Xbox 360 Arcade controller - Project Gyokusho

Step 7 Soldering the directions

For obvious reasons I wanted to use the digital direction pad for the joystick, the only problem was that the connection points for the directions looked nothing like the A/B/X/Y connection points. These had a wawe-ish pattern to them and they only had a small dot of copper, there wasn't copper along the waves (as I had been hoping). This resulted in several broken soldering points because when I shifted the cable ever so slightly, just to make sure that it had stuck, the whole thing came loose taking the copper with it.

Instead I had to retrace the wires leading to and from the directional soldering points and where they went straight through the circuit board, I had to scratch off the resin-like substance that covered the copper, peel the thinnest cable I could find, then run it straight through and then solder it in place. The greatest problem with this was that the cables snapped when the isolation wasn't there to protect it. Also, since the circuit board was already mounted in place, I had to use a mirror under the circuit board to try and find the right hole, get the cable through and then have a little stand hold the cable in place without snapping it while I soldered it in place. That was one of the hardest things I've ever done when it comes to soldering.

Also, since the way thin cables snapped so easily, I had to use the slightly thicker ones to connect to the buttons and then solder the two together.

For slightly larger photos you can visit my Flickr-page.

Comments

[hahadamn]

Actually, you performed a lot of unnecessary soldering with regard to the common connections. You only needed to solder one wire off one common point for the buttons. That pretty much cuts your solder points in half. Check this diagram for the points:

http://slagcoin.com/joystick/pcb_diagrams/360_diagram1.jpg

[KayDat]

Actually, he has an early X360 controller, which has 6 common lines, 7 including the real ground.

http://slagcoin.com/joystick/pcb_diagrams/360_diagram6.jpg

[biagio.lembo]

Hallo, I have a question for you.
I opened my 360 pad and the PCB looks exacly like the diagram you gave us:

http://slagcoin.com/joystick/pcb_diagrams/360_diagram6.jpg

but I can't understand this nice coloured circles. BLU is listed as SIGNAL and all the other colors are listed as COMMON. Does the word COMMON means GROUND? If the answer is "yes" I just have to solder the points with the blu circle. Am I right? Where is on the PCB the ground point I should chose?

thanks

[biagio.lembo]

I found this picture as comparison<br/><br/><a rel="nofollow" href="http://arkadesticks.com/hackedpads/Xbox360wired.jpg">http://arkadesticks.com/hackedpads/Xbox360wired.jpg</a><br/><br/>Here all the indications are the same as the diagram less the "back" button that is not specified and the down direction is the opposite :(<br/>

[KayDat]

I can personally attest that the slagcoin diagram is correct, since I recently modded an early X360 controller into a stick. Using the contact points ontop of the shoulder buttons *are* a good idea though; that's what I did as well. I recommend you use a multimeter and verify yourself whether or not it is correct. I think that diagram is drawn like that because the creator soldered one wire to every single button on the pad. If that's the path you choose to go, it doesn't matter which is signal or ground, since you aren't sharing.

@biagio.lembo
You should read through this page by slagcoin. I highly recommend you read through the entire guide if you're thinking of making your own stick though, since it's full of awesome info.

Common means common line. You can't just solder all the commons together and call it a day, since that's not how the electronics work. You're going to need to use either optocouplers or switches to convert the signals. The optocouplers route is easier, but more costly depending on where you source the optocouplers. Here's a link about it.

[KayDat]

Argh didn't finish the post. But yeah, this is the link on how to use optocouplers. The cheaper but harder method is using IC switches. That's the path I chose. I expanded bancao's four signal diagram to cover 12 buttons. I later modified the plan slightly so that the common lines are grouped together on the board.

[biagio.lembo]

ok thanks! I read all the instruction very carefully so now I know something more. I also found the scheme I wanted to implement on my arcade stick:

http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/pcb_wiring/extracted_setup.png

I connect together all the common ground terminal for the stick and the buttons and then I connect one of them to one negative terminal of the PCB (LB or RB negative terminal for example).
Is it enough? what this optocouplers stand for? Do I need them?

[hahadamn]

Also, the use of a hot glue gun to secure brittle connections like this is very useful.

[washn2hiphop]

and also i dont think you mentioned what size wire you used. I am using 18 awg i might think it is too big because i am trying to solder it on an original xbox controller for practice but it does not seem to be sticking correctly any advice?

[Pocket Universe]

I don't remember the exact gauge, but just use the smallest one you can find, the holes are absolutely tiny, probably just a mil-unit or two (mil not millimeter).

[washn2hiphop]

Do you have to scrap the black coating off of all the connections points?

[Pocket Universe]

If you don't expose the bare metal underneath, the solder will not stick.

[Fxzero]

Did you do a 4 or 8-way directional joystick?

[Pocket Universe]

As you may see from the pictures, it acts just as the pivoting D-pad, if I go diagonally, two directions are activated. This can be accomplished with an extension to a 4-way joystick (causing the microswitches to extend beyond their regular reach) or by using an 8-way switch and making the diagonals connect to their corresponding two directions.

[Camionsauro]

Hi! Great explanation but my horrible english drive me crazy on this point about soldering the direction... could you explain in an easy way? Thanks and great works!!

[Pocket Universe]

I'm sorry, I don't understand the question, are you asking me about whether to use a 4-way or 8-way joystick or are you asking me how to solder the D-pad?

[Camionsauro]

Sorry, my bad. I don't understand this whole part: "Instead I had to retrace the wires leading to and from the directional soldering points and where they went straight through the circuit board, I had to scratch off the resin-like substance that covered the copper, peel the thinnest cable I could find, then run it straight through and then solder it in place. The greatest problem with this was that the cables snapped when the isolation wasn't there to protect it. Also, since the circuit board was already mounted in place, I had to use a mirror under the circuit board to try and find the right hole, get the cable through and then have a little stand hold the cable in place without snapping it while I soldered it in place. That was one of the hardest things I've ever done when it comes to soldering. "

[Pocket Universe]

Follow the cables to the directional pad until you reach a hole. Scrape off the plastic around the hole and put you wire through. Solder your wire in place. Was that easier to understand?

[Camionsauro]

Thanks for the info!!