Xbox Controller Mod (LED's+skull=awesome)

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G-force
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Xbox Controller Mod (LED's+skull=awesome)

Post by G-force » Mon Nov 06, 2006 3:09 am

Had a leftover controller from a Hip Gear Screenpad Xbox controller, and a friend traded me his "duke" controller for it (which I like), and I told him I would fix the hipgear one up a bit so it would be a decent trade (and give me a chance to do another controller mod, woohoo!)

Surprisingly, it's a decent controller. Very responsive, feels good. Very much like a normal S controller, just slightly different. Only thing that bothers me is the analog tact switches are a bit stiff, but not enough to bother with. The point is, it was very mod-worthy.

Here's what it looked like post-modding. Poor thing doesn't have a clue what it's in for, heh heh.
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I only did work on the front half, the back was fine (had rubber hand grips even, oooo!). I started out by dremeling out the screen hinge piece. Then a scrap piece of plastic was put underneath the hole that was made, traced, dremeled, sanded to fit, then superglued in place.
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Then the thing got bondoed and sanded.
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A coat of primer was put on, then a bit more bondo and some more sanding, then another coat, then sanded again.
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Then a red coat was put on.
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Just for fun I put a messy black coat in the middle. I like this look a lot. And it balanced out the red "A" button and the red paint.

The LED's were then wired to the 5V point on the controller. I had 2 red ones which were put in series with no resistor, and a yellow that I used a 220 ohm resistor for.
I wanted them to turn on when a button was pushed. Seemed to me if they were on all the time they would get annoying. So I tried wiring the ground connections from the LED's to the "A" and "B" buttons, but this didn't work. I didn't realize that they were analog buttons, and not simple on/off ground switches. So instead they got wired to the analog tactile buttons which thankfully were just plain old on/off ground switches. Not as cool, but eh... I was tired and just wanted to finish.
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I had an old glow-in-the-dark toy skull I had been saving for something just like this. So I drilled holes through the eyes, sanded the back of it flat, then just hot glued the LED's in, and hot glued it to the controller. The yellow one I stuck in the jaw area, hoping the light would shine out onto the controller.
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All done! I did have trouble with losing buttons and screws, but I found most of them ;)

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The left stick pushed down turns on the red led's...
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And here it is with both pushed down. The right analog stick turns on the yellow one in the jaw. It's not that noticable in the pic, but you definetly notice it when you're using it.
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Anyways, just a small mod I thought somebody might enjoy. I know us modders sure do like a good LED mod.

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Skyone
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Post by Skyone » Mon Nov 06, 2006 3:32 am

Bro, you got far too much time on your hands. ;)

Nice job though, I admire your bondo work.

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Post by Sparkfist » Mon Nov 06, 2006 10:02 am

Yeah that is a nice mod, Kyle.
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Post by bicostp » Mon Nov 06, 2006 1:11 pm

You, sir, have got to be the Bondo master of benheck. 8)

Very nice!

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Post by jedi knight » Mon Nov 06, 2006 2:37 pm

Your bondo work is simply amazing. Nice job. This one totally beats your gamecube mario controller mod.
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Post by G-force » Mon Nov 06, 2006 4:29 pm

@Sky: Yeah... Been sick lately so I've had plenty of time to mess with stuff. Kinda sucks, kinda doesn't, because I love doing this stuff.
Sparkfist wrote:Yeah that is a nice mod, Kyle.
Kyle!
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But yeah, thats not my name. Its the guy who I'm giving it back to.

@Bic: Thanks! It's pretty amazing stuff. You can do practically anything with it and a dremel.

@jedi knight: lol, yeah that one was fun. Now all thats left is a PS2 controller, and I'll have modded every Hip Gear controller! (except the PS2 hip gear contrller sucks, so I won't be doing that)

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Post by DeathJr89 » Mon Nov 06, 2006 9:54 pm

that...is....SO SICK!!! that has to be the most insane controler i've ever seen!! i just have a couple questions...

1) so...now that you have the scren detached from the conrtoler, could the screen be used for a portable? and
2) how much was the controler?
3) what's so bad about the hipgear controlers for PS2?
4) and how long did it take you to do all that?
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Post by G-force » Tue Nov 07, 2006 7:53 am

Heh, thanks! I still have yet to make one as extreme as the Resident Evil chainsaw controller, or that blue dot animal-thing that was released with a PS2 game a while back. But I've got ideas. A while back I tried to make a controller inside a peanut butter jar... With peanut butter in it. Almost finished too, but then I realized how worthless it was :P

1) Yeah, the screen was the whole reason for buying the controller. The leftover controller was just a little bonus.

2) I think it was $35-ish

3) They may not all be so bad, but the one I got had weird black stuff smeared all over the board, and the buttons had to be hit HARD or they wouldnt work. It was the worst controller I've ever used in my life. It was like trying to run with a tranquilizer in your neck, it just didn't work.

4) About an hour, combined.

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Post by Klefmung » Tue Nov 07, 2006 8:43 am

Wow, that looks sick. Nice LED/skull controller mod. >.> I need to do something with this PS2 controller I have left over....
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Post by DK » Tue Nov 07, 2006 12:53 pm

If anything I think you got the short staw, the controller you got must be fantasic!
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Post by G-force » Wed Nov 08, 2006 8:04 pm

It's just a normal old-style official controller. But I loved how it felt so I offered the trade. I really just like modding for people, I try to find ways to give my talent to others whenever I can.

Seeing how much you guys liked this one, maybe I should do something to some other controllers.

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Post by Klefmung » Wed Nov 08, 2006 8:23 pm

G-force wrote:It's just a normal old-style official controller. But I loved how it felt so I offered the trade. I really just like modding for people, I try to find ways to give my talent to others whenever I can.

Seeing how much you guys liked this one, maybe I should do something to some other controllers.
Wanna do something with this formerly-screen mounted Play station controller I have laying around?
gannon wrote:hmm... *ponders about power abuse* :P
benheck wrote:Wow, guess I should have searched my own forums! Oh wait, I don't have to since the rules don't apply to me ;)

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Post by Turbo Tax 1.0 » Wed Nov 08, 2006 9:24 pm

how did you get those slick letters in there? was it with a dremel by any chance?
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Post by G-force » Thu Nov 09, 2006 2:24 am

Klefmung wrote:
G-force wrote:It's just a normal old-style official controller. But I loved how it felt so I offered the trade. I really just like modding for people, I try to find ways to give my talent to others whenever I can.

Seeing how much you guys liked this one, maybe I should do something to some other controllers.
Wanna do something with this formerly-screen mounted Play station controller I have laying around?
Normally I'd jump at it, but I'm up to the ears in school and house work to do, so thanks for the offer, but I can't. :(

Turbo Tax 1.0 wrote:how did you get those slick letters in there? was it with a dremel by any chance?
Those are actually stickers from Hobby Lobby! I couldn't believe it when I found them. My own little crapola way to imitate ben's cool-name-stickers.

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Post by NES_fanatic » Thu Nov 09, 2006 1:12 pm

I'm not that much an xbox guy, but that's...
toyt like a toygur!

But shouldn't the caption weith the unmodded picture say "Pre-modding"?

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