1
00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:07,600
Some of you may remember when we talked about this absolutely wild controller

2
00:00:04,880 --> 00:00:12,240
from the same mad lad who built a DIY Steam Deck out of a framework laptop.

3
00:00:09,599 --> 00:00:16,960
Well, at that time, no one knew that an official Steam Controller 2 was on the

4
00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:22,640
horizon. So, one man, Tommy B, did what Valve wouldn't and diyed his own Steam

5
00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:27,599
Controller 2. And [music] guess what? He's here with us today. That is so

6
00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:30,880
cool. But I [music] got to ask you, how awkward is it that Valve went and

7
00:00:29,679 --> 00:00:33,920
released an official Steam [music] controller 2 after you did all this

8
00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:38,160
work? >> I wouldn't say it's awkward. First off, I think this was a great learning

9
00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:42,559
experience for me. I learned so much about how controllers [music] work and different wireless protocols and like

10
00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:45,440
building a trackpad from scratch. Second, I think mine is unique enough to

11
00:00:44,160 --> 00:00:50,320
coexist [music] with the Steam product. I think it's got some features that the Steam one doesn't. Third off, we all

12
00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:53,520
know that Valve products don't exist until they actually [music] exist. We

13
00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:57,760
were told 2026, but >> what does that mean >> exactly? Who knows? And the last thing

14
00:00:56,160 --> 00:01:01,440
is that my controller can do something that the Steam controller can't do, and

15
00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:05,199
that is >> splits [music] in half >> and still works.

16
00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:09,200
>> Still works. Two independent halves communicating to the same dongle.

17
00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:14,080
>> That's pretty cool. And the best part is he open sourced the design, so anyone

18
00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:16,479
can build one of these. I cannot wait to check this out.

19
00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:21,439
>> Oh, you'll be doing more than checking it out. You're going to build one yourself today.

20
00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:23,680
>> But first, I'll be building a segue to

21
00:01:21,439 --> 00:01:28,960
our sponsor, War Thunder. It's a free-to-play combat game with over 95

22
00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:33,040
million players on PC, consoles, and now mobile. With over 2500 different war

23
00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:37,759
machines to choose from, whether that's a plane, a tank, or a boat, you're sure

24
00:01:35,759 --> 00:01:42,280
to find the right play style for you. Get started today with the link down

25
00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:42,280
below.

26
00:01:44,801 --> 00:01:46,821
[music]

27
00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:54,720
This thing is so cool, you guys. On the surface, it's the built-in controller

28
00:01:53,119 --> 00:01:58,799
from the Steam Deck, but hacked together to function standalone, which might

29
00:01:56,479 --> 00:02:04,000
sound pretty simple, but in practice, it involved using a mix of official valve

30
00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:09,840
parts purchased from iFixit. Third party steam deck parts, as well as fully

31
00:02:06,799 --> 00:02:12,311
custom track pads and some custom PCBs

32
00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:16,160
to tie the whole thing together, or [clears throat]

33
00:02:12,879 --> 00:02:17,920
apart, as it were. The custom PCBs also

34
00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:22,400
helped make it a bit more affordable. and all of that. That was just the

35
00:02:19,920 --> 00:02:26,800
hardware. The software was a completely separate can of worms, which we'll get

36
00:02:23,920 --> 00:02:30,160
to later. First, for any of the very passionate owners of the original Steam

37
00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:34,480
Controller, I probably won't need to explain this, but for everybody else,

38
00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:38,640
what is the appeal? [music] Because it gives me an extra option for my inputs.

39
00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:42,160
So, now I can draw my tricks if I want to uh shove it.

40
00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:44,959
>> Right. So, basically, you've got gesture inputs. Almost

41
00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:48,000
>> gesture inputs pretty much. Exactly. games that don't have maybe native

42
00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:51,680
gamepad support, right? >> You can use it as a mouse, like an actual mouse, and it's pretty accurate

43
00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:56,720
to use your thumb. >> And finally, interface navigation.

44
00:02:54,239 --> 00:03:01,360
Steampig picture mode, it's pretty okay, but if you ever have to leave it and go

45
00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:02,640
to Windows, it can be imperfect. It's

46
00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:08,640
something we've talked about extensively on our channel before, but it bears repeating. It is so cool the way that

47
00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:13,200
home 3D printing allows makers to rapidly [music] prototype and experiment

48
00:03:10,640 --> 00:03:16,000
with different designs. What are the pieces that I'm holding right now?

