Inspired by this instructable, I decided my plain-Jane, second hand USB game controller was in dire need of application of yummy-smooth Sugru. Right. Now.

Step 1: Inspect Gamepad

Ugh.

Fully functional, but the buttons are bright and slick. They don't feel very good in your hand. The directional pad on the left is slightly messed up. It's about as personalized to my grip as a No. 2 pencil.

Oh, no, this will never do...

Step 2: Increase Ergonomibilityness on the Top

Take little balls of Sugru, and squash them on top of the nasty slick buttons. Take the time to position them so they are exactly on-center, and ensure the edges are nice and even all the way around.

Step 3: Retro Shoulder Pads

Shoulder pads! How retro is that?? ;)

Repeat the process for the shoulder pads (L1 - L4), except of course with rectangles. Squish and mold the sugru to your liking - I didn't go too crazy molding it to my fingers, in case I didn't like the position later on, but also didn't leave it completely smooth. It looks odd, but feels nice.

Step 4: Smoothing

To get a nice, smooth finish, I just took my finger and used light strokes in one direction to get out any lines, inconsistencies and debris (don't get your finger wet - I don't think that would work well). It's a bit tricky at first, but well worth the end product.

I liked this result better than leaving it all finger-printy. That would drive me nuts (although I'm a bit of a perfectionist with things like that...I like smooooooooooth...).

Step 5: Fix All the Things!

Man, I've fixed like 80 bajillion things with this stuff. Partial list: my iPod earbuds (ugly, but I value function much more highly than I value form), a paper cutter that was putting people's fingers and documents at real risk, sandals (that one turned out a failure, sadly - I needed something stronger against the high stresses placed upon the material), The World's Ugliest Lamp (but I love it!) and various and sundry, I-need-to-patch-this problems.

Sugru seems to fill a unique niche for me - I'm starting to use it where I formerly used insulating putty and/or glue. Unlike the putty, this stuff doesn't goop up, run, or melt over time, and it doesn't make a gigantic mess. Unlike glue, you don't have to put GOBS of it on, and it sticks way better than any glue I've tried to irregular and smooth surfaces. It also has the traditional glue/putty advantages of being waterproof. Yay!

Future plans include revamps of old projects - The World's Ugliest Lamp was one, and showerphones are an example of one I hope to get to soon - new projects like a stand for my Livescribe pen (I can't recommend the Echo Smartpen highly enough, speaking of which) and all-around day-saving when things break, snap, crack, disintegrate, crumble or fall off. If I sound like an advertisement for Sugru, I'm sorry - I can't help it! I wish I had an inexhaustible supply...oh, the things you could do...