this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2025
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Just link out the broken trace with a thin wire. This is what the professionals do. The original traces are carbon to reduce manufacturing costs.
No, this isn't what the professionals do, especially not in an area of a board prone to flexing due to gamer rage.
I've literally used conductive paint before as a professional, because you simply cannot solder carbon traces.
I'm just no longer in the field often enough to have any reason to afford the stuff, so I was hoping for some advice to make something worthwhile as a spot or three of homemade conductive paint, not some random hack shit that'll wear out in 6 months.
It's 100% what professionals do to repair traces. Please don't spread misinformation.
Yup the wire is going to be more tolerant of flexing than the glue or a solder joint.
The crack is right next to the left analog stick, in a spot that will receive random pressure and mild board flexing while in use. Sure the plastic shell is still intact and all the supports are still there, but this particular spot is still a bit of a sensitive spot.
I'm all about the idea of a little piece of patch wire, but I want to actually adhere the patch wire to the trace with a conductive paint. I don't want to just tape a piece of wire on it, only to have the wire micro-sliding back and forth and just wearing more carbon off the board over time.
And soldering is completely out of the question, you can't solder to a carbon trace.
I'd fix the mechanical with epoxy and then use a small conducive screw tapped into the exoxy as a bridge.
While that idea sounds good on paper, the crack runs right by the edge of the button plunger, so the fix is gonna have to be about as flat as possible, and well adhered with conductive paint.
At least it didn't crack directly under the button traces themselves, but it's right next to it..
Standard pcb board is about .15mm .2mm flush mount screws are fairly common.
To be honest you are most likely better getting a new device.
Nah, no need for a new device, all the actual game controls actually work after I glued the crack and soldered bridge wires over all the broke copper traces.
The only button that doesn't work is the Mode button, which swaps the D-Pad and left analog. Its default mode is the normal mode you'd expect anyways, so fixing the Mode button is totally optional.
It's just a bit tempting to get the controller back 100% functional, but it's not terribly important.
I was kind of curious to dabble around and learn ways to make conductive paint at home, and use the controller as a first test try.