49
00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:20,879
>> Well, I wanted to be able to mess with the ergonomics of the controller. This parallel controller works great if you

50
00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:23,840
have a screen in between, but with it being so close together, it's not the

51
00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:27,840
most ergonomic fit, right? >> So, I've brought a couple things to mess

52
00:03:25,599 --> 00:03:31,120
with here. So, I can just pull that off. Slides in here. Slides in there.

53
00:03:30,799 --> 00:03:36,560
>> Boom. >> It fits like that. So, you can see there's a slight angle here, and then there's an angle here. So, this actually

54
00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:40,640
is probably more similar to how the the new Steam Controller will be. And then

55
00:03:38,319 --> 00:03:44,480
this one is special because I added a battery inside of here. So if I put this

56
00:03:42,959 --> 00:03:47,920
here, there's also a slight angle it adds. Put it in here. You see this light

57
00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:52,400
turns on. There's a green light in there. So that means both halves are actually charging off of it. And then it

58
00:03:50,799 --> 00:03:55,920
adds a little bit of ergonomics, too. >> What do you think is the coolest part of

59
00:03:55,120 --> 00:04:01,599
your controller, though? >> Uh, well, I'm kind of a nerd. I I'm electrical engineer, so I I really like

60
00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:05,120
the the fact that they are two separate controllers. I think programming them to

61
00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:08,319
both send data to the dongle was one of the coolest things that I did. As well

62
00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:11,120
as actually the trackpad, designing that from scratch. That was really what made

63
00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:14,799
it come together. I think that's why no one's really done this project before is you can't buy Steam Deck trackpads

64
00:04:14,159 --> 00:04:22,720
secondhand. >> Now, I saw some criticism on your last video that a 6x6 grid probably isn't

65
00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:25,120
enough to be accurate. But can you walk people through why that's not really how

66
00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:30,560
it works? >> It's a a 6x6 grid of electrodes and each

67
00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:34,560
electrode has like a full analog read. And so that means a range of about a

68
00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:37,600
thousand by a thousand. So it's a lot more granular than 6 by six.

69
00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:41,040
>> So don't worry about it. Basically, >> yeah, don't don't worry about it at all.

70
00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:46,560
You'll find these are plenty accurate. I can be very specific with my my finger

71
00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:49,759
placement. >> What? What are you thinking?

72
00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:52,639
>> Nothing. Nothing. Nothing at all. I'm thinking, do I get to build one now?

73
00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:56,560
>> Sure. >> All right, let's do it. So the first thing we need to do then is build a

74
00:04:55,759 --> 00:05:01,600
trackpad. >> Yes, we do. >> I've never done that before. >> All right, it's not too hard. The

75
00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:05,280
trackpad's already designed and >> made it sound [clears throat] really hard before

76
00:05:03,199 --> 00:05:10,240
>> designing the trackpad was really hard. >> Putting it together isn't to be safe.

77
00:05:07,840 --> 00:05:12,720
Use some of this cap-on tape and we'll go over the parts that are already

78
00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:20,240
presoldered just so you don't accidentally desolder them. >> He keeps asking me just in case the

79
00:05:17,280 --> 00:05:23,520
answer will change. Um, no, I don't solder much.

80
00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:30,800
>> Well, you've done like more way more intricate soldering than I've ever done. [music] >> Yeah, but here's the thing. My job is to

81
00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:34,400
learn a lot about something and get good enough at it to do the video that I'm

82
00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:38,720
doing >> and then by literally that afternoon I

83
00:05:37,039 --> 00:05:41,600
will be working on something else that I need to know completely different things for.

84
00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:47,440
>> You're running out of space. >> I Yep. Both the RAM and the long-term

85
00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:51,320
storage are getting pretty tapped out these days. Okay.

86
00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:56,479
>> I don't know if that's a good way to test the hot air gun. >> Prove it.

87
00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:59,680
>> All right. All right. So, we're just going to melt it. Pretend those pads.

