Completed my son's third Xbox Adaptive Controller today. My son has cerebral palsy which has affected core muscles. He can not walk, sit up or have much use of his arms and hands so he uses his feet to explore his surroundings. This controller was built just for that, this time allowing him to use two feet at once. His current favorite games are Minecraft, Roblox, Goat Simulator, Spongebob Battle of Bikini Bottom, Kart Racers, Lego games, and Paw Patrol.
This build improves from my previous build, adding some nice new features. On this build, I'm using arcade style buttons instead of the Logitech Adaptive Kit. These buttons have a better profile, far more sturdier, and give a nice click for feedback. Since my son has done very well with the first two versions, I've added all the buttons on the Xbox controller to give him full control now. The new joystick and button layout was designed similar to the Xbox controller, giving him joysticks in the middle and buttons on both sides. A nice improvement is the lack of wires as everything is hidden inside the controller box now. The last main improvement was putting hinges on the back panel to have easy access inside.
Below are the instructions for the build. This was a fairly easy build requiring basic knowledge of tools, woodworking and soldering. Total cost of build, including the Xbox Adaptive Controller, was approximately $300. Total time was approximately 5 hours. Feel free to reach out to me for any questions. If you live in the Pacific Northwest, hit me up as I'd love to come help with your build if you need it.
Link to the previous build and resources here.
BUILD INSTRUCTIONS
Materials for this build are as follows:
- 2x 12"x24"x 3/4" wood panels for front and back of controller box
- 2x 12"x3.5"x 3/4" wood panels for the sides
- 2x 22.5"x3.5"x 3/4" wood panel for bottom and top
- 17x 30mm Standard Happ style arcade buttons
- 17x Right Angle 3.5mm Stereo Plug to Pigtail Cables
- 2x 5pin 8 Way Arcade Style Joystick w/ PCB Boards, 5pin 7.9" Cables, USB cables
- 1x Xbox Adaptive Controller
- Pint or 2x 8oz Acrylic color paint
- Pint or 2x 8oz Acrylic Gloss Varnish
- 1x Spray Can or QT of Bullseye 123 Primer
- 2x 1" Hinges with screws
- 12x 1 1/4" Premium Star Wood Screws
- 16x 1/2" #4 Wood Screws
- 1 roll of plumbers tape
- industrial strength self adhesive10lbs weight Velcro strips
- cable wraps
- 2x Chest Handles
Most components can be purchased online here https://www.adafruit.com/
Tools needed for build
- 28mm or 1-1/8th" Hole Bit for Power Drill
- Power Drill
- Miter/Table/Circular Saw
- Solder Kit
- #4 Philips Screw Driver Bit
- 120-220 Grit Sand Paper/Block
- Paint brush
- 24" Ruler/T Square
- Measuring Tape
- Pencil
First, we'll start off by measuring out the button/joystick placement and drilling out the holes with the 28mm or 1-1/8"hole bit. Keep in mind how your child will be using this controller. Since my son is using his feet, I spaced the buttons out a little bit more so he won't accidentally hit the wrong button. Buttons like the R and L thumb stick push down buttons are not used in some games so they might not need to be in the main focus area.
On the back or top panel, drill a single hole. This hole will be where the XAC plugs into the Xbox.
After the buttons are drilled out, sand the panel down on both sides and prep for paint by priming the main side of the board. After primer has dried, apply paint and let sit over night. After paint is dried, you can apply stickers, button mappings, or anything else before varnishing. This way, the varnish will protect the stickers and they won't wear off.
Once the stickers are placed, apply the first coat of varnish. When varnishing, use the same brush stroke pattern either going horizontal or vertical to keep the brush strokes consistent. With acrylic varnish, you can apply the next coat after the first one is dry which takes about an hour or two. 3 coats or more is recommended for a nice, hard clear coat that will protect the surface.
I also varnished the sides and top panels but it is not necessary.
Once the varnish is completely dried, you can apply the side and bottom panel to the box. Using 4 of the premium 1-1/4" wood screws, align the panels on the inside left and right of the front panel and screw into place. Once the sides are on, attach the top and bottom panels using the 8 premium wood screws. Once the side and bottom panels are in place, you can attach the 2 hinges to one of the sides and the bottom panel.
