tz101 Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 The biggest problem I regularly see with preserving older game systems is the controllers. When taking these apart, the rubber membranes under the various buttons and digital directional pads normally have begun to split. Doc's used to make a kit called fix-a-pad for NES that had replacement membranes and plastic buttons. These days, those are hard to come by. Does anyone know of a good way to repair the split membranes in older game controllers? Does super glue work on these? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longhorn Engineer Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 The biggest problem I regularly see with preserving older game systems is the controllers. When taking these apart, the rubber membranes under the various buttons and digital directional pads normally have begun to split. Doc's used to make a kit called fix-a-pad for NES that had replacement membranes and plastic buttons. These days, those are hard to come by. Does anyone know of a good way to repair the split membranes in older game controllers? Does super glue work on these? What about rubber cement? I never tried to fix these before. Was always cheaper to buy broken NES pads at the local game shop and swap them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tz101 Posted December 21, 2009 Author Share Posted December 21, 2009 What about rubber cement? I never tried to fix these before. Was always cheaper to buy broken NES pads at the local game shop and swap them. That's exactly what Nintendo is banking on with their virtual console. That everyone will cannibalize all the existing controllers and eventually the only way to play the classics will be either on their Wii console or on PC emulation. Neither of those are favorable options for old school gamers like myself. I want to see every controller preserved and restored that possibly can be. I will have to see if I have any rubber cement around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Video Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 (edited) I've had luck with rubberized super glue (gorrilla makes some) and it works pretty good. The part I have a hard time with, is eventually, the carbon dot wears away, especially if you have a controller you clean a LOT. To a lesser extent I've had limited success in using some conductive paints or foil bits, but it's never as good as the original carbon dot. Most new controllers still use those rubber things, you may have to hack them a bit, or put some extra holes in them to make them fit in the classic controllers, but I'd bet you could buy some cheapo third party controllers and steal the rubber membrane/s out fo them. When all else fails, I have built my on controllers on several occasions, for very old systems, it's quiet easy, for newer ones, you at least need the chip/s out of the controller to make it talk to your ne3w controller. Edited December 21, 2009 by Video 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longhorn Engineer Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 That's exactly what Nintendo is banking on with their virtual console. That everyone will cannibalize all the existing controllers and eventually the only way to play the classics will be either on their Wii console or on PC emulation. Neither of those are favorable options for old school gamers like myself. I want to see every controller preserved and restored that possibly can be. I will have to see if I have any rubber cement around. yah we are going to run out of the hundreds of millions of NES controllers anytime soon. Especially ones that will never work anymore cause the cable is broken on the inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tz101 Posted December 22, 2009 Author Share Posted December 22, 2009 yah we are going to run out of the hundreds of millions of NES controllers anytime soon. Especially ones that will never work anymore cause the cable is broken on the inside. Sarcasm aside, I have fixed plenty of broken cables as well. What's so wrong with wanting to preserve classic gaming stuff? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longhorn Engineer Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 yah we are going to run out of the hundreds of millions of NES controllers anytime soon. Especially ones that will never work anymore cause the cable is broken on the inside. Sarcasm aside, I have fixed plenty of broken cables as well. What's so wrong with wanting to preserve classic gaming stuff? You can't fix a broken cable when its broken inside the connector which happens more often then not when a NES controller is broken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hornpipe2 Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 You might be able to cut some new rubber caps out of a disused PC keyboard...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Moss Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 You might be able to replace the membrane with these indivdual dome buttons http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp?N=500006+1000190&Ntk=gensearch_001&Ntt=B3D&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial (UK) or http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp?N=500003+1000028&Ntk=gensearch_001&Ntt=B3D&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial (US) You can just stick them to the PCB where the switch contact pads are, assuming that your membrane is a standard one comprised of a nember of individual conducting contact points Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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