Anatomy Of An F200 D-pad Mod


Well, I got somewhere with my idea so here are the pics! It's not as sexy as Dave's, but this is a mod that virtually anyone should be able to do. In short, it involves chopping out the center "crossbar" and fixing it to the four buttons to make one solid pad with a smooth surface.

The first step is as per Dave's; the center piece is snipped out (being careful not to wreck it):

001cd1.jpg



Next, the tabs are snipped 2/3 of the way up from the bottom so they splay upwards. This will allow them to follow the angle of the button surface:

002ti2.jpg



Using a soldering iron (I keep a spare tip handy for plastic work), the center piece is "tacked" into place:

003vt1.jpg



Once it's tacked around the sides, it's flipped over and tacked around the bottom. Now it's solid:

004fu3.jpg



After tidying up with a Dremel, here's the first reassembly:

005yh2.jpg



At this point the opening was not really wide enough, because the pad now needs extra lateral room to pivot. Disassembled, hit it with the Dremel, reassembled, all good. The total size of the opening is only about 1mm bigger (all around) than you see in the above pic. I was worried that I'd have to add a pivot point in the center of the pad too, but it's not needed.

How does it feel? So very nearly like it came from the factory, I even surprised myself. To put a number on it, maybe 85% as good as a bought one. Which is still 100% better than GPH's effort. The button travel is still technically the same, but it certainly feels like less when when your thumb is rolling around on it.

I tested it with Ruckman first for basic 4 directional action, then D1X Rebirth (Descent) for full 3D navigation. It's a winner. [edit] Payback is an absolute dream to play now!

If you've got a steady hand (and a Dremel or equivalent) I highly recommend doing this mod. :)
 
Gruso, what would you charge to do this for a customer? I'm absolute rubbish when it comes to the internals of electronics, and I'm terrible with powertools of any sort. I'd be more than willing to compensate you for your time. :)

If you're interested and have got the spare time to do it, PM me some totals...oh, and clean out your message box. I tried to PM you with an offer, but your box is full. :p
 
Thx guys. :)

Grahf - you're right, maybe I'll experiment with that next time I've got it open.

tkeely4777 said:
Gruso, what would you charge to do this for a customer? I'm absolute rubbish when it comes to the internals of electronics, and I'm terrible with powertools of any sort. I'd be more than willing to compensate you for your time. :)

If you're interested and have got the spare time to do it, PM me some totals...oh, and clean out your message box. I tried to PM you with an offer, but your box is full. :p
oops, had my PM's disabled. Fixed! Are you in Australia?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Gruso said:
Thx guys. :)

Grahf - you're right, maybe I'll experiment with that next time I've got it open.

tkeely4777 said:
Gruso, what would you charge to do this for a customer? I'm absolute rubbish when it comes to the internals of electronics, and I'm terrible with powertools of any sort. I'd be more than willing to compensate you for your time. :)

If you're interested and have got the spare time to do it, PM me some totals...oh, and clean out your message box. I tried to PM you with an offer, but your box is full. :p
oops, had my PM's disabled. Fixed! Are you in Australia?
I'm actually in the states, but I'm willing to pay the extra shipping fees...I'll also throw in some extra money for you if you're willing to send me back some TimTams and Milo. =) PM sent. :D
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Does anyone know of a D-pad from a old controller that will fit in the F-200 as a replacement? The gaps between the buttons sort of spoil this for me. If I could replace it with a Saturn D-pad it would be frikkin awesome!
 
If only it was that easy :( everyone would do it. I poked around for something that would be an easy fit, but you'll find that d-pads from most non-handheld systems are too big. Even if you found one with a matching diameter (eg. from another handheld), it has to match the rubber membrane underneath - see DaveC's pic in the first post (top row, third from the left). And you'd still have to hack/slash to put it in.

I've heard about little round caps that stick on (designed for PSP), apparently they work ok on the F200 too. Available on ebay.
 
