Look at that new stick!
The original thumbstick of the Steam Controller was always a bit imperfect. I bought my Steam Controller on day one, but a few years in, the soft-touch material on the stick started to flake off. That’s gross!
Those flakes that rub off also don’t help with gripping the stick. It already has a convex-shaped top, which I like less than a concave top. It always feels like I’m pushing the stick in some direction but my thumb is slowly slipping.
After almost a decade of putting up with this, I had enough. I looked around online and found that people had figured out how to upgrade that part of the Steam Controller, and it’s actually decently easy and cheap.
Replacing the stick
It turns out the replacement sticks for the 8BitDo SN30 Pro fit perfectly in the Steam Controller!
The Steam Controller is held together with Torx T6 screws. I opened it up and carefully lifted up the mainboard, making sure not to harm the ribbon cable underneath. From there, I pulled the stock thumbstick cap off of the stick and slipped on the replacement one.
I now have a Steam Controller with a thumbstick that doesn’t rub off and is even concave for better grip!
Bring those back Valve, I never got a chance to get one and want it so bad!
If you want to buys mine, let me know
I put a rubber cap thingy on mine. This should be the least invasive fix.I have exactly the same one! It does the job nicely
Ah, nice. I destroyed my first one playing Sekiro; the trigger buttons are really awkward to get to pieces to replace the internals, and my replacement Steam controller is almost too valuable to use, since I can’t replace it any more.
Same for me, Sekiro killed my left bumper and I tried to replace it using aluminium from a soda cab, but it hasn’t worked well 🙁
This is the 3D-printable replacement bumper mechanism I used in my controller. And by “I”, I mean my friend, who did the printing and installation for me. The click is a bit stiffer and sounds deeper than the original, but it works fine again.
Yes that’s the bit! Thank you, I will look into using that, I’ve 2 controllers that have gone that way now.
I actually damaged the left bumper of this one playing Nine Sols since I used that as the parry key. I had to get a friend to 3D print a new flexible mechanism and swap it in for me.
I’m not sure I’d consider this a total upgrade - I have a Steam Controller and an 8bitdo SN30 Pro, and despite the 8bitdo one being newer and having been used much less, I wore through its original thumbstick rubber and had to replace it much sooner than the Steam Controller’s thumbstick cap, which hasn’t even worn through, it was just flaking.
Either that was a fluke, or the 8bitdo rubber isn’t as durable.
Chiming in as a steam controller die hard, and sn30pro master-race. My replacement stick for steam controller from 8bitdo still turned into flakes in a few months. My sn30pros are going strong though, may be a batch to batch situation for rubber materials.
Good thing I ordered two thumbstick caps!
