Saturn 3d controller - rubber pads?

[marurun]

I totally did not know that. I am glad I now do, thanks!

[tzakiel]

FWIW I've seen guides advocating windex, rubbing alcohol, and soapy water to clean the rubber parts, each one saying the other options will ruin the rubber. This is the first I've ever heard of not cleaning the black dots, all the guides say to be careful with cleaning them because they can fall off but not that you can't clean them. Interesting. I wish there were better info out there as it seems like a lot of repeating what has been said in the past but little real testing of the chemical effects.

[Ziggy]

It's simple. If you use Windex, alcohol, or similar you will remove some of the conductive material from the pad. The proof is in the pudding. Use a piece of white cloth or a white paper towel and use alcohol or something to clean one of those pads. You'll clearly see that you're removing the black material. The more of it you remove, the worse the pad will function.

Now, let me be clear, it's not that you CAN'T clean them, it's that you don't want to remove any of the conductive material. The rubber itself isn't the problem, it's the black carbon material. They usually aren't dirty anyway. Maybe if someone spilled soda inside the controller, you'd have to do something about that. But otherwise I wouldn't bother touching them. At most just dry wipe them once if there's dust or something. Otherwise, leave them alone.

The gold contacts, go to town on those. Use isopropyl alcohol or electrical contact cleaner. Do not use any other type of cleaner, such as Windex. People that suggest stuff like Windex don't know what they're talking about.

[Sarge]

I am really happy I read this. I might get some of that stuff to resuscitate some of my worn-down NES controllers.

[Ziggy]

I have a different brand but similar product that I got a while back. I have a few controllers (as well as some other stuff like TV remotes) that I need to fix. I just never get around to it.

To anyone that tries this: Be sure to post your success rate and which product you used.

[RickyTerzis]

I used to be a pad player, and have several friends that still are. For any 2-D game, not just fighting games - that controller represents the best option there ever was. I know retrolink makes a pretty chincy reproduction, and there was a limited run of PSX controllers back in 2005/2006, with an extra face button.
I just got my hands on a japanese saturn pad recently, and it has occurred to me to go a few different directions with this:
1. create a 3D scan of it, and crowd-source being able to both 3D print the housing, and CNC mill the housing out of whatever material we like (aluminum, titanium?).
2. create a silicon mold of both halves, allowing for resin casts of the housing.

[samsonlonghair]

I used to be a pad player, and have several friends that still are. For any 2-D game, not just fighting games - that controller represents the best option there ever was. I know retrolink makes a pretty chincy reproduction, and there was a limited run of PSX controllers back in 2005/2006, with an extra face button.
I just got my hands on a japanese saturn pad recently, and it has occurred to me to go a few different directions with this:
1. create a 3D scan of it, and crowd-source being able to both 3D print the housing, and CNC mill the housing out of whatever material we like (aluminum, titanium?).
2. create a silicon mold of both halves, allowing for resin casts of the housing.

Welcome to the forum, Ricky.

Seems to me that controllers are already mass-produced. I'm not an expert, but I guess you'd want the original tooling or dies to make more Saturn 3D controllers. That would yield better results than trying to cast a mold or 3D print a Saturn 3D controller.

But what if the original tooling doesn't exist any more, or it's too worn out to use? I guess you could 3D scan a Saturn 3D controller to try to make new tooling.