Making a Saturn Playstation PAD, help requested

[CRTGAMER]

Quick question: can I use hot glue to better hold the wires to the boards, or would that cause a short? While testing two wires came right off, and only one was on a tiny trace. The other (ground) was soldered directly to a pin.

Hot glue is fine, the glue sticks have poor conductivity.

I wrote a couple Controller Mod Guides recently, might find articles of interest.
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=292282#p292282
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=290325#p290325

[M47R1X]

Bit of an update here.

I hot-glued the wires and filled the start button hole. Apparently in Oklahoma we don't "believe" in ABS cement. No hardware or plumbing store had ANY. So I made some out of acetone and what extra plastic there was from the Start button support and the casing for the plug on the cord. Filled like a charm. So well in fact that I decided I'm going to put the Start and Select button holes where they are located on the official pad. I need to wait a few days for all of the acetone to evaporate out of the filled hole before I can sand, steel wool, and eventually polish. I'm thinking of using a headlight clearing polish for the scratches. Headlights are plastic too, so polishing HAS to be an option, right? Never have liked painting plastic. Not even with Krylon Fusion.

Outta town this next week (PLENTY of time for the patch job to solidify), but luckily my kitchen renovation (DIY of course) is almost done, and that's what's holding me back. Then it will be FULL SPEED AHEAD.

BTW, about how much would it cost to have the Start and Select buttons CNC'd? I could do it with a drill press, but I don't want to eff anything up, ya know?

[M47R1X]

Alright, got back, spent over an hour sanding/steel wool-ing and discovered some areas with inadequate fill, so I "reactivated" my ABS cement (it dried out) and used a little extra force to press the goop into the said areas. Coming along...

[M47R1X]

Dragon Age has robbed my life ATM... gotta get back to this. Where would I look for CNC service?

[M47R1X]

Wow, has it really been a year? Damn. Anyways, I have for the most part finished the controller. I used a drill with a tiny bit (I think it was 1/16", but I'm not sure) to make the initial cut-outs, an Exacto Knife to trim it up and look nice, a little template I made from the measurements of Start and Select, and a bit of time and patience. Time to put the ol' whittling skills to the test.

(sorry for the crappy shots, I'm using a loaner phone while my good phone is busy being broken and my camera is busy being lost)







The verdict: It works! I plugged it in and tried it out with good ol' FFVII in the button config menu, and it all works fine and dandy, EXCEPT...

The Start and Select buttons only register about half of the time. I need to raise up the little platform the contacts are on with a little more hot glue and re-position the contacts to where they line up perfectly. I also need to re-do the wiring to make the wires shorter. I want that PCB inside the pad. I was hoping I'd be done today, but It seems that won't happen.

[CRTGAMER]

The verdict: It works! I plugged it in and tried it out with good ol' FFVII in the button config menu, and it all works fine and dandy,

The Start and Select buttons only register about half of the time. I need to raise up the little platform the contacts are on with a little more hot glue and re-position the contacts to where they line up perfectly. I also need to re-do the wiring to make the wires shorter. I want that PCB inside the pad. I was hoping I'd be done today, but It seems that won't happen.

Congrats! Is the PS1 PCB in the back? If it won't fit you could:

1. Put in a separate project box and run long wires.
2. Make a narrow custom case glued under the gamepad.

Neither is ideal, so hope it will fit inside along side the Saturn PCB.

[M47R1X]

Actually, with some twisting, rearranging, and a bit of luck, I was able to squeeze the PS1 PCB into the pad. Stupid long wires.





But now the Start button isn't working at all. Poop. I think I made the wire break free when I crammed the PCB in. Never mind, it just works even less of the time. Perhaps a wire is pushing it to a side or something. Possibly slid between the button and the contact, not sure. Again, I need to re-do the Start/Select contacts. But hey, it looks good!

[CRTGAMER]

Actually, with some twisting, rearranging, and a bit of luck, I was able to squeeze the PS1 PCB into the pad. Stupid long wires.

But now the Start button isn't working at all. Poop. I think I made the wire break free when I crammed the PCB in. Never mind, it just works even less of the time. Perhaps a wire is pushing it to a side or something. Possibly slid between the button and the contact, not sure. Again, I need to re-do the Start/Select contacts. But hey, it looks good!

Great job, nice that you squeezed it in. The same thing happened to me on my Zaxxon Arcade stick mod. A couple of wires going to the PSX PCB button contacts popped off, a simple resolder.

[M47R1X]

I have it apart again, desoldered the wires from the Saturn PCB, and am cutting them shorter. Much shorter. I also popped off the Start/Select contacts (dishearteningly easy to do, I might add :/ ) for readjustments. With the shorter wires there should be no guesswork, no acrobatics to squeeze it all in.