WIGI
Smash Champion
i painted 2 controllers now, i only hvae full pics of one. il post asap.
-
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Guide To Re-Spray Painting your controllers for melee(Updated 4/3/07)
- Thread starter RelaxImAProfessional
- Start date
brawlpro
Smash Master
What does the japanese text say?
/Curious
/Curious
lorddave551
Smash Apprentice
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2007
- Messages
- 162
wats the exact link on the site so i don't buy the wrong thing?
http://www.dealextreme.com/search.dx/search.trigram
There's a few different models on there, pick what you like.
Cookiez
Smash Ace
Tip-ex ftl...
My controller looks so splodgy <(@.@)> But i love it anyway
But after seeing this, i might go down to BnQ and look for one of those tri-heads ^^.
My controller looks so splodgy <(@.@)> But i love it anyway
But after seeing this, i might go down to BnQ and look for one of those tri-heads ^^.
IceEmblem
Smash Journeyman
Wow those are really nice, i'm thinking of painting mine Orange with Purple Buttons. XP
lorddave551
Smash Apprentice
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2007
- Messages
- 162
here's mine, i did it twilight princess themed. Its a little rough right now but i plan on redoing it.
http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc03902kr9.jpg
http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc03902kr9.jpg
HiIH
Smash Lord
EDIT-Looked on the last page. Gonna use the painters tape trick, thanks.
I've done a few controllers now, they all turned out very nice.
But I want to see if I can't go a step further and add some LEDs, I know there are some who have already achieved this and I would be really grateful if anyone could point me in the direction of a guide if one exists. If not, anyone fancy letting me know how its done?
Would be most appreciated.
But I want to see if I can't go a step further and add some LEDs, I know there are some who have already achieved this and I would be really grateful if anyone could point me in the direction of a guide if one exists. If not, anyone fancy letting me know how its done?
Would be most appreciated.
Mann
Smash Ace
Just have to use your imagination really. You're going to have to find areas in your controller where there is enough space to hold what you need. Then drill holes big enough to fit where you need to put the parts.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ee_8IMx0uMo The last part of this vid talks about putting in LED's. I couldn't find anything else right away, but it should help you get ideas.
How important is the sanding of the controller actually? Won't it make the controller lame to use?
I've done everything who is written in the guide(except for that I forgot the primer, but I've done it on a broken controller, so it's just for testing). The controller will be dry tomorrow, I guess, but should it be just like holding an unpainted controller, or can I expect that I can feel that the controller is painted, and that it has been sanded?
I've done everything who is written in the guide(except for that I forgot the primer, but I've done it on a broken controller, so it's just for testing). The controller will be dry tomorrow, I guess, but should it be just like holding an unpainted controller, or can I expect that I can feel that the controller is painted, and that it has been sanded?
yes, you should sand your controller prior to painting
hello tonb3rry,
in my opinion, sanding very important and the importance of primer depends on the paint you use. the reason for sanding is that it creates an abrasive surface on which the primer can adhere well. The reason for the primer is that it creates an intermediate between the material and the colored paint. there are several paints out there that specify primer is not needed. if you are using one of these, then primer is an extra option that you can opt out on. however, i still believe sanding is crucial for a long-lasting paintjob. remember, in the guide, i specified using sandpaper that has a high grit level which means the abrasions it creates if very fine, not your typical sandpaper that you use in woodshop. in conconclusion...SAND down the unbroken controller!!! oh yes, don't forget the clearcoat for extra protection against acidic sweat. good luck and may your paintjob withstand hours of intense combos [wait, that's not likely in brawl ( *_* ) ]
hello tonb3rry,
in my opinion, sanding very important and the importance of primer depends on the paint you use. the reason for sanding is that it creates an abrasive surface on which the primer can adhere well. The reason for the primer is that it creates an intermediate between the material and the colored paint. there are several paints out there that specify primer is not needed. if you are using one of these, then primer is an extra option that you can opt out on. however, i still believe sanding is crucial for a long-lasting paintjob. remember, in the guide, i specified using sandpaper that has a high grit level which means the abrasions it creates if very fine, not your typical sandpaper that you use in woodshop. in conconclusion...SAND down the unbroken controller!!! oh yes, don't forget the clearcoat for extra protection against acidic sweat. good luck and may your paintjob withstand hours of intense combos [wait, that's not likely in brawl ( *_* ) ]
Thanks for such a fast answer!
