Feronix
New member
Heya all,
I have recently modded my Xbox 360 controller to suit the rest of my build and set up more, and I thought some of you would be interested in doing the same to your controllers. Unfortunately, I didn't have a current gen controller to play with, but I suspect that it'd be mostly the same process to do this for an Xbox One controller.
This is a guide for the battery pack version, it'll be even easier on a wired one
Right, let's get started.
Sourcing replacement parts
First of you're going to want to order some replacement parts if you so desire. The outer shell can be pretty easily painted, but painting buttons takes a LOT of effort, and if not done right, chances are the paint will wear off pretty quickly by using the controller. It's just not worth it. Luckily, replacement buttons can be bought really cheap, I got mine from Banggood.com
Please do remember that these are third party replacements, not originals, but I've not had a single problem with mine and Banggood customer service are excellent. My first parcel got lost in the mail and they just sent another, free of charge, no questions asked. Well done.
Taking the controller apart
For this, you'll need the infamous Torx 8 Security screw driver. This means that it's hollow at the tip, as you can see below. My replacement parts came with such a screwdriver, but you can also find it here.
First of all, you'll unscrew 6 screws on the back of the controller. The first two you'll find directly to the sides of the battery pack, the others are located in the holes that you can see.
You're not done yet though, if you open the battery pack you'll see a barcode sticker. Gently take that off, if you keep it in one piece you can stick it back on later. Taking it off will reveal the 7th and last screw.
You can then take the top half of the shell off. The rubber bits will keep most buttons in place but do be careful not to lose any.
Start taking the rubber bits off and take the buttons out of the shell. I suggest putting them somewhere in the position that they would have in the controller, so you can easily place them all back if you want to. If you are replacing them then it doesn't really matter.
You will then need a very small philips head screwdriver.
Unscrew the two tiny screws on the d-pad. The d-pad consists of two parts, one on each side of the shell. Once you've taken the screws out there are two little tabs that you need to push inwards, then you can take the d-pad parts off on both sides.
Then you can carefully lift the PCB up at the bottom (where the springs for the battery pack are) and slide it out.
The motors are attached with cables. Just leave these dangling about and place the whole thing somewhere safe.
You then have your individual parts.
Paint prep
If you're going to paint the shell, you'll want to prep it a bit first. Masking tape isn't essential for anything but the battery cover. I decided to also mask off the information sticker on the back of the shell, for future reference.
For the battery pack itself, make sure to mask off the sides and the button. You'll want to keep it functional and in my case this means it'll stay black.
Then you'll want to slightly roughen up the surface by getting a high grid sanding paper and gently rubbing it down a bit.
Then clean it very, very well and you should be done.
Considering this item is already painted in the factory, applying a primer before paint is not necessary.
Paint
I had two choices here; Normal paint or plasti-dip. I'm not a huge fan of plasti-dip for normal paintjobs, but considering it'll form a nice rubber-y coating on the controller which will make it a bit grippier, I opted for the expensive spraypaint.
Apply it in thin, even coats. It's okay if your first coat doesn't cover the entire thing. Just leave it for about half an hour (depending on the paint you use, always check the back of your can) and then do another coat. It's normal to do a minimum of 4-5 coats.
Also, don't worry if the plasti-dip doesn't come out smooth like in this picture. Somehow while drying it sorts itself out and starts merging and it'll become a pretty smooth surface if you just give it some time.
Then let it dry really, really well. Preferably on a radiator overnight.
Putting it back together
This is basically a reverse process of what you just did taking it apart.
Use a sharp knife the separate the plasti-dip that's on the masking tape from the part that you want to stay. Due to plasti-dips nature of forming a single coat that you can peel off, if you take the masking tape off just like that, you'll pull the paint off with it.
There we go. Doesn't look great at the borders, but scrape it a bit with the knife and you can fix most of it. It's never going to look perfect with plasti-dip but no one is ever going to look at this anyway.
Then slide the PCB back into the bottom half of the shell and push the motors back into their half-rounded sockets.
I put both the trims back on the bottom half of the shell, but I quickly found out it's much easier to put the top one (with the shoulder buttons) on the top half of your shell (so not like in the picture).
Click and screw the d-pad back in and put the little rubber pad back on.
Then (re-)locate all the other buttons and place them in the correct holes. Also put the rubber pad back over the top.
Here comes the tricky part, merging the top and bottom half together. I suggest leaving the top half of the shell face-down on the surface and holding the bottom half (with PCB and motors) upside down to line them up.
Then lift up the whole thing, while you keep holding the front face-down, fit the analogue sticks through the holes and then start clicking everything into place.
Then screw in at least the top and bottom screws so it doesn't fall apart.
Then give her a quick test spin before you screw in the rest. This way, if something doesn't work it's easier to open the controller back up and try to fix it. Try to really test all the buttons on it.
Once it's confirmed working screw in your last few screws, replace the barcode sticker if you want, slap the battery pack back on and start gaming.
