Introduction: Keeping Your Xbox 360 From Scratching Discs
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About: I'm interested in CNC, laser cutting, 3D printing and blow glass in my spare time.
The Xbox 360 is a great system, except it has a few flaws. One of them is that it is very easy to ruin your games if you accidentally hit the console. This mod will allow you to be playing a game while running around with your 360 if you really wanted to.
Step 1: Gathering What You Need
For this mod you have to open your system and your DVD drive. To open up your system you need a torx 10 screw driver and some pliers. I will not cover this step, as I never had to do it. My xbox 360 was in terrible condition and the case was already destroyed. So I never had to go through the tedious task of open it. To do that I recommend watching this video.
Some people have trouble getting the video to load, so click here if you're having trouble.
But if you already have your xbox open the only thing you need is a regular Philips screw driver, super glue, and some foam. The type of foam doesn't really matter more of the size. I can't really specify the exact size of foam you would need for this as it was mostly trial and error for me. So get some foam that is about half an inch thick so you can cut it down to perfect size. If you are going to be buying foam for this project I recommend buying 8x11 craft foam. The first time I did this I used to Styrofoam and it worked fine, but it didn't stay to together as well. The 2nd time with the craft foam it worked perfectly.
By the way I originally got this idea from llama's 360 adventures. Except they don't really tell you anything and just try to sell stuff.
Some people have trouble getting the video to load, so click here if you're having trouble.
But if you already have your xbox open the only thing you need is a regular Philips screw driver, super glue, and some foam. The type of foam doesn't really matter more of the size. I can't really specify the exact size of foam you would need for this as it was mostly trial and error for me. So get some foam that is about half an inch thick so you can cut it down to perfect size. If you are going to be buying foam for this project I recommend buying 8x11 craft foam. The first time I did this I used to Styrofoam and it worked fine, but it didn't stay to together as well. The 2nd time with the craft foam it worked perfectly.
By the way I originally got this idea from llama's 360 adventures. Except they don't really tell you anything and just try to sell stuff.
Step 2: Open Up the Drive
Opening up the DVD drive is pretty straight forward. Just unscrew the 6 screws I circled in red. When you life the DVD drive apart take the top off and not the bottom part. The bottom is what normally wants to come off.
Step 3: Cutting the Foam and Placing It.
Take your foam and cut 4 pads about 1 inch long. Doesn't have to be exact. You want them to be about a quarter inch thick.
After you have cut your little foam pads your going to want to tape them to your DVD drive. Look at my picture to see where to put them.
Your going to want to have the foam pad at the front of the drive shorter then the arch or the DVD will catch on it and not want to come out. And have your one on the back just a little taller then the hump on the back.
After you have cut your little foam pads your going to want to tape them to your DVD drive. Look at my picture to see where to put them.
Your going to want to have the foam pad at the front of the drive shorter then the arch or the DVD will catch on it and not want to come out. And have your one on the back just a little taller then the hump on the back.
Step 4: Testing It Out.
Put 1 or 2 screws back in on your DVD drive just enough so it stays closed and doesn't wobble around. Hook it back up to your xbox 360, but don't close the system up.
Your now either going to need a demo disc you don't care about, or a music Cd with a mp3 on it you don't care about. I took a burnable CD that was in pretty bad condition already and burned a single MP3 to it.
Pop the disc let it load and as the disc is spinning, pick up your console and start turning it and moving it around. If you did this right you should hear a noise that is much much more quieter then what the normal sound of your DVD being eaten to death is. This noise is the top of the disc hitting the pads. Without these pads the disc normally tilts and it hits the DVD tray and scratches the bottom data surface of the disc. The pads stop this and just make the disc bounce back into position without ever getting scratched.
If your DVD drive doesn't open or close, or you hear a little noise louder then normal then your pads are to big and you need to cut them down.
If your Xbox 360's drive open and closes properly and doesn't hit the foam pads while normally spinning pop the DVD drive back open and super glue the pads down so they stay there permanently.
I searched around on the internet to a solution to this and found a guide on putting pads on your DVD drive except it was very vague and they told you to buy their foam pads. I hear about this problem a lot and was hoping to help out a lot of people with this problem. Even if you have never had this happen and don't mind voiding your warranty and screwing around inside your console it is really nice to have, I myself have never picked the console up or bumped it while it was on, but friends, dogs, and parents, have hit it not knowing what will happen. I also really recommend this if you are planning to put an Xbox 360 in your car to do this mod as if you hit a bump while driving it could ruin your disc.
Hope you enjoyed this guide! I'm not really sure how many guides for stuff like this is on instructables, so if you guys want anymore 360 mod guides let me know I can right some more on some topics that aren't covered here. Just give me some ideas on what you want.
Your now either going to need a demo disc you don't care about, or a music Cd with a mp3 on it you don't care about. I took a burnable CD that was in pretty bad condition already and burned a single MP3 to it.
Pop the disc let it load and as the disc is spinning, pick up your console and start turning it and moving it around. If you did this right you should hear a noise that is much much more quieter then what the normal sound of your DVD being eaten to death is. This noise is the top of the disc hitting the pads. Without these pads the disc normally tilts and it hits the DVD tray and scratches the bottom data surface of the disc. The pads stop this and just make the disc bounce back into position without ever getting scratched.
If your DVD drive doesn't open or close, or you hear a little noise louder then normal then your pads are to big and you need to cut them down.
If your Xbox 360's drive open and closes properly and doesn't hit the foam pads while normally spinning pop the DVD drive back open and super glue the pads down so they stay there permanently.
I searched around on the internet to a solution to this and found a guide on putting pads on your DVD drive except it was very vague and they told you to buy their foam pads. I hear about this problem a lot and was hoping to help out a lot of people with this problem. Even if you have never had this happen and don't mind voiding your warranty and screwing around inside your console it is really nice to have, I myself have never picked the console up or bumped it while it was on, but friends, dogs, and parents, have hit it not knowing what will happen. I also really recommend this if you are planning to put an Xbox 360 in your car to do this mod as if you hit a bump while driving it could ruin your disc.
Hope you enjoyed this guide! I'm not really sure how many guides for stuff like this is on instructables, so if you guys want anymore 360 mod guides let me know I can right some more on some topics that aren't covered here. Just give me some ideas on what you want.