I used "400" sandpaper, do you think that's good enough? I must say that the broken controller I tested paint spraying at ain't as comfortable as I would hope. Maybe the sandpaper didn't have high enough grit, I dunno. However, I forgot to use the primer, but that shouldn't do much with how comfortable it is in my hands, should it? I paint sprayed the controller outdoors, though. And since it was blowing a little, the clear coat didn't seem to get a good touch with the controller =/
Next controller I'll paint spray, I'll do inside my garage or something
Thank you! Only n00bs plays SHlTTY games like Brawl anyways(which is not me)
Comboes, speed and advanced techniques ftw!
Co0L_kid
Smash Rookie
if you are going to paint the the buttons do you have to sand/prime them also?
It will probably help them wear better. Sanding down the sides of the button/hole will help with paint transfer as well, so the paint that inevitably chips off the side of the button won't be as noticeable.
Co0L_kid
Smash Rookie
thanks for the quick reply, now i just need to buy paint and a screwdriver
DJLO
Smash Journeyman
http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/smashboards.com/showthread.php%3Ft%3D69935
stumble for great justice
im so excited, ive got my Wii AR on the way, and now im sending out for a triwing
stumble for great justice
im so excited, ive got my Wii AR on the way, and now im sending out for a triwing
Co0L_kid
Smash Rookie
does the c-stick still work good after you paint it?
blazefox
Smash Journeyman
As long as you don't load up on clear coat, the C-stick will work fine. If it sticks a little, you can always sand out the socket a little bit to give the stick more room. At least I think it would.
Requiem
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
anyone knows if this is up already?
Rikuna
Smash Rookie
Yeah, I messed up my first time trying this. I guess I will do a lot less coats of everything ; ;
blazefox
Smash Journeyman
I'm going to paint my wavebird within the next few days. I'll post a pic or 2 when I get the time. (:
truth. though if you wanted a combination of colors you can always paint the two shells different colors or even paint the figure-8 shaped pods (that surround the face buttons) different colors. it looks pro, there were pictures a long time back in this thread with a controller like that.
If you're dead set on painting buttons, be prepared to sand out the walls a good bit because they really do chip a lot otherwise. It's been probably close to 10 months now since I painted my controller and the buttons still look rather nice. One small green spot on A, some small slivers of primer showing through, and that's it. There was more damage done to the paint by the oils on my fingers than by pushing the buttons.
I also don't recommend trying to paint Csticks unless you either have a paint that really bonds to the rubber tip or you take the tip off completely.
And I totally forgot about that LED guide! Let me go find what I've got and post what I can.
Edit: Here we are.
~~::GUIDE TO ADDING LEDS TO A GAMECUBE CONTROLLER::~~
Adding LEDs to a Gamecube controller circuit is a fairly straightforward mod for anyone with any electronics and/or soldering experience. ***DISCLAIMER*** I accept no responsibility for damage to persons or property from attempting to use the information in this guide. Use this information at your own risk.*** That said, only a few simple tools are needed for this project, and they are:
- Triwing or 2mm flathead screwdriver
- Low power Soldering Iron (15-25W)
- 60/40 rosin core electronics solder
- LEDs
- Resistors (more on these later)
- Hookup wire (22 gauge or higher ideally)
- Basic soldering and electronics knowledge (how to solder, what series/parallel are, what basic components do)
There are two* ways to wire the LEDs into the controller, depending on how you want them to act in the finished product. We're going to be using the power supply for the rumble motor for this, so Wavebird owners, you're outta luck. You wouldn't want to be running LEDs off of AA batteries anyhow. Now this is a curious, but understandable, quirk in the controller's design: The rumble motor is powered by a separate source from the data processors of the rest of the controller. Yet the distribution of power is actually controlled by the other source. This presents us with an interesting range of possibilities for this mod, with or without normal rumble motor functionality. The possible wiring arrangements are:
- Always on (in parallel with rumble circuit)
- Flashing (in parallel with or in place of rumble motor itself)
* There's actually a third way to do it, but it's not compatible with either of the other two ways, disables the rumble, and has special conditions regarding the circumstances of it's functionality. It was the first mode I found when putting LEDs in controllers, but I find either of the others or a conjunction of the two to be superior to this one. I will include a small note about it at the end.
Part One: Opening the Controller
I'm going to assume that you already understand the basics of electronics wiring, including how to solder, so we can get onto the actual installation procedures. This portion is common to all modes. The first thing we must do is open the gamecube controller, just like you would for painting it. Turn it face down and remove the back half of the controller using a triwing or 2mm flathead (and a little patience), and set it aside for now. Carefully pull the turn of the cord off of its post and lift the circuit board from the front shell of the controller. You'll notice, among other things, two particular runs of wire. These are the six wires that compose the controller cord, and also the two wires that connect the rumble motor to the circuit board, and it is these two areas that we will be focusing on. The different configurations will involve making connections to one of these two places.