88
00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:04,160
>> Yeah. >> But don't burn anything. >> Uh-huh. >> So, I will say this is definitely the

89
00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:07,680
hardest part of building the controller is this part. [music] The reason it, you

90
00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:10,639
know, didn't come installed is the the service I ordered my PCBs made through,

91
00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:15,840
they didn't offer that chip as part of their PCB assemblies. >> Okay. Well, I'm not going to lie. I

92
00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:20,240
think they're tinned, but I'm not sure. Only one way to find out, I guess. >> So, I think first thing that we can

93
00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:24,000
solder here will be the MCUs. They're called the Xiao NRF [music]

94
00:06:21,759 --> 00:06:28,240
52840 Sense Plus. >> Oh, cool. So, in your video, you said

95
00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:31,600
you were limited to micro USB, but I see a USBC connector.

96
00:06:29,919 --> 00:06:36,000
>> Yeah. So, in my original video, I used an Adafruit uh NRF 52840 [music]

97
00:06:34,319 --> 00:06:39,520
board, but I've since switched to the Seed Studio one, and this one also has

98
00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:44,479
battery connectors [music] so we can make use of its internal battery charging circuit. Didn't have to add

99
00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:49,280
that. Uh, and then we still have a bunch of GPIO. Sick. Okay. And so, we're going

100
00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:54,319
to want to keep it [music] as centered as possible. And the way that I like to

101
00:06:51,919 --> 00:06:57,039
solder it is to only do one pad first. And then we're going to melt that one

102
00:06:55,520 --> 00:07:00,479
on. Make sure everything is centered and then we can start all the pads. Oh, did

103
00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:04,800
I mention I'm calling the project open split [music] tech? >> Oh, cool. The name can still be changed

104
00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:09,360
if people have good ideas and want to let me know. But that's what I'm going with right now. That is the name on the

105
00:07:07,280 --> 00:07:12,639
GitHub. This uses what they callated holes. So, the solder actually goes or

106
00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:17,199
like the pads actually go all the way to the edge. [music] And that's what I'm kind of making use of here to be able to

107
00:07:15,199 --> 00:07:20,880
solder it down to the PCB without the need of like through hole. Important to

108
00:07:19,199 --> 00:07:24,560
mention with like the actual Steam one coming out. >> Yeah. is like [music] if you just want

109
00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:27,599
to buy a controller to use, like buy that one. >> My project's great and stuff, but like

110
00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:31,680
you're going to be someone who enjoys soldering. >> Definitely engineering background, [clears throat]

111
00:07:29,919 --> 00:07:34,560
not sales and marketing background right here. >> So, from here, I can solder on these,

112
00:07:33,199 --> 00:07:40,400
but I'm going to have you solder on that one. >> Sure. >> On the side, I can flash firmware to it.

113
00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:44,400
So, we can hook up [music] your trackpad and see if it works. So, flashing firmware on this is pretty

114
00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:47,520
straightforward. Uh, what you do is there's a little small reset button

115
00:07:45,710 --> 00:07:52,800
[music] on here. double click it and then it'll pop up as a flash drive and

116
00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:55,520
it looking for a UF2 [music] file. So I brought it with me but it's also on the

117
00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:58,960
GitHub. You can just go and download it under the release section and this is my

118
00:07:58,155 --> 00:08:04,160
[music] left controller and I can just copy and

119
00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:08,160
paste it over and as soon as I do this will reboot and you'll see a little red

120
00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:11,360
LED turn [music] on and there it is. So now this is the left controller.

121
00:08:10,479 --> 00:08:15,199
>> I'm done. >> Okay, >> check my homework. >> Check your homework. Make sure you

122
00:08:13,759 --> 00:08:20,560
didn't bridge anything. Looks all connected. Looks good to me. >> Okay. The one I'm less confident about,

123
00:08:19,039 --> 00:08:24,160
though, the trackpad. >> Yeah. Let's check if that works. So, we're going to hook it up with the

124
00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:27,759
ribbon cables. >> Okay. >> So, this one actually installs upside

125
00:08:26,319 --> 00:08:31,840
down. You'll see more why later. >> Oh, that's wacky. This is the part where

126
00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:34,719
we find out [music] what color the magic smoke inside it is.

127
00:08:33,039 --> 00:08:38,800
>> The trackpad does take a few seconds to boot up. Let it spin a few seconds. So,

128
00:08:37,279 --> 00:08:43,360
>> okay. Damn. >> Not seeing it.