I just bought one of those PSP kits off eBay in white. Hopefully that will alleviate the problem I am having with the original D-pad. I would say the D-pad design actually ruins the F-200. I find it unusable for most games I have tried.

I am really not brave enough to try DaveC's hack. When someone mass produces a replacement D-pad I will be first in line to invest thou :p
 
Let us know how that works; I had a paste on d-pad for my PSP Fat, from Brando; it was like $1 or something, and was AWESOME. If it works on f200 that woudl be slick. (I sold my PSP Fat so can't try it out)

jeff
 
Gruso - Just one small question: what stops the actual pad from falling out of the casing? From what I can see the cross-piece holds the sections of the pad in, if you cut that away from the casing (as well as filing away the surrounding hole to allow it to pivot) won't the entire pad just fall out?
 
That worried me at first, but as it turned out it wasn't an issue. There are three tabs at the bottom of each button which (in unmodded form) sit in little slots, theoretically preventing the buttons from coming out.

tabsrf9.png


After the mod, these tabs become redundant - but the d-pad is still firmly in place. This is thanks to the bulky button membrane underneath:

membranevt3.jpg


The rubber "knobs" fit very tightly inside the buttons, requiring some effort to be pushed in. This grip is enough to keep them firmly in place (even more so when the four buttons are joined together). I could probably rip the d-pad out with a big pair of pliers, but I definitely can't do it with my fingers. :)
 
Some small snips like these: http://www.hobbytools.com.au/prod531.htm

The ones I used were actually a little chunkier than that, which wasn't great. The slimmer/finer the better, so you can get right in against the curved wall and do a clean cut.

TIPS

== News just in - use superglue. ==
Sounds obvious. Because it is. After a week of abuse, my soldered "tacks" were getting a little fatigued. So once the pad is tacked together, some superglue carefully dripped into the cracks will really secure it. You don't want any ending up on the top surface though, so apply carefully.

You *could* just use the glue (and not the soldering iron), but the tacking method allows you to fix a position instantly. So I recommend tacking, then dripping.

== Soldering ==
There is method in the melting. If you just jab it in there you'll probably make a mess.
- Let the iron heat up fully
- Hold the two parts in place, then hold the iron tip against the join location with the gentlest of pressure.
- After 1 to 2 seconds, you'll see, feel and sometimes hear that the surrounding plastic is melting.
- At this point, quickly apply pressure so the tip goes in a couple of mm, withdraw immediately, and blow on the join to cool it. If all goes well, the molten plastic on either side will have set together.

Definitely practice this on some unimportant plastic first. Also, keep a big old rag handy so you can wipe the tip clean after each join.

== Grinding/sanding ==
A Dremel or equivalent is really the only tool for the job. Use the largest cylindrical grinding stone / sandpaper fitting that you have, on the lowest speed. The plastic is very easy to work with.

== Patience ==
Not only while you're doing the job, but once it's reassembled. Because there's a very good chance you'll be pulling it apart again to make that hole just a teeny bit bigger. :lol:
 
skeezix said:
Let us know how that works; I had a paste on d-pad for my PSP Fat, from Brando; it was like $1 or something, and was AWESOME. If it works on f200 that woudl be slick. (I sold my PSP Fat so can't try it out)

jeff
I read somewhere in this forum that someone used one of those PSP stick on pads and it worked good.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Gruso - Thanks for the extra tips. I'm not going to use a soldering iron for the simple reason that I don't have one! I'm going for the superglue method but I'll try and apply it as carefully as possible so I don't gunk up the pad.

I've got my dremel tool ready so might attempt this soon, just need a decent pair of snips.
 
One more question...

001cd1.jpg


See on this photo, on the casing there's a lip around the edge of the hole, which features the slots that the tabs on the d-pad buttons slot into, and these prevent it from falling out.

My question is, when you dremel away the hole to make it larger to allow the d-pad to pivot, what happens to this lip? Do you have to remove it? Surely it becomes thinner if you're making the hole larger?

Hope that makes sense...
 
Back
Top