Dualshock questions

[sju4sju]

Hi guys! First post here
I'm a complete newbie to this, only soldering I've ever done is extending a USB cable.

Lately I've been thinking about converting gamepads for use with emulators, for a more authentic feeling,
and I've aquired NES, SNES and Sega Mega Drive gamepads.
I also got some Neogeo extension cables I'm gonna use to connect the things, instead of dsub15.

I figured a PSOne dualshock is the best pad to hack, since I've got adapters for it for my XBOX and PC.
So I've now opened a dualshock, and mapped the ribbon cable:

16. Ground
15. Square
14. Cross
13. Circle
12. Triangle
11. R1
10. L1
09. R2
08. L2
07. Select
06. Start
05. Up
04. Right
03. Down
02. Left
01. Analog

My first questions are (I'm sure I'll post for more help later ):
Is it safe to disconnect the largest PCB and just solder to the ribbon cable?
Is it safe to disconnect the rumble things?

I'm asking because I want to put it into a casing, and I want it to be as small as possible..

[Dave_K.]

I've tried soldering to the ribbon cable of a PSOne pad.  It was much more difficult than I first thought.  If at all possible, buy the PSOne transparent pads that have the flat plastic ribbon cable which plugs into the board on the back.  Then you can simply unplug the plastic cable, and plug each of our wires wire into the port, otherwise known as the "solderless hack".

[Zapatistab]

If you disconnect the rumble motors, it won't do a thing. It's ok to disconnect.

Here is a link to the hack Dave K was refering to: http://home.comcast.net/~spiffyshoes/DualShockHack/

[sju4sju]

Thanks for the answers!

As I was examining the ribbon cable I decided to rip it off the larger PCB, ripping off some of the tracks that lead to where the buttons are

I think I'm going to try and hack this original PSOne pad though.
I separated the cables on the ribbon, keeping the isolation intact (somewhat; will probably have to find a way to isolate more, to be on the safe side), so I think I'm just gonna solder to those.

I also found a neat little project box in which the smallest PCB will fit snugly 

[sju4sju]

I've had this project on the shelf for a while, due to lack of time, but today I soldered 16 wires to where the ribbon
cable was (difficult for a noob like me).

Now I'm wondering which points are L3 and R3 (Left\Right Thumbstick pressed down). I've done some googling, but all the tutorials on PS1 Dualshocks only cover the 16 pins.
The reason I need these buttons is I'd like to have exit\function buttons for my emus (Exit button in most xbox emus is Right Thumbstick. I could remap in the emu, but I'd like to have more function buttons, and perhaps place them on the adapter box).

 

[toyfiend2004]

If I am not mistaken, the PS1 DS did not have the L3 R3 buttons.  those are PS2 features. 

[Payback]

newb question: what/where do i solder the analog soldering point to?