Ben uses a third party playstation 4 controller, a Hori Horitpad FPS Plus, to create a Playstation 4/Playstation 3 accessibility controller. Although he has ten years of experience building accessibility controllers, Ben’s avoided PS4/PS3 accessibility controllers in the past because their circuit board design makes it difficult to modify.
Building accessibility controllers is a passion of Ben’s because it allows someone that does not have use of both hands to enjoy one more thing that many of us take for granted. The Xbox 360 and Xbox one use standard circuit boards so they can be easily hacked to make accessibility controllers. In fact, the Xbox One controller is easier to modify than the Xbox 360 controller!
Ben’s preference for modding Xbox controllers has nothing to do with being biased against them, the PS4 will have sold over 40 million units after the holiday season and Ben has one too. It has to do with the silk screen printed circuit used on its controllers not allowing it to be modified easily because you can’t solder onto the plastic.
After opening up the controller Ben finds circuit boards with well labeled test points. Ben walks you through using Autodesk Fusion 360 to design new parts for the accessibility controller. He moves the D-pad below to allow the face buttons space and works on getting 3D parts to match the curve of an existing part. Ben replaces the 4 buttons used to replace the dpad with lower profile buttons to allow them to rest flush on the circuit board.
Felix works on placement for a trigger and an analog stick on the button of the controller. A spring is used for the trigger and button placement is set. After that Ben finds a place to put the PS4/PS3 toggle switch. Ben tests the new accessibility controller by playing some PS4 against Karen!