Always-On Mode
This mode piggybacks the LEDs on the rumble supply voltage, and runs it in parallel. Using this mode, your LEDs will be lit whenever your controller is plugged into a powered on system (even a Wii on standby).
Take a look at the base of the controller cord, where the six wires are soldered to the board. This assembly is called a header, and in this header you will find a blue, yellow, red, green, white, and black wire. The wires we're interested in are the yellow one (the voltage supply) and the black one (ground).
For this mode, we're going to need a resistor in the LED circuit path. This is because LEDs are current driven devices. Without a resistance in series with them, basically they like to explode. Now, not everyone is going to want to configure their controllers the same way (and not all colors of LEDs have the same voltage rating) so I'd recommend visiting http://ledcalc.com/#calc. I like this site because it has many modes and even suggests some typical voltage ratings of different colored LEDs if you don't know or aren't sure of what you're going to be using.
Once you find your resistance values and have obtained your resistor(s) and LED(s), you can get started tying them into the controller circuit. We're going to run the resistor in parallel with the path of the yellow wire (if you decide to use multiple resistors, they'll all be in parallel with each other. Follow the diagram given to you on the LED site). You're going to cut the yellow wire in about half, and strip off some ends to work with. make a loop in the leg of the resistor, and you're going to solder both ends to the loop.
You now have a resistor sticking off of your yellow wire, and from here it's your discretion as to how you want to array your LEDs. I'll use a single LED as an example here. You'll be using hookup wire to make runs to other parts of the controller if you're looking to do that. Look for information on basic wiring and/or practice soldering runs of wire together in different patterns until you're sure you know what you're doing.
In our example, we're only using one LED, so the only thing to do is solder the positive end (the long leg) of the LED to the free end of the resistor. You can trim it if you need to, just be sure you know how to tell the ends apart. LEDs only work one way. Solder the positive leg of the LED to the end of the resistor, and then we're going to connect the other end of the LED (or another bit of wire solder onto it) to the black wire in the same way we did with the resistor. Cut the black wire in half, get some stripped ends, and connect all three of your parts together. To test your circuit, just plug your controller into a Gamecube or Wii and turn it on. If the LED lights up, good job. If not, check to see if the LED is still good, or if you wired it the wrong way.
If you're planning on doing more complicated LED runs, remember to research wiring practices and techniques. I can't go through and give a detailed explanation for every possible combination, because there is literally an infinite number of possibilities.
Flashing Mode
If you like the idea of LEDs flashing when your controller rumbles, like I do, then this is the method you want to use.
You're going to wire your LEDs to the contact points on the bottom of the controller near the D-pad, where the wires for the actual motor are attached. You can do this in two ways: you can replace the motor with your LEDs, or you can wire them all in parallel together.
This method is much easier than the other. You may not even need a resistor for this part. Good electronics practices would dictate using one, but I personally haven't had any problems without one in this area. Basically, you're going to take your resistor-LED assembly and hook it up to the positive and negative solder pads across the rumble motor. The pads are labelled, so it's easy. The same rules apply here as did to the other mode, so rereading them should help. Once you connect your resistor to the positive pad, and the positive end of you LED to the resistor, connect the other end of the LED to the negative pad and you're all set.
Hybrid Mode
There was a weird phenomenon I discovered several years ago when trying to figure out how to add LEDs to controllers for the first time. I was rather inexperience with electronics, but my friend and I managed to wire up a working configuration by putting an LED directly in series with the rumble circuit. Basically you cut the yellow wire and attach those ends to the positive and negative ends of an LED. I used a blue LED, which has a higher voltage rating, and was able to withstand this. Don't try it with a red or green LED. Now, I don't know why it even worked in the first place, unless as I suspect there's a buffer (resistance) on the front end of the rumble circuit. Anyway, the LED worked, functioned like this: The LED would come on when the controller rumbled, but due to the voltage drop across the LED, the motor wouldn't turn anymore. No biggie for me. Here's the strange bit. When first turning on the system and entering the game, the first rumble would cause the LED to come on and stay on, albeit dimmer than when it rumbled. And it would continue to stay on, and brighten upon rumbling, for an indistinct period of time. In Melee, it was for the first game played. And only the first game. I don't know why. Afterwards, the LED would go off and only light up on rumble. But you could always reset it by going to the rumble menu and turning the rumble off and back on, and the game would light up the LED again. Confusing, I know. I don't recommend trying this, as the other two methods are much more simpler and convenient, and also less finicky. But I thought I'd mention it for those of you who were curious.
