xbox360 SF4 joystick modification!

Last Saturday, my friend requested me to help him modify his xbox360 SF4 joystick as 1 of the buttons became unresponsive after 2 weeks.

How the original joystick looks like:
My job: To help him change out the 6 buttons to SANWA buttons.

Started to disassemble the joystick. This is how the interior looks like.

Notice that the buttons are soldered to the PCB. Time to do some de-soldering. This took me quite some time to complete as I took too long to realise that the solder sucker was clogged. -_-''

After removing the buttons, it's time to remove the metal plate on the top of the joystick. Removing the plate means that the decal on it will get slightly creased as there are 5 or 6 screws securing the plate to the joystick. Here's me trying to remove the plate with as little damage to the decal as possible.

The metal plate.

There are 2 small tabs on each of the holes, which need to be grinded down in order for the SANWA buttons to be able to fit in. Used a dremel tool I borrowed from my best pal for this job.

After grinding:


Soldered wires to the connections where the buttons were once soldered on.


Connectors were attached to the end of the wires, which will be connected to the SANWA buttons microswitch connectors.


Put in the SANWA buttons. There are 4 tabs on each button that need to be shaved so that the buttons can fit in easier to the metal plate holes.

Connect the wires to the microswitches. The microswitch connectors need to be bent 90° as the joystick do not have enough space.

Cover up the joystick base and VIOLA! Job completed!


Took me 3 hours to finish this job (within target). Later my friend called me and said that the joystick is working perfectly! Success!!