A mod to convert to a rubber-membrane D-Pad on the official Nintendo Switch Joycon

I modded my official Switch joycon to have a proper old-school rubber-membrane D-Pad. I used a (heavily modified) Wii-U d-pad, a rubber membrane from a PSP 1000, and some aluminum foil. In the end, after a lot of work and experimentation, I ended up with exactly what I wanted – a nearly silent, old-school-style, perfect-functioning, proper d-pad on an official Switch joycon.

NOTE: Instead of a Wii-U d-pad and PSP rubber membrane, you might want to try those parts from a set of replacement Switch Lite buttons. The Switch Lite has the exact type of d-pad that we’re trying to achieve with these mods. I just didn’t want to buy them and wait on delivery. The Switch Lite D-Pad with its presumably lower profile could, possibly, make the first part of the mod MUCH easier (or perhaps it’s too low of a profile? more info on that: [https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/eh7n84/](https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/eh7n84/))…

**The Mod (Imgur gallery with descriptions/steps):**[https://imgur.com/a/eQ1zrDU](https://imgur.com/a/eQ1zrDU)

There are basically two separate mods here:

1. The d-pad and modifying the shell to fit it (already done and documented by /u/cream-of-tartar \- [https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/6gdsal/my\_attempt\_at\_a\_joycon](https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/6gdsal/my_attempt_at_a_joycon) ).
2. Converting from dome switches to rubber membrane.

While the second part was a solution that I came up with, by no means do I think it’s a perfect solution. It works brilliantly, and I’ve been testing it hard for a few days, but I don’t know if it’s a “forever solution”. Time will tell. A big reason that I’m posting this is so that others will take it and run with it, and hopefully come up with a better way of converting from dome switches to rubber membrane (without destructing the PCB).

To be honest, I do not recommend this mod for most people. I had a few very specific requirements for my use case:

* D-pad be an old-school-style d-pad with a **pivot post**
* Joycon be the same **small size** as the official joycon for travel portability
* Be **wireless** and have the same **device compatibility** as the official joycons
* Be **silent**, not clicky, so I don’t disturb the person sleeping next to me
* Be **non-destructive to the PCB**

One reason this mod is not for everyone is that the first part of it – modifying the d-pad and shell – is pretty labor intensive and is not an exact science. Also to note: although I used a Wii-U d-pad as per /u/cream-of-tartar’s great guide, and am very happy with how it turned out, I think there may be other d-pads out there that would be more suitable. The issue with the Wii-U one is that it is so thick/tall. It requires sanding (or dremeling) most of the bottom of it away just to fit inside the shell, and even then, in the end, it sits quite tall. I really don’t mind it being tall though. It still feels and works great, in my opinion. But I wonder if the Hori d-pad from their joycon would fit better?

Oh, about that joycon… For most people, simply buying the Hori d-pad joycon is a better way to go than doing this mod. It will give you a nice, quiet, old-school rubber-membrane d-pad just like this mod does. But for me, the lack of wireless capability and that it can only be used while attached to the Switch (and thus not compatible with other devices like iOS, Mac, etc) is a non-starter.

Well, in that case, what about the extremeRate replacement d-pad shell? That maintains the official joycon “guts” and all of its wireless functionality and device-compatibility. So, I did consider this, but the fact that there is no pivot post on the d-pad makes me think this is not the d-pad I’m looking for. I’ve read many reviews talking about how the d-pad was not great. I know I’m picky, so it might be fine for most people. And maybe it could be modified to add a pivot post? I don’t know, but I wasn’t prepared to spend 20 bucks to take the risk. Not to mention, it still uses the original loud, clicky dome-switches, so I’d still need to fix that.

So, with all of the known (to me) options not fitting all of my requirements one way or another, and with the courage instilled by /u/cream-of-tartar’s guide that at least the first part (converting to a d-pad) could be done, I set out to do it on my own. Thankfully I already had a Wii-U d-pad on hand, so I could being immediately and at zero cost.

**The mod:**

[https://imgur.com/a/eQ1zrDU](https://imgur.com/a/eQ1zrDU)

by geauxwave