That's it for my guide. I hope it helps any of you interested in figuring out how to put those LEDs into your controllers, as it's just about the coolest thing you could do to one. There are many possibilities for adding LEDs to your controllers. Depending on your knowledge and experience level, just about anything is possible. Have fun exploring the world of electronic illumination, and make those controllers shine.
I also don't recommend trying to paint Csticks unless you either have a paint that really bonds to the rubber tip or you take the tip off completely.
And I totally forgot about that LED guide! Let me go find what I've got and post what I can.
Edit: Here we are.
~~::GUIDE TO ADDING LEDS TO A GAMECUBE CONTROLLER::~~
Adding LEDs to a Gamecube controller circuit is a fairly straightforward mod for anyone with any electronics and/or soldering experience. ***DISCLAIMER*** I accept no responsibility for damage to persons or property from attempting to use the information in this guide. Use this information at your own risk.*** That said, only a few simple tools are needed for this project, and they are:
- Triwing or 2mm flathead screwdriver
- Low power Soldering Iron (15-25W)
- 60/40 rosin core electronics solder
- LEDs
- Resistors (more on these later)
- Hookup wire (22 gauge or higher ideally)
- Basic soldering and electronics knowledge (how to solder, what series/parallel are, what basic components do)
There are two* ways to wire the LEDs into the controller, depending on how you want them to act in the finished product. We're going to be using the power supply for the rumble motor for this, so Wavebird owners, you're outta luck. You wouldn't want to be running LEDs off of AA batteries anyhow. Now this is a curious, but understandable, quirk in the controller's design: The rumble motor is powered by a separate source from the data processors of the rest of the controller. Yet the distribution of power is actually controlled by the other source. This presents us with an interesting range of possibilities for this mod, with or without normal rumble motor functionality. The possible wiring arrangements are:
- Always on (in parallel with rumble circuit)
- Flashing (in parallel with or in place of rumble motor itself)
* There's actually a third way to do it, but it's not compatible with either of the other two ways, disables the rumble, and has special conditions regarding the circumstances of it's functionality. It was the first mode I found when putting LEDs in controllers, but I find either of the others or a conjunction of the two to be superior to this one. I will include a small note about it at the end.
Part One: Opening the Controller
I'm going to assume that you already understand the basics of electronics wiring, including how to solder, so we can get onto the actual installation procedures. This portion is common to all modes. The first thing we must do is open the gamecube controller, just like you would for painting it. Turn it face down and remove the back half of the controller using a triwing or 2mm flathead (and a little patience), and set it aside for now. Carefully pull the turn of the cord off of its post and lift the circuit board from the front shell of the controller. You'll notice, among other things, two particular runs of wire. These are the six wires that compose the controller cord, and also the two wires that connect the rumble motor to the circuit board, and it is these two areas that we will be focusing on. The different configurations will involve making connections to one of these two places.
Always-On Mode
This mode piggybacks the LEDs on the rumble supply voltage, and runs it in parallel. Using this mode, your LEDs will be lit whenever your controller is plugged into a powered on system (even a Wii on standby).
Take a look at the base of the controller cord, where the six wires are soldered to the board. This assembly is called a header, and in this header you will find a blue, yellow, red, green, white, and black wire. The wires we're interested in are the yellow one (the voltage supply) and the black one (ground).
For this mode, we're going to need a resistor in the LED circuit path. This is because LEDs are current driven devices. Without a resistance in series with them, basically they like to explode. Now, not everyone is going to want to configure their controllers the same way (and not all colors of LEDs have the same voltage rating) so I'd recommend visiting http://ledcalc.com/#calc. I like this site because it has many modes and even suggests some typical voltage ratings of different colored LEDs if you don't know or aren't sure of what you're going to be using.
Once you find your resistance values and have obtained your resistor(s) and LED(s), you can get started tying them into the controller circuit. We're going to run the resistor in parallel with the path of the yellow wire (if you decide to use multiple resistors, they'll all be in parallel with each other. Follow the diagram given to you on the LED site). You're going to cut the yellow wire in about half, and strip off some ends to work with. make a loop in the leg of the resistor, and you're going to solder both ends to the loop.
You now have a resistor sticking off of your yellow wire, and from here it's your discretion as to how you want to array your LEDs. I'll use a single LED as an example here. You'll be using hookup wire to make runs to other parts of the controller if you're looking to do that. Look for information on basic wiring and/or practice soldering runs of wire together in different patterns until you're sure you know what you're doing.
