360 controller re-design x2

[spurgurgle]

Hey Guys long time no post.......

Well here's the story... I need a new 360 pad... my current one is a little worn out , but i cant go out and buy any old pad I've been using this custom made one for the last 4 years..... (note the lack of paint on it... i never got round to it last time)





i moved recently and now have a little workbench set up..... so dug out my old modding tools....



Set up the old rack and and irons. got a pair of old pads.. wireless for me and the wired for my Mrs. I bought most of the parts for this project a while ago. and I've just ordered a few more leds and a extra color of wire. So am set up and ready to go.





So here's the basic plan

I have one CG1 wireless pad and one cl wired (i think its cl well hope its cl it means a lot less wires if it is... at first glance it looked cl to me fingers crossed its not matrix...)

I'm planning on doing pretty much the same mod on both pads just with the added mini usb port on the wired so the wire can come off.......

-move left analog to Dpad position
-move Dpad to left analog position and retro fit a ps3 style Dpad instead of standard 360 style.
-fit clear parts i.e. bumpers, triggers, some buttons, analogs, Dpad's, mic rail......
-change ROL
-Light clear parts
-Paint job..........

not to much for my first proper (complete) controller mod in about 3-4 years.....



SOOOOO HERE WE GO AGAIN!!!!!!....

So the first step to a controller build like this is to hack some stuff up with a dremel. out it came and after half hour i was left with this



I had started with 4 360 fronts and 2 cheap ps3 fronts.

After a bit more time with a sanding drum on my dremel and a file and some sand paper i have these mocked up. this is as far as i can go on the case mod for now i need it to be movable still so i can make the Dpad.




Thats all I've got for now, next time ill be stripping down the pcb's.....

[rafaliyo86]

Glad to ser you here again spurgurgle your mods always surprised and inspired me

[spurgurgle]

Cheers Raf 

So I snuck back to my workbench for another hour and stripped down the pcbs.. its to late to be finding traces and what not. so that can wait until tomorrow.



next i need to strip off the left analog and trigger assembly's on both pads and the wired pad has a few old mods to be removed and the wire taking off.




It didn't take long to strip them down.... just apply heat and use a solder sucker to remove old solder once all the joints are cleaned the assembly's comes off quite easily.


the next big thing i need to do is the mini usb connection to replace the fixed wire on the wired controller
i stripped the mini usb port off of one of my donor ps3 pads. and will be using its cable. i need this done first so i can test the pad as i do the other mods.



if anyone knows which order i need to wire the pins of the mini usb in that would be helpfull



This is just a mock up of where the mini usb will fit...

Once thats done and working ill be using these old trace drawing i dug up out of a old post of mine lost in RnD somewhere....

Traces for the analog stick


traces for the dpad


And ill do this to the analog again as it make it a lot easier and tidier to wire in.. (it will be clearer once i make it again.



thats all Ive got done so far. not bad for a few hours work, and I'm so glad i found those old trace reference pictures of mine so i don't have to find them again on the wireless pad...... its a whole different story on the wired one...... ill try n get good pics of how i do it in the end.....

[1TONpete]

Good to see you spurgurgle.

[jayjaymozza]

Wow amazing! Just waiting for more posts now
Good job

[spurgurgle]

cheers guys, and thanks for that pic pete it helped... i just wired the colors up as it shows and bam the pad worked....

soo heres what i got done this afternoon...
firstly the mock up of the mini usb wired in and working... (cant fix it in position atm as i leant out my glue gun a few days ago...)



not very tidy atm.... held on with blue-tac but it works.....

next was onto the dpad ......



i need to trim this down....

so these bits





can fit down on there



like this.......



so the dpad now fits in the hole



lastly in the Dpad prep i need to scrape back the traces and tin them ready for wiring later on in the build...





and thats about all i can do on the dpad for now.... you may notice the 2 holes i drilled in the dpad pcb....
well they'll be for the lights.... i have a clear piece to put in there on final assembly.



next thing i got done today was fixing and filling the dpad and analog housing in place..... i took my time lining them up so they were level and square..... and looked right.....

the first step was to glue them i used a basic super glue... it melts the 2 bits of plaster together..... they'll never come apart...

then i taped off all the places i didnt want the filler to go....



im using a metalic car filler (its what i have in my shed.... i've used it on cars before and it works great.. drys hard as metal but is still easily sandable...... ideal as i need to sand it right back to get the shape and look i want for the pads.....



so thats it for today.....

