo:
Remove the bearing that's not rolling correctly from the Top and look for this piece of plastic. You should be able to remove it with a pair of tweezers, though you may have to scrape quite hard to get it off.
The sensor likely isn't soldered correctly. Double-check all of your solder connections, touch them up with some flux if you have it, and try again. If it still isn't working, send an email to contact@ploopy.co.