I have recently modded my Xbox 360 controller to suit the rest of my build and set up more, and I thought some of you would be interested in doing the same to your controllers. Unfortunately, I didn't have a current gen controller to play with, but I suspect that it'd be mostly the same process to do this for an Xbox One controller.
This is a guide for the battery pack version, it'll be even easier on a wired one
Right, let's get started.
Sourcing replacement parts
First of you're going to want to order some replacement parts if you so desire. The outer shell can be pretty easily painted, but painting buttons takes a LOT of effort, and if not done right, chances are the paint will wear off pretty quickly by using the controller. It's just not worth it. Luckily, replacement buttons can be bought really cheap, I got mine from Banggood.com
Please do remember that these are third party replacements, not originals, but I've not had a single problem with mine and Banggood customer service are excellent. My first parcel got lost in the mail and they just sent another, free of charge, no questions asked. Well done.
Taking the controller apart
For this, you'll need the infamous Torx 8 Security screw driver. This means that it's hollow at the tip, as you can see below. My replacement parts came with such a screwdriver, but you can also find it here.
First of all, you'll unscrew 6 screws on the back of the controller. The first two you'll find directly to the sides of the battery pack, the others are located in the holes that you can see.
You're not done yet though, if you open the battery pack you'll see a barcode sticker. Gently take that off, if you keep it in one piece you can stick it back on later. Taking it off will reveal the 7th and last screw.
You can then take the top half of the shell off. The rubber bits will keep most buttons in place but do be careful not to lose any.
Start taking the rubber bits off and take the buttons out of the shell. I suggest putting them somewhere in the position that they would have in the controller, so you can easily place them all back if you want to. If you are replacing them then it doesn't really matter.
You will then need a very small philips head screwdriver.
Unscrew the two tiny screws on the d-pad. The d-pad consists of two parts, one on each side of the shell. Once you've taken the screws out there are two little tabs that you need to push inwards, then you can take the d-pad parts off on both sides.
Then you can carefully lift the PCB up at the bottom (where the springs for the battery pack are) and slide it out.
The motors are attached with cables. Just leave these dangling about and place the whole thing somewhere safe.
You then have your individual parts.
Paint prep
If you're going to paint the shell, you'll want to prep it a bit first. Masking tape isn't essential for anything but the battery cover. I decided to also mask off the information sticker on the back of the shell, for future reference.
For the battery pack itself, make sure to mask off the sides and the button. You'll want to keep it functional and in my case this means it'll stay black.
Then you'll want to slightly roughen up the surface by getting a high grid sanding paper and gently rubbing it down a bit.
Then clean it very, very well and you should be done.
Considering this item is already painted in the factory, applying a primer before paint is not necessary.
Paint
I had two choices here; Normal paint or plasti-dip. I'm not a huge fan of plasti-dip for normal paintjobs, but considering it'll form a nice rubber-y coating on the controller which will make it a bit grippier, I opted for the expensive spraypaint.
Apply it in thin, even coats. It's okay if your first coat doesn't cover the entire thing. Just leave it for about half an hour (depending on the paint you use, always check the back of your can) and then do another coat. It's normal to do a minimum of 4-5 coats.
Also, don't worry if the plasti-dip doesn't come out smooth like in this picture. Somehow while drying it sorts itself out and starts merging and it'll become a pretty smooth surface if you just give it some time.
Then let it dry really, really well. Preferably on a radiator overnight.
Putting it back together
This is basically a reverse process of what you just did taking it apart.
Use a sharp knife the separate the plasti-dip that's on the masking tape from the part that you want to stay. Due to plasti-dips nature of forming a single coat that you can peel off, if you take the masking tape off just like that, you'll pull the paint off with it.
There we go. Doesn't look great at the borders, but scrape it a bit with the knife and you can fix most of it. It's never going to look perfect with plasti-dip but no one is ever going to look at this anyway.
Then slide the PCB back into the bottom half of the shell and push the motors back into their half-rounded sockets.
I put both the trims back on the bottom half of the shell, but I quickly found out it's much easier to put the top one (with the shoulder buttons) on the top half of your shell (so not like in the picture).
Click and screw the d-pad back in and put the little rubber pad back on.
Then (re-)locate all the other buttons and place them in the correct holes. Also put the rubber pad back over the top.
Here comes the tricky part, merging the top and bottom half together. I suggest leaving the top half of the shell face-down on the surface and holding the bottom half (with PCB and motors) upside down to line them up.
Then lift up the whole thing, while you keep holding the front face-down, fit the analogue sticks through the holes and then start clicking everything into place.
Then screw in at least the top and bottom screws so it doesn't fall apart.
Then give her a quick test spin before you screw in the rest. This way, if something doesn't work it's easier to open the controller back up and try to fix it. Try to really test all the buttons on it.
Once it's confirmed working screw in your last few screws, replace the barcode sticker if you want, slap the battery pack back on and start gaming.
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