Custom DS3/sixaxis controllers

[Rallywagon]

So, I am in the process of modding an old sixaxis controller I've had sitting around for years. I found a cool old "Spirit of Saint Louis" phone that has a neat sort of steam punk feel that will go well with the WWII fighter cockpit style i am working on with my rig.
The nice thing about the sixaxis boards is that the connection for the button "board" is a ribbon. Ribbon I have lots of from stripping printers. I'll post pics in a separate thread when I finish. Here is a teaser in the meantime.

So, as I am working through this, I am wondering who else has done something custom to their controller, whether a simple mod like custom buttons and LEDs to wild set ups completely out of the old controller case. Post up some picks and share your trials and experiences. I look forward to seeing what some of you might have come up with.

 

[sesselpupser]

I don't have any photos but I 'broke out' a couple of DS3s, one for a custom button box and the other to use as an interface for a NeGcon to make it work with a PS3. That was kind of ugly as there was a cable hanging out of the controller with a box on the end, now that I'm a bit more experienced I'd sooner make a custom PCB for the controller's microcontroller or use an Arduino Micro running a HID program or something.

I found typical 0.1" pitch ribbon cables like you'd find for a PATA hard drive had the wrong pitch for the newer flexible PCB connection style (older Sixaxis controllers had an actual connector, more recent ones just use a piece of sponge to push the FPCB against the main PCB) so I used fairly tiny 30 AWG Kynar wrapping wire and lots of hot glue for mine; first you have to carefully scrape the black stuff off the pads for the FPCB then you can tin them for soldering, solder one row, glue it down, solder the next row and glue it on top of the first. It's not a quick process, but it works!

But yeah, they're not Bluetooth-compatible out of the box but Arduino Micros set up as HID devices are compatible with the PS3 and much easier to work with, I don't know if you can do pressure-sensitive stuff either but neither that nor the wireless feature are particularly important for a button box application. Still, it's a nice way to re-use an old, otherwise worthless controller.

 

[Rallywagon]

On my "phone" there are two slide switches that I am hoping will work for R2 and L2. A sort of "proof of concept" if you will. I don't see why they wont work, other than possibly not having a "zero" fully off position. They were used to control the ringer volume and speaker volume. When I took my DS3 apart to see if it happened to have the same set up as the sixaxis I was a bit disappointing to see the style the moved too. I was thinking some prototype board with tinned wires might work without the need to do to much work, I am unsure though how well the holes in and the pads of the two boards might line up.
I have a Raspberry Pi, and it has been AMAZING to play with. I actually have plans to buy a few of them as I have various projects I want to do around my house with them. I dont have experience with Arduino, but I hear it is better for use as a "controller board" than a RPi.