Attempting My D-pad Mod

[BobBorakovitz]

do you think it needs that rocker part of the pad? I removed about 1/4 of it already. I'm just afraid of ruining it and having to cut a bigger hole for a NES d-pad (instead of the gameboy pocket one I'm trying to use now) The whole height of the assembly isn't that large. It's just a piece of "foam-like" double sided tape (not that thick), the circuit board, rubber membrane, and dpad.

I did take a bunch of pics last weekend, but my arcade cabinet's motherboard just blew on me the other day and I had to sacrifice my desktop until after this weekend. So, I probably wont be able to get to them until then. Anyway, I don't really want to post pics until it's fully working. I don't want to lead anyone down the wrong road, lol.

I'm really thankful that there hasn't been super amazing emulator releases this week...I'm starting to go through withdrawl.... I'm starting to wonder if I'll actually get this thing working, or if I'll be stuck with a gp2x without a joystick. lol

thanks to everyone for their advice so far, it's been much appreciated!

 

[chunkyktr]

we could do with some pics to help with this, but heres a couple of ideas.

dont shave off all the dpad rocker - you usually lose accuracy in use

you have mentioned previously that your using glue to hold down the membrane onto the board- is the membrane sitting level? (if its glued too high on one or more sides this may stop the carbon contact touching the circuit board when you press.).

is the inside surface of the case where you have cut your + clean and level?

have you cut out the + very slightly bigger than the dpad? (to give it room to 'wiggle' a bit)

you mentioned you were mounting this on top of the joystick base. if this is still the case, you could shave down the base to give more room. (irc, radek had to do this with the original development of his pad mod)

also see if you have any more membranes kicking round with a lower height than the one your using.


ummm.. i'll try to think of some more

 

[DaveC]

I'm starting to wonder if I'll actually get this thing working, or if I'll be stuck with a gp2x without a joystick. lol

thanks to everyone for their advice so far, it's been much appreciated!

These mods are alot harder than we think. If you are off by 1 mm you can get poor results. One thing is you need enough play in the pad from the inside of pad to top of the case. Not only does one side of the + have to be able to press down but the opposite end needs to come up as well. Yes you need the rocker pivot point. If you get rid of that you may press 3 or 4 directions at once confusing many games and result in undesired operation.

Worst case and you can buy one of the d-pad kits from ED or me. It is a QD pad but it works great and is easier to install. You just solder in and cut the hole with the metal template and that is it. ED can mod a GP2X from start to finish with my kit in 1/2 hour or less

 

[BobBorakovitz]

we could do with some pics to help with this, but heres a couple of ideas.

dont shave off all the dpad rocker - you usually lose accuracy in use

you have mentioned previously that your using glue to hold down the membrane onto the board- is the membrane sitting level? (if its glued too high on one or more sides this may stop the carbon contact touching the circuit board when you press.).

is the inside surface of the case where you have cut your + clean and level?

have you cut out the + very slightly bigger than the dpad? (to give it room to 'wiggle' a bit)

you mentioned you were mounting this on top of the joystick base. if this is still the case, you could shave down the base to give more room. (irc, radek had to do this with the original development of his pad mod)

also see if you have any more membranes kicking round with a lower height than the one your using.


ummm.. i'll try to think of some more

yeah, I dont know what I was thinking about the dpad rocker, of course you need it. lol
I used just a quick dab of superglue in 3 spots to hold the membrane down. I don't think that'd cause an issue.
yes, the surface is clean enough
there should be plenty of wiggle room for the dpad, I can "turn" it a little
I ended up removing the original joystick's base

I think I'm going to have to replace the board and membrane. I have a gamecube controller I can hack.
I'll look into it this weekend for sure!

 

[BobBorakovitz]

These mods are alot harder than we think. If you are off by 1 mm you can get poor results. One thing is you need enough play in the pad from the inside of pad to top of the case. Not only does one side of the + have to be able to press down but the opposite end needs to come up as well. Yes you need the rocker pivot point. If you get rid of that you may press 3 or 4 directions at once confusing many games and result in undesired operation.

Worst case and you can buy one of the d-pad kits from ED or me. It is a QD pad but it works great and is easier to install. You just solder in and cut the hole with the metal template and that is it. ED can mod a GP2X from start to finish with my kit in 1/2 hour or less

yeah, if I can't get it working on my own, that'd be the best bet. But I think I'll be able to squash this and still have a + dpad.....eventually :rolleyes:

anyway, thanks for the advice!

 

[LordFu]

Yeah, I've heard the Gamecube d-pad is pretty much perfect. That's the one I think I'm going to try.

 

[BobBorakovitz]

still haven't gotten my other computer up yet with the pics on it, but I DID replace my contact board with the one from the gamecube controller. I got it all hooked up and back together (after losing the damn power button for 20 minutes!) when everything but the left button works great. I take it apart and notice one of the solders wasn't very good. So I fix that solder, test it, and put it back together. Everything works again but the left button. Damnit. So I mess with it further. I find out that if I hold the button to the left from the right side, then press the left button, it works! I figure I just need to slide the board over a bit so I can hit the left button easier. Nope. I just fuxored it up even more though opening it again. I'm done for the night, maybe tomorrow I'll try again.

Sacraficed Peripherals list so far:
1 NES Controller
1 Gameboy Pocket
1 3do Controller
1 Gamecube Controller
1 GP2x ::crys::

Someone kick me for trying this!