XBOX 360 D-Pad fix

thingiverse

While waiting to play Dragon Ball FighterZ on PC I decided to tackle Something that had long vexed me. The I went through seven iterations on this design until I found what I feel is the perfect fix for the XBOX 360 direction pad. The XBOX 360 controller is well known for having a less-than-ideal direction pad, which is a real bummer, since it's an otherwise great controller. One common "fix" found online consists of cutting up a piece of plastic and using it as a shim between the D-Pad and the button membrane (http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Fix-the-d-pad-on-the-Xbox-360-control-pad-mor/ or https://c0d3h4x0r.wordpress.com/2008/12/22/xbox360-d-pad-design-flaws-and-fix/). While this might work for some, I and many others have found it to be fairly unreliable, often causing incorrect input on the adjacent directions (LEFT+down when only intending to press left), and in many cases required awkwardly sanding the well the D-Pad sits in. Maybe I've outgrown my MacGyver phase, but I think we can come up with a more elegant solution. **PREPARATION FOR THIS FIX REQUIRES THE REMOVAL OF THE SMALL PROTRUSIONS/RAILS ON THE UNDERSIDE OF THE D-PAD. YOU ARE DOING THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK AND WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR THE RESULTS OF YOUR MODIFICATIONS** The only way this works is by sanding down the existing rails that press the button membrane so that the bottom of the D-Pad that usually makes contact with the button rubber is totally flat(**The second tutorial linked earlier shows them being cut with a razor, I DO NOT suggest this method**). The problem I've found with the 360 controller is the distance between the bottom of the D-Pad the button membrane is rather sloppy, allowing for a very slippery button press that often misses contact or only catches on the outer edges. Our fix fine tunes the spacing and ensures the button presses register on the innermost area of the button contacts. In all our tests this fix has immediately improved the responsiveness of the XBOX 360 Direction Pad, bringing a more tactile "Super Nintendo" feeling to the once mushy and unreliable D-pad. Ditch your chopped up takeout and Pringles lids, this is *THE* fix!