In our example, we're only using one LED, so the only thing to do is solder the positive end (the long leg) of the LED to the free end of the resistor. You can trim it if you need to, just be sure you know how to tell the ends apart. LEDs only work one way. Solder the positive leg of the LED to the end of the resistor, and then we're going to connect the other end of the LED (or another bit of wire solder onto it) to the black wire in the same way we did with the resistor. Cut the black wire in half, get some stripped ends, and connect all three of your parts together. To test your circuit, just plug your controller into a Gamecube or Wii and turn it on. If the LED lights up, good job. If not, check to see if the LED is still good, or if you wired it the wrong way.
If you're planning on doing more complicated LED runs, remember to research wiring practices and techniques. I can't go through and give a detailed explanation for every possible combination, because there is literally an infinite number of possibilities.
Flashing Mode
If you like the idea of LEDs flashing when your controller rumbles, like I do, then this is the method you want to use.
You're going to wire your LEDs to the contact points on the bottom of the controller near the D-pad, where the wires for the actual motor are attached. You can do this in two ways: you can replace the motor with your LEDs, or you can wire them all in parallel together.
This method is much easier than the other. You may not even need a resistor for this part. Good electronics practices would dictate using one, but I personally haven't had any problems without one in this area. Basically, you're going to take your resistor-LED assembly and hook it up to the positive and negative solder pads across the rumble motor. The pads are labelled, so it's easy. The same rules apply here as did to the other mode, so rereading them should help. Once you connect your resistor to the positive pad, and the positive end of you LED to the resistor, connect the other end of the LED to the negative pad and you're all set.
Hybrid Mode
There was a weird phenomenon I discovered several years ago when trying to figure out how to add LEDs to controllers for the first time. I was rather inexperience with electronics, but my friend and I managed to wire up a working configuration by putting an LED directly in series with the rumble circuit. Basically you cut the yellow wire and attach those ends to the positive and negative ends of an LED. I used a blue LED, which has a higher voltage rating, and was able to withstand this. Don't try it with a red or green LED. Now, I don't know why it even worked in the first place, unless as I suspect there's a buffer (resistance) on the front end of the rumble circuit. Anyway, the LED worked, functioned like this: The LED would come on when the controller rumbled, but due to the voltage drop across the LED, the motor wouldn't turn anymore. No biggie for me. Here's the strange bit. When first turning on the system and entering the game, the first rumble would cause the LED to come on and stay on, albeit dimmer than when it rumbled. And it would continue to stay on, and brighten upon rumbling, for an indistinct period of time. In Melee, it was for the first game played. And only the first game. I don't know why. Afterwards, the LED would go off and only light up on rumble. But you could always reset it by going to the rumble menu and turning the rumble off and back on, and the game would light up the LED again. Confusing, I know. I don't recommend trying this, as the other two methods are much more simpler and convenient, and also less finicky. But I thought I'd mention it for those of you who were curious.
That's it for my guide. I hope it helps any of you interested in figuring out how to put those LEDs into your controllers, as it's just about the coolest thing you could do to one. There are many possibilities for adding LEDs to your controllers. Depending on your knowledge and experience level, just about anything is possible. Have fun exploring the world of electronic illumination, and make those controllers shine.
Dude I was going to do the EXACT same thing with mine, the dark green on black. But I was going to put the zelda triforce in the middle. Let me just say.... **** YOU. I'll still do it probablyhere it is
clear coat is your best friend
Nick Nasty
Smash Journeyman
I just got all of my materials today. Hopefully, I can get 2 of my controllers painted this week. This thread is pure gold.
I was thinking about trying the classic wii controller analog sticks (or nunchuck or w/e) and I own neither a nunchuck nor a classic controller to strip. ANYWAY, I checked ebay and the general internet and can't seem to find any reasonable deals for broken controllers or straight up analog sticks and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions of where to go?
Rikuna
Smash Rookie
It clearly has a warning that the controller may be a little sticky after doing this mod, but how do you get rid of it? Sand it a little ? /shrug
DJLO
Smash Journeyman
aww man, just got the primer and first coats done had a snag with some paint pooling, but otherwise its greatcant wait for the second color. will show pics
had a snag with some paint pooling, but otherwise its greatcant wait for the second color. will show pics
L__
Smash Master
Do you guys think Neon Blue would stick out of a crowd? ...Does spraypaint come in Neon Blue?
Just let it dry a bit more. If it isn't fully dryed up and if you sand it you'll **** up the coat texture and practically ruin your art work.
Pss...that black-green control is pretty tight
DJLO
Smash Journeyman
aww man, i put some clear epoxy coat on the sticks, turns out it was white...