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Add Custom LEDs and Paint Jobs to Your Controller.

Fuzed

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How to open your xbox 360 controller

1)Turn off the controller and remove the battery.
2)Flip the Xbox 360 wireless controller upside down.
3)Insert a Torx screwdriver with a T8-sized security bit into one of the six holes on the back of the controller.
4)Turn the Torx screwdriver counter-clockwise until the screw is loosened, then tilt the controller so it is right-side up and the screw falls out.
5)Repeat Steps 3 and 4 until you have removed screws from all six visible holes.
6)Peel back the barcode located underneath the controller's battery slot and you'll notice the seventh and final screw. Unscrew this last screw with the Torx screwdriver, and remove the screw from the hole.
7)Open the Xbox 360 wireless controller by pulling apart the two halves. The halves should be loose now that all the necessary screws have been removed.

How to install Custom Leds in your xbox 360 controller
1)So you will need a torx screw driver, als use a small philips to try to get the bolts out, this is for getting out the security pins. Look at those on the internet. So either that or get a security torx tool. size 8
2)Now you need your LEDs and resistors. The LEDS should be 5mm watever color you want, and the resistors are 47ohm . You can get both at radioshack. You need 2 of each. Take a red sharpie (or something) and mark the longer LED leg. Then cut both legs so they are about a few cm long. The positive leg(longer one) still being marked. You can test them on a battery, but if the LEDs are not blue or green you have to use a resistor for anything you do with them, or they will burn out!


Also mind that i recommend risistors for everything, it saves your battery power, for less batteries or recharges, and sometimes makes the LEDs actually glow theyre real color, (ex. Green glowing xbox green, not yellow green from too much power.)
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3)Now get your wire. I used the 32 AWG wire or at least the thinnest one at radioshack, blue and red colors.red posistive and blue negative. So wire the LEDs accordingly. Then sodler the wires onto the rumble solder places. Look how the red is on the left. Just look at it on your controller. See which side the cables are. So match them up. BUT before you do that cut off most of the resistors legs and solder them onto hte positive LED wire. Then solder so that the resistor is actually soldered to the chip, not the wire (at least for posistive.)
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4)So now all you have to do is make holes for the LEDs. Just grab a piece of wood and make holes in it with different size drill bits untill you wind one wheere the LED fits, but the extra tab stays back, preventing it from going forwrd.I cut my holes here.I also painted it and changed the d pad and joysticks but ok.
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Create A Custom Paint Job
Materials Needed:
Paint - I used Krylon plastic bonding paint in red black and silver.
Masking Tape - 3M blue painters tape
Newspaper
Sandpaper - I prefer 220 grit
Paint Thinner - Optional
Spackle or Carpenters Putty - These work well to cover up logos and dents or scratches
Clear Coat

First of all you have to disassemble you xbox 360 controller so all you have is the two cases( Front and Back)
1)Once the controllers are disassembled, we will need to sand down the gloss on some of the surfaces of the controller. Since the Xbox controller has few of these this is a simple step. The parts that I had to sand down were: the RT and LT, RB and RT, D-Pad, Start and Select buttons, and parts of the battery. The sanding on these parts should be minimal and just enough to take off the shine of these pieces. Before you start painting read the instructions on the spray paint as some of the different types of paint suggest steps for better paint application. My paint suggested I rub it down with some paint thinner to get rid of loose particles and debris. Don't forget to shake the spray paint for 2 or 3 minutes.
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2)Before you start to do anything painting wise, decide on a base coat, I chose the silver color. Paint the whole controller this color with even paint strokes to ensure that you don't get paint drips and puddles. Some advice when doing this is DO NOT RUSH IT. The first time painting this controller (yes there was a first time) I painted it too fast with too thick of coats so when I masked it off the next morning the masking tape pulled up layers of paint because even after 24 hours the paint wasn't fully dry. Also when painting, paint the light colors first then the dark colors unless you know the light color can go over the dark without it showing up underneath the lighter color. Because of these two mistakes I spent hours sanding down the old paint and because I was sanding, I used spackle to cover up logos such as the Microsoft and also the Start, Select, 1, 2, 3, and 4 in the middle of the controller for a smoother design.

3)First things first, decide where you want the least amount of top coats you are going to use
To keep this area from getting too much paint, take a strip of newspaper and use masking tape to tape it in place, but not to the front of the controller, I wrapped my paper around the front onto the back and taped it there so that there would be no crisp line where no paint goes. Then I make sure that the black is on the same side of the controller for the front and back. I do not have any pictures of this process but I'll try to be as exact as possible.

To begin the first side make sure to shake the can well before painting and continue to shake after a few coats. For the first side, (mine was black) make full sweeps on the newspaper and work your way onto the controller making sure not to spray too far, maybe one sweep onto the controller then let it dry for 10-30 seconds before the next go at it. For this next spray, start on the paper as before, then work up 2 or 3 strokes onto the controller and wait 10-30 seconds and continue to do this for as far as you wish. I only went to 3 or 4 strokes and to get more dusting farther up do not lightly hold the nozzle down to keep the paint from coming out of the tip fast, hold it farther from the target and blast it from that height or else the paint will come out as large droplets.

Do the same with the red as you did before with the black (If you use more than one color) except with the red cover up the black like how we prepared the middle of the controller with newspaper, but since the black is fresh let it dry for 3 -5 minutes before covering it, and do not put the tape on the paint, wrap the newspaper around the controller and tape it off on the underside of the controller (the part which houses the electronics. and begin the red coat just like the black part. After both the red and black are painted let it dry for 3-5 minutes then remove the newspaper and let it dry fully

4)After the paint is fully dried (I waited a full 7 days before proceeding) I applied thin layers of clear coat to avoid running, bubbles, and puddles. After it is fully painted, dried, and clear coated. Feel free to put it back together and show it off to friends and family. Some of you may notice that the D-pad and other parts of the gun look different than the body. To achieve the speckled look, first make a base coat of one color and spray a single blast from far back so that it has specks.
 
H

Hawkeye

Guest
Looks like a great tutorial I have already done a few controllers of my own but have never done LEDs, I may try that when I do another one
 
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