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Did I screw it up already?
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Chris2:
Sorry if I'm posting in the wrong place, it's been a long time.


I got one of those cheap knockoff Saturn usb controllers recently because I have and enjoy one from a few years back and wanted another. Apparently Sega forced the halting of official USB Saturn pads though, because this one was just a label-free knockoff with bad buttons.

That said, I decided I would open it up and look inside, and from that point got the idea to try and hack on some buttons and a joystick and make myself a little arcade stick, using some parts I have around.

Now I've never done the whole 'solder to a controller PCB' business before, but I remember from long ago reading that you should scrape off some extra area for the connection points, makes it easier to solder. So I did, but without thinking I did it rather haphazardly, and now I worry I might have screwed it up, possibly irreparably.

I will have pics up in a second, I tried earlier but I believe they were too large. Sorry for the multipost!
Chris2:
Here's the whole board. I heard once that you can scrape out 'paths' to a lead when it's too cramped of a soldering job, so I attempted to do so here in a few places. The rest I just scratched away some more space to solder onto. All in all I probably went overboard, but I hope I can make something of this yet.
Chris2:
And the other one, a close-up of my most-suspected 'mistake' area.

What say ye doctor, can it be saved?


EDIT: As these pictures demonstrate I am a master of MSPaint  :lol
BobA:
Looks like all your scrapings are on the common ground side.   To connect to the controller they have to be on the side that leads to the encapsulated chip.  Looks to be wrong but correctable.
Chris2:

--- Quote from: BobA on June 11, 2013, 09:37:13 pm ---Looks like all your scrapings are on the common ground side.   To connect to the controller they have to be on the side that leads to the encapsulated chip.  Looks to be wrong but correctable.

--- End quote ---

Don't I still need a ground for every button? Or can I daisy-chain all the grounds and wire one of them to a ground on the PCB?

Also, how are you identifying points as common and not? I just sort of happened to do it to be honest.
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