Spacer for N64 Gamecube style thumbsticks

thingiverse

Spacer for N64 Gamecube style thumbsticks based on potentiometers. Some Gamecube style thumbsticks reach their maximum value before hitting the mechanical angle limits resulting in a square shaped direction field. However, the original N64 thumbstick uses an asymmetric octagon shape where the distance between the diagonal corners is greater than the distance between the main directions. With the scad script, a spacer can be generated that limits the maximum angle of the stick using the base of the sperical shaped stick protection cover. You can use the sketch as a reference for the main parameters used in the scad script. Individual maximum angles can be defined für all directions of the thumbstick. The STL-file can be used as a starting point for adjusting parameters in the scad-file. This spacer might be the cheapest fix for the gamecube style thumbsticks. However, there are other solutions with custom potentiometers and microcontrollers for perfect (digital) mapping. If you are interested in that, seach the web for 'N64 Stick Converter PCB v3'. This is a mechanical approach to save the your hardware. :) Please keep in mind that the spacer limits the movement of the stick leading to a different feeling of the controller when first using it in game. Opening the casing of gamecube style thumbsticks can be difficult as most of them are glued together. Best practices can be found on youtube. On the pictures, a capacitor can be seen. Keep that in mind when opening the casing with sharp tools to prevent damaging of the capacitor. The spacer is mounted on the potentiometer using a press fit. If your part is too loose or tight, search for '13.3' in the scad-file and adjust this measurement. 13.3 mm works perfectly for me. After mounting the spacer, there is no need for glue because the casing is pressed together when mounting the thumbstick-module into the controller. If you have a N64 to USB adaptor you can inspect the values of the Controller using a gamepad calibration tool of your favourite operating system. There are other solutions for inspecting controllers on original N64 hardware, too. If you are not happy with the results, change the individual values for parameter 'angle' in the scad-file and print a new spacer.