Bacteria's controller commission - bluetooth > PS1

[Anapan]

Awesome! I like how those look already! It's gonna be so slick when it's assembled.

[bacteria]

Excellent, pleased you like it. Woke up 2am needing a drink, so added last coat of clear varnish - good chance it will be dry in afternoon or lunchtime, so I can handle the controller (gently) to assemble the guts of the system, after filing down the holes to remove excess paint that will have built up.

Taking pride in my work, making it as good as I can. Couldn't get the back bit where the cable used to be 100% but it looks pretty good, everything else looks like a new controller and miles better than the old battleship grey.

[bacteria]

Still can't get a great pic, however this isn't bad. The "bits" on the controllers isn't dust, its the metallic effect.



Controller is pretty dry so should be able to start on it later...

[Anapan]

Go Bacteria! Make the best wireless PC controller that's ever been made!

Afaik that what's being done right now. Someone prove me wrong, but there are no other bluetooth controllers available for PC, and through the 360 sixaxis controller bluetooth has proven to be the best short-range wireless data transfer protocol as far as response time and fidelity/quality are concerned.
The computer thinks that this is a serial keyboard, but because of that it accepts many keys being pressed at at the same time, so unless a better product is released, this is the best solution available right now.

Groundbreaking this is!

[bacteria]

I'm certainly making this the best I can, I don't compromise on quality. Project is taking longer than anticipated but that doesn't matter, i'm having fun and enjoying the results, that is what is important to me - as mentioned before, I am a hobbyist, not trying to pay my mortgage!

I intend to make my own one of these with the spare one you sent me, sometime. Seems to work well. When I do videos, i'm probably going to play a game like Tetris Attack (SNES, emulator on PC) and also an action game like maybe Hellfire on the Megadrive (PC emulator) to show how good the controller is - i'm not great at Hellfire however it's the controller i'm showing off not my game skills!

Might be able to do some work on this later today, hoping so. The build itself will be quick. One of the two boards can't be reduced, the other one can by about 80% although probably won't need to reduce either.

[bacteria]

Ok, up to about 70% complete now - cut a piece of perspex to fit around the dpad area, hot glued rubber topped tact switches in place, hot glued the perspex piece in place; hot glued the buttons in place, cut the start and select part of the PS1 controller off, soldered to the traces, hot glued the piece in place, hot glued the battery in its battery compartment in place.

It is all very snug indeed, but closes, just (ignore the plug with wires, that will be rewired):



Here are the guts:



Need to hot glue the two boards better in place, used the smallest amount I could to check the case would shut ok; then wire everything together, and install the shoulder buttons.

The slight difference in appearance on the black on the controller is down to the variable thicknesses of varnish - when done, I will use a little spit'n'polish to make it nicer.

ETA to finish project: Tuesday.

[bacteria]

Got controller finished, however buttons are working but not as well as I want them too. I am going to open up the case tomorrow and mount a backing onto the buttons and set the rubber tact switches better, that way they won't need to be pressed so much to work. The dpad registers two buttons on two of the four directions pressed due to the way the cross depresses, not an issue, I just mod the cross to work better. I also think it better to make a sealed unit rather than having to open up the controller to change the battery; so will cut the controller with a nice hole in it for that purpose and make a battery cover of sorts. This all means in effect gutting the unit and redoing, but not an issue.

Next time I do one of these mods, I will not use such a small controller - using a PS1 controller has proven to be extremely tight. I did manage to do away with one of the boards entirely and just use one (with some wiring), so that helped.

So, will spend some more time getting this working as good as it can be...

[DNT 2.5]

I am still not a fan of your paint job, something looks a little off to me.
Could just be the compression though...

[bacteria]

It's because of the flash, no camera flash, looks far better:

[Anapan]

Excellent! I like the metallic paintjob a lot! I appreciate you going the extra mile to get it perfect. I knew there would be space issues (the main reason I commissioned you to do it) so I'm glad you were able to fit it all in there. I probably should have ordered you an Asciiware PS1 controller. I still could if you want one to mod for your own purposes.