129
00:08:40,719 --> 00:08:47,880
>> Damn. You know what? I'm going to take one more attempt at it and then we'll

130
00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:47,880
call it.

131
00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:53,279
Okay, that was a pretty simple fix. I just went over the edges with the

132
00:08:51,279 --> 00:08:57,440
soldering iron. Just didn't have enough solder on some of those pads. I think

133
00:08:55,279 --> 00:09:02,800
even the hard stuff, I got to say, is not that hard. My soldering on this on

134
00:09:00,399 --> 00:09:06,160
the first side is really, really bad. And then on the second side is only a

135
00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:09,440
little bit bad. Like >> you'd be able to teach yourself how to

136
00:09:07,839 --> 00:09:12,080
do this level of complexity, I think, over the course of just this project.

137
00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:17,200
All right. So, we do have a little bit more soldering to do on [music] this. And then we have a really small button

138
00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:20,399
for our home. It's just the only button that fits.

139
00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:24,480
>> This guy. Don't worry. The hard part's over. Also, this guy. I've got a really

140
00:09:23,519 --> 00:09:27,920
small button. >> It's not that bad, man. It's not bad. >> You're the one who said it's really

141
00:09:27,519 --> 00:09:32,720
small. >> It is really small. It's that big. Now, you can solder that, right? There's

142
00:09:31,166 --> 00:09:36,959
[music] just two tabs on the side. Just two little tabs. So, it's a little bit off, but actually, it does make it

143
00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:41,360
easier to solder because it's on the side. >> Okay. So, it's a feature, not a bug.

144
00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:45,760
>> Exactly. And [music] same thing, we'll do our best to keep it as centered as

145
00:09:44,399 --> 00:09:48,720
possible when [music] we do solder it on. Next, we're moving on to assembling

146
00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:52,800
the track pads. >> Cool. >> We have these little I printed them out.

147
00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:56,560
They're basically the springs. Have you ever taken apart a Steam Deck before?

148
00:09:55,040 --> 00:10:00,080
>> Yes. It's been a long time. >> So, I had to kind of recreate my own.

149
00:09:58,399 --> 00:10:04,959
So, this is actually important that it's printed out of PETG. Uh because PETG is

150
00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:09,839
a little more flexible than PLA. >> Got it. >> When you buy the case, it comes with all

151
00:10:07,839 --> 00:10:13,120
the stuff you need. It's a It's a mod case for a Steam Deck which I've pre-cut

152
00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:17,519
for you. >> Oh, that's so nice. >> You're welcome.

153
00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:19,440
>> Thank you. Oh, damn. There's a thumb print inside this controller forever

154
00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:26,000
now. >> I was thinking at the end I might leave this controller with you guys so it'll be forever imprinted with you. So, same

155
00:10:24,079 --> 00:10:29,120
thing. Line up the notch. Stick it down. >> Try not to push on the chips or the

156
00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:32,640
connector. Of course, you don't want to break anything. This would be the worst

157
00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:37,760
place to possibly break it. And what we're going to do too is throw on the

158
00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:40,240
ribbon cable or FPC if you want to be technically correct because we're not

159
00:10:38,959 --> 00:10:43,600
going to be able to access this once we hot glue it to here. >> Got it.

160
00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:48,640
>> Trackpad spring. [music] We're going to stick it on. You'll see one spot has a little kind of dip in it and that's

161
00:10:46,959 --> 00:10:52,480
where the ribbon can cable is going to come out. >> Oh, I see it. That's crazy. We're just

162
00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:55,920
going to hot glue this together. >> Going to hot glue it together. >> That's crazy.

163
00:10:54,240 --> 00:11:00,079
>> There's a few reasons for it. First reason is that hot glue is [music]

164
00:10:58,560 --> 00:11:04,320
easily accessible. >> And if we need to take it apart again, we can just peel off the hot glue and

165
00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:09,519
take it apart. If you need to get back into it, >> sure can. >> Second reason is that there's not a lot

166
00:11:08,079 --> 00:11:12,880
of force that's actually going to be pulling. There's almost no force that'll

167
00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:16,320
pull the trackpad off of it. We don't need a lot to hold it on here. We could

168
00:11:14,959 --> 00:11:21,839
probably get away with double-sided tape if we wanted to. I think it's funny. It's kind of a meme that you're like so

169
00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:25,192
short, Lionus. But for reference, I'm 5 to say that [laughter]

170
00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:33,120
>> was all a setup. >> This is a huge place where we could save a lot of money as far as the parts go.

