Xbox Controller Repair
January 2025
About this project
Departing from my usual work, I took on a small side project to repair and refurbish two old Xbox controllers in my house. I bought both of these years ago and mostly discarded them due to stick drift issues. Instead of buying new controllers, I wanted to try and test my teardown skills, as well as practice soldering. And get two custom controllers that I can lend out to any friends that come over.
These are what the controllers looked like when I got them, very clean and pristine design. However, over many years of gameplay, I was able to wear them down significantly. On both controllers, the triggers and bumpers became very sticky and not as smooth as they used to be. And most unfortunately, the joysticks lost their convex shape and began to drift.
For context, stick drift is when the controller stick inputs are being read even when the user is not physically moving the stick. This minor interference can lead to massive issues in games where small precise movements are key, leading to many people replacing their controller when this occurs. This can occur due to general wear and tear on the potentiometers over time, or dust and debris.
I have cleaned both of those controllers during their life span to no avail, so it was likely damaged components that caused the drift.
Also, each stick has a button when pressed down, which was either damaged or not responsive in both controllers. With all that in mind, the best solution was to open up the controller and replace everything that was not functioning as intended. This included the joystick module, which required some basic soldering.
Once the shell was opened, I was able to take a look at the PCB directly. In order to remove the old joystick module, I would have to desolder the 14 joints, remove it, and resolder the replacement piece. The triggers and bumpers were controlled by simple push buttons and springs, so a quick cleaning and debris removal would fix the issues.
In an effort to not ruin my expensive controllers, I decided to practice on an old Xbox 360 controller. This was my first time soldering, and with cheap Amazon equipment, I needed to be confident in my skills. I learned all about the importance of flux, tinning my soldering iron, heat transfer, and much more. After two weeks of failing to desolder the 360 controller and many oxidized tips, I decided to try it on the real board.
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To my surprise, it was MUCH easier on the Xbox one controller, and took me about 5 minutes to desolder everything. Turns out modern PCBs use much better-quality solder and proper circular through hole connections.
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After that, I closed up both controllers and swapped around some parts of the shells to give it a new look. I think they both turned out really well, and they feel almost brand new!