Playstation Earrings

Intro: Playstation Earrings

GAMERS BEWARE! NO CONTROLLER IS SAFE!

One day you could be happily playing your games console then go to sleep and in the morning BAM! two of your buttons are gone and your friend has a new pair of earrings that look suspiciously like your missing buttons! *

I would love to say this Instructable came to me while I was sitting a top a mountain meditating on the meaning of life but I'll be honest it came to me while walking around my room looking for ways to use ninety earring findings. Alas that is not what this Instructables led me to. After making these and and my Lego Head Earrings I have decided to make small collection of earrings that are instantly noticeable and that set of a wide range of thoughts and memories about the past.

* I do not condone the stealing of controllers even to make my projects!

STEP 1: What You Will Need

You Will Need:
2 Part Epoxy Glue- From a pound/dollar store
Clear Nail Varnish- Also from a pound/dollar store
Some means of cutting and filing plastic and removing screws- I used a exacto knife and a full size metal file but you could use a multi-tool as pictured.
Earring Findings- I use 4mm but anything up to around 8mm will work.
An Old Games Console Controller- Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo 64 etc.

STEP 2: Dismantling the Controller

Two ways to do this next part:

The Clean Way (How I Did It)
Every part of this way is documented in the pictures.
Step 1- Remove the six screws from the back of the controller (I think The Hulk must have got community service for destroying the city at Sony tightening screws, as one took ages to budge)
Step 2-Remove the sneaky little screw in the circuit board that my screwdriver is pointing to in picture two
Step 3- Remove the circuit board and back and front leaving yourself with the triangle, circle, square and X buttons.

I've always wanted to have a kite that was controlled by analog sticks like the ones in the Playstation 2 controller but that's not my area of expertise and totally off subject. Back to the action.

The Messy Way
Step 1- Attack the controller with a hammer breaking it into pieces
Step 2- Take the above mentioned four buttons

It's your choice

STEP 3: Preparing the Buttons

As you can see in the first picture and right in front of your eyes the buttons are horribly bulky. We must fix this.

How I Removed The Excess Plastic:
Step 1: Shave pieces of plastic off using your blade, like when you cant find a sharpener and sharpen a pencil with a knife, until you have about three mm of plastic left.
Step 2: File the piece down flat another mm until it is 2 mm thick

A Faster and Probably More Efficient Alternative:
Step 1: Use a hacksaw to cut the piece to 3mm
Step 2: File the piece down to a 2mm thickness

Once again totally your choice!

STEP 4: Varnishing

Optional But Recommended

If you have quick dry nail varnish this will obviously be quicker for you.
My way of getting the buttons nice and shiny is five coats of varnish applied lightly.

IMPORTANT
It is crucial that the varnish drys properly between coats otherwise one coat will mix with the previous semi-dry coat and it will go streaky . I was told by a friend that if you press the back of your nail against the varnish and it leaves a mark it is not dry and this method seems to work.

If you are in a hurry two thin coats then one thick coat will occasionally give satisfactory results but I don't recommend it.

STEP 5: Attaching

Wait until your varnish is totally dry to do this step. There should be a little circular mark on the coloured piece on the inside of the button. This is the centre and is where you are going to stick the post.

Mix the two parts of the epoxy glue in equal measures. I prefer to dip the flat part of the the earring post into the glue but you could apply it using a toothpick or something like that.

Place the glued posts on the circular mark and leave to dry as shown in picture 2

Member mom123: suggested crazy glue for this part so you could try that!

STEP 6: The Finished Product

There you go! You now have your very own Playstation Earrings! Enjoy!

All that's left to do now is to thank you for your time and notify you that more jewelry will be coming up very soon.

Thank You

Ross

Comments

[GloomyBearIsSick]

Just Brilliant!

[nawipanama]

hey,im wondering on how to cut the buttons?i used cutter for it,but its so difficult.and the outcome is not so great.is there any other way?

[The Science Guy]

It completely depends on your tools to hand.
You could:
-Sand them down with a little drum sander like on a dremel
- File them down just with a regular file and some hardwork
-Melt them down too with the tip of a glue gun or with a heat gun but I wouldn't recommend it
-Cut them down roughly with a utility/ stanley knife then sand them to a nice finish
-Saw them using a hacksaw or fine toothed saw

I would recommend the first one but it depends on your resources

Good luck
Ross

[The Science Guy]

Oh and welcome to Instructables!

[tykal123]

Hey by nail varnish do you mean just clear nail polish??
Also what kind of store would you be able to buy earring posts at?

[The Science Guy]

In answer to both your questions, I used clear nail polish purely because it was a handy size, quite cheap and has the little brush built in, I see no reason why regular varnish wouldn't work. In terms of durability, I made these around 5-6 months ago and they have not chipped or lost any varnish.

I bought my earring posts with backs in a pack of 100 on eBay, you could also obtain them from most craft stores such as Hobbycraft at a considerably more expensive rate.

Here is the link to the earring posts I bought: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100-6mm-Flat-Pad-Silver-Plated-Earring-Post-With-Backs-Stoppers-Findings-/300656853960?pt=UK_Crafts_JewelleryMaking_GL&hash=item46008b83c8

These are great value for money and are also good quality, just don't leave them lying on the floor, feet and earrings don't go well.

I thank you for viewing my Instructable and for subscribing. If you like earring making I have other earring Instructables you could look at.

Hope all goes well

Ross

[tykal123]

Oh and I was also wondering about the nail varnish, does it not come off ever? Could I possibly use regular varnish or some sort of sealant? I'm very new to this, I already filed down one of the buttons to size and I'm ready to coat it I'm just not sure which direction to go in to help it last long, thanks!

[mom123]

About how to put the post on I just used crazy glue and it dried in about 2 mintutes !
How I did it was I put crazy glue on the thing and put some on the post and then stack it to the thing !
It worked great and as easy as 123 !
Pass on pleas !
Thanks

[The Science Guy]

Thanks. Two part epoxy and crazy glue are basically the same I believe just crazy glue is one liquid, I'll put it in anyways!

[mrscoloradogal]

Very cool! I'll have to try these sometime when one of our controllers suddenly "breaks".

[The Science Guy]

I get the feeling a lot of controllers will be mysteriously breaking soon :)

[jessyratfink]

Very nice! I made some of these years ago when one of my controllers broke.

I never thought to cut them down like that, but I did do a lot of sanding to make the back look nice. :)

[The Science Guy]

Thanks! I really like all of your Lego jewelry and especially the cuff links, I have made a few of yours myself.