Tech help with soldering onto PS joysticks.

[XtraSmiley]

OK, instead of going the IPAC route, my buddy and I decided to use Playstation controllers in his MAME cab and a PS to USB converter for the MAME conection.  The reason is that he also wants to stick his PS2 in the cab.  Long story short, we've ruined about 3 controllers trying to get the solder to stick onto the PCB of the controllers with no luck.  We tried scraping them, drilling holes, glue.... everything.  The darn things just won't stay on.  Can anyone give us some tips?  How about, can anyone sell us pre-wire PS PCB pads?

[Apollo]

Generally the best game pads to hack are the ones that not only have the flat connection but also have a little hole that you can stick a wire in and solder it. I'm not sure of exact brands but they are definately out there.

[Bgnome]

soldering flux is your friend. scrape the trace to expose the copper andgive it some light scratches.  dab a little flux and you are good to go.

[XtraSmiley]

soldering flux is your friend. scrape the trace to expose the copper andgive it some light scratches.  dab a little flux and you are good to go.

Believe it or not, we tried two different kinds of flux.  A silvery type one and a yellow gooy one.  I guess we just suck a soldering.... Want to do it for us?

[seibu]

soldering flux is your friend. scrape the trace to expose the copper andgive it some light scratches.  dab a little flux and you are good to go.

Believe it or not, we tried two different kinds of flux.  A silvery type one and a yellow gooy one.  I guess we just suck a soldering.... Want to do it for us?

Are you trying to do it with official Sony pads? That's next to impossible. You need some cheap third party pads. Generally, the cheaper the pad the easier it is to hack. I suck at soldering and I easily hacked two "Logic 3" pads. Good luck!

[Bgnome]

be aware that digital pads, ie old school psx pads, probably won't work with the vast majority of ps2 games that require dualshock controllers.  you can try hacking 3rd party dualshocks, but you won't be able to get true analog stick functionality without using analog joysticks.  also, depending on what usb adapter you get, you can have considerable lag and limited functionality.

that being said, i do currently have a working 4 player DIY playstation adapter built for the parallel port and 4 digital psx controllers.  i can sell them altogether for $30ish with bare pcbs.  if you want me to hack em for you, we can negotiate something according to how much effort you want put into them.

[markb]

I hacked an original Sony PS1 pad no problems, best thing was it was broken up until I hacked it. I used a PC USB convertor and it has worked for about 6 months no problems.

I have had problems on a Logic 3 pad though (PC USB)  twice I have hacked one only to find in both cases that when pressing the left button it locks up the controller. It's fine until its hacked then it goes pear shaped. I ended up re-configuring mame so button 9 was used as the left button and it worked no problems.
BTW the Logic 3 USB pad cost approx $8 so it was a lot cheaper than a PS2 pad and a convertor.

[Meldinov]

Hi everyone!
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[Hoagie_one]

solderless technique?

[daywane]

15 wats.
hoh high of a soldering irion are you using. I can do it with a 25 wat
(what/wat? iather way I think you know what I mean) but 25 is to high.
I also use the thinest solder I can find.
scape the leads. ( I would bet flux helps but to be honest I have only used it on my hot water heater)
put a drop of solder on the lead.
now put some solder on your wire
(I personally solder all wires and leads first)
now touch the wire to the drop of solder on the lead you want.
it only takes a sec for the iron to remelt the solder on both the wire and the lead. this way the heat is on the lead the shortes time.
some times the lead will curl up. just move up the lead at a new spot.
I have done this with Playstation and Micrsoft side winders
I have wrecked a few game pads before I got it down pat
15 wats and angel hair fine solder will do the trick.
also if the leads look like two hair combs at facing each other cut and scrape those fingers off the board. thay only get in the way.

[Meldinov]

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