Next, you can attach your arcade buttons to the front panel. Use the black screw to secure the button to the panel. Make sure the button controller is not installed as you will be soldering those next. Some of the button kits come with two prong wire connection, you can disregard those. Collect all the button controllers, get the pigtail cables and prepare your soldering iron.
Make sure your Xbox Adaptive Controller is setup on your Xbox. We'll be testing the controller buttons and the pigtails to see what cables need to be soldered where. Take one of the 3.5mm pigtail cables and attach one of the insulated wires to one prong and attach the other wire to the other prong. Plug in the pigtail into one of the XAC's buttons (I tested the "A" button) and test it. If the button doesn't work, switch the wires and try it again. Once you figure out which wire needs to be on what prong, get your soldering iron ready.
For my pigtails, I had red and white insulated wires with the third being an non-insulated ground wire which I didn't need until the trigger buttons (more on that later). Solder the correct wire onto the prongs and test the button (hit the hit black button on the bottom) on the XAC to make sure it is functioning properly. Do this for all 17 controllers and pigtails.
TROUBLESHOOTING: For the RT and LT buttons, I had to solder the ground wire with the white wire in order to get them to work properly. I'm not sure why just those needed to be different but if you run into a problem, try adding the ground wire to either prong to see if the button will work. My other 15 buttons worked just fine without using the ground wires.
Now, we'll be adding the joysticks to the front panel. The joysticks should come with installation guide to help. For mine, I had to attach the 5pin cable to the joystick and to the only 5 pin slot on the PCB board. After that, connect the usb cable from the PCB board to the left or right USB input on the XAC. Once it is connected, test the joysticks with the Xbox to see what end should be up. Once you've tested the joysticks and have the correct up/down /left/right configuration, mount them with 4x 1/2" wood screws to the front panel keeping the joystick in the center of the cut hole. Once the joystick is attached, make sure it can move all around without being stopped by the cut hold in the wood.
After the joysticks are secure and have been tested, mount the PCB boards. Make sure you have enough room to connect the cables from the joystick to the board. Use 4x 1/2" wood screws and attach the boards. DO NOT DRILL ALL THE WAY DOWN or you will run the risk of damaging or snapping the PCB boards. Just screw it down until it tightens down a bit and then stop, don't do anymore. It's OK if the boards are a little loose.
Once the joysticks are installed, use a little bit of the plumbers tape to the screw end of the joystick before mounting the ball. This will help it stay tightened so the ball won't pop off. If the ball keeps popping off while playing, you might need to use more tape.
Attach the Velcro to the 4 corners on the back of the XAC and on the inside back panel to mount the XAC. Make sure it keep it higher than the bottom panel and so that the cords won't get push any of the buttons. Once the XAC is secure on the back panel, add the button controllers into the arcade buttons and connect to the correct XAC port. Connect the USB cords from the PCB boards into the correct XAC side.
You could make the wires a little cleaner inside if you were to position all the buttons going the same way as you install them. I didn't think about this until after but the box is 3.5" deep so there's plenty of room to tie the cables down and secure them.
Add Velcro to the back panel side to keep it secure when it's closed, as seen in the above picture.
Add the two chest handles on the sides. The box weighs about 16 lbs when complete,the handles are nice for moving the unit.
Once all buttons and joysticks are connected to the XAC, test the controller on the Xbox. If problems arise, troubleshoot and fix until all buttons and both joysticks work correctly. If everything works correct, you can use the cable wraps to tie down all the loose cables and close the back panel. Congrats, the build is complete!
Any questions, suggestions, ideas or need help, feel free to drop me an email here
RESOURCES
HERE is another build I stumbled upon, this thing looks great and features a few different adaptive accessories.
Here are some well documented plans and instructions
for creating an adaptive controller by John Park. These instructions
show you how to make arcade style buttons to use with the XAC. It also
gives you a parts list for everything.
This Adafruit Industries makes a lot of components and parts for creating controllers.
Logitech G Adaptive Gaming Kit (Note
that this kit is a collection of various 3.5mm switches that could be
used with any other adapted device. It's a really good value as most
switches are $20-60 each but these are cheaper build quality.)
QuadStick (devices for quadriplegics)
Updated: 05/07/23