-Dpad assmebly built
-mini usb wired and working....
-case glued and filled......


now comes the sanding.... trace finding...... analog.........



EDIT

just popped back to the workbench again.. the filler was dry so i sanded them back to shape.... they need more finer grade sanding before paint but they are pretty much there now



......

[crazy-modder]

looking pretty awesome man, good to see some old guys back around here!

[1TONpete]

great work.

[spurgurgle]

ok so got a little more done on the pads today..
started the wiring for the analog and dpad moves. well all the wires are in just not tested yet that'll have to wait untill tomorrow...

i used RDC's high res scans to find the trace and tp points for the dpad on the wired controller



then just soldered straight to the analog contacts that i need to use



thats the wired pad done total of 10 wires

now onto the wireless pad.. i've done 2 of these before so this is familiar ground for me. i just used some of pictures from a post of mine as reference points for the dpad wiring (pics are in a earlier post^^^)



and did the analog pretty much the same as on the wired....



so thats them both wired in and nearly ready for first tests....... fingers crossed......
ill be doing that tomorrow when im more awake..

the backs



the fronts



notice i fed all the wires through 2 of the holes that used to secure tha analog stick....
i just enlarged them slighly with a small drill..

also today my leds turned up......

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Update- test day..........

ok so today i was planning on testing both pads and getting the wiring started.... but there a slight detail change on the wired pad.... my girlfriend wants purple leds so have had to order some more and cant proceed with that controller untill i have some purple 3mm and 0603's.....

that just left me to work on the wireless controller.... my controller..... as im going blue for the leds so can proceed as i had the blue leds turn up yesterday...

first i needed to prep the analog stick for wiring to the pad....



breadboard to help keep it tidy.....



im not sure if you can see in the picture but i used my dremel to make little grooves in the base of the analog for the wires to run in.. (this is wired up like the reference picture in the first post......)


so thats the analog prepped and the dpad was also ready so i wired them up and tested the pads functions......



first test wasnt so great... the analog was fine.... but left and down on the dpad were un-responsive..... after a little tinkering i found that the trace on the dpad for down and left were lifting so re soldered these and then checked the via's again a quick re solder....

it all worked fine all functions on both dpad and analog were working.... so now to tidy up that cluster of wires.........



much better .....

i then had to work out how to fix the dpad in... i wanted it on the main pcb not stuck in the case like usual.........
after some time i came up with this simple solution... it took alot of fine tuning to get the right height.... but it worked great in the end



i also had to install the dpad leds before i stuck it in...



...

and here's the whole dpad pcb install on the main board





look how the dpad just floats onto of the main board

and a quick test of function and the leds......




now onto the analog. just a case of fixing it in position.. i spent a long time lining this up.... you get one chance to stick it on
if its wrong...... it wont be easy to fix......
and wiring it up





once i was 100% sure it was all working and in th correct places i added some more hot glue to the pad and analog for strength... i want this pad to last another 4 years like my current controller....

heres todays round up

wireless controller
-analog and dpad function test
-wire tidy
-dpad led and pcb installed
-analog install



no progress on the wired controller...

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ok so after 2 days of testing and fixing i finally got the wired controller to the same level as my wireless.
-dpad installed
-dpad lights installed
-analog installed

doesnt sound that much but it was one thing after another with it.....

first thing i had to do was wire it all up and make sure my connections to the pcb were correct.......

nothing worked.......

so checked it all over and discovered id used the wrong tp on the back for the dpad's +
and i'd wired the analog backwards on my little circuit board... didnt flip it when i flipped the analog over...

so got that fixed and wired in again then tested... now it was all working....


so everything works time to tidy it all up starting with the mini usb to replace the fixed wire.



tidier wiring... (this was the 2nd set of wires... and mounting for the mini usb port...)

after the wiring issues i sorted out the case. and how the port was mounted to the pcb.





thats the usb port fixed in place and wired in properly so now i can install the analog and dpad....

the dpad was the biggest pain as i blew 3 leds while testing it... each time having to remove it form the pad again to replace the led... i had miss calculated the resistor but sorted that out after a litle testing... and finaly after 2 days of messing with it i have this....





thats both the wired and wireless up to the same place... next ill be proceeding with the rest of the lights on the wired controller
the wireless is on hold until my minim4pper from RDC turns up so i can install that before the lights.