171
00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:36,640
The triggers themselves are like 20 USD, which is a lot, right? Cuz two of them

172
00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:40,560
now it's $40 already, right? >> But the inside part that houses the

173
00:11:38,399 --> 00:11:44,160
magnet is the part that is pretty complex and would be hard to 3D print,

174
00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:47,839
which is where I [music] may be asking for help. First, we're going to focus on

175
00:11:46,079 --> 00:11:50,720
the bumpers. So, you have your right bumper. I have the left bumper. Mine has

176
00:11:49,279 --> 00:11:54,720
the D-pad. There is a little modification we have to make here.

177
00:11:52,399 --> 00:11:57,680
>> Of course, it's extra wide on the ends, and that's actually to make it lock into

178
00:11:56,320 --> 00:12:03,120
place a little better [music] for the Steam Deck, >> right? >> But I have no idea what connector they

179
00:12:01,279 --> 00:12:05,279
used on the actual Steam Deck. There's like no part number for it. So,

180
00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:09,360
>> and we're too wide for them. >> We're too wide. So, we got to cut off the little bit extra. >> Oh, okay.

181
00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:12,639
>> And this is very easy. Like, if you're doing this, don't be scared.

182
00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:17,360
>> You can see I just need to aim to cut off that little bit extra. There you go.

183
00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:21,040
>> Nice quality. Same thing on the other side. I know. Quality homemade game

184
00:12:19,519 --> 00:12:25,040
controllers. We're going to go ahead and install everything into the case here.

185
00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:27,120
Starting with actually the trackpad. >> Oh, brilliant.

186
00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:30,240
>> So, the trackpad. >> I'm going to guess it goes like that. >> It does exactly do that.

187
00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:34,480
>> Nice. >> Yep. It's that small for your >> Sure do.

188
00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:40,880
>> That's crazy. >> And you can get the Prismagic collection

189
00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:44,959
at ltstore.com. >> Next buttons because we're going to put

190
00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:49,360
in the bumpers. There's a little bit of like a clip that holds in the side. So,

191
00:12:47,519 --> 00:12:53,839
you need to I have no better word to describe it other than finagle it to

192
00:12:51,598 --> 00:12:57,200
[snorts] all get in place. So, now each side gets three screws.

193
00:12:55,600 --> 00:13:00,160
>> There is some overlap with a couple of the things. So, there's a couple screws

194
00:12:58,639 --> 00:13:04,399
we [music] don't install. And I just know this because I've memorized it.

195
00:13:02,079 --> 00:13:08,560
>> Tommy B is planning to have a text version of his build guide rather than a

196
00:13:06,079 --> 00:13:11,040
video version. That'll be coming >> hopefully soon.

197
00:13:09,279 --> 00:13:14,000
>> He has a day job, so whenever he gets to it. [music] One thing I like to do

198
00:13:12,399 --> 00:13:19,120
personally just to make my life easier is connect the the button PCB right now.

199
00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:22,800
>> You don't seem like the kind of person who likes to make your life easier. >> Why not?

200
00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:25,440
>> Because you built your own controller. >> I'm willing to do things that are difficult if they're worth it. You know

201
00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:30,240
what I mean? >> Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. >> The next one goes at the bottom of my

202
00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:33,680
little open split deck logo on the corner. >> And that's the long one.

203
00:13:31,519 --> 00:13:37,279
>> Yeah. And that's the right hole. There you go. You caught that one.

204
00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:41,279
>> Yeah. This is great. It's really coming together. Awkward question. How much am

205
00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:44,639
I going to end up paying for one of these that I built myself?

206
00:13:42,959 --> 00:13:47,680
>> Uh, right now you're probably sitting around 250 to 300,

207
00:13:47,279 --> 00:13:51,920
>> right? >> But that would also you'd wind up with

208
00:13:50,399 --> 00:13:55,360
probably enough parts to make more than one. >> I see. Right.

209
00:13:54,000 --> 00:14:00,079
>> One thing that's cool about this, too, is Yeah, we're paying a lot more than we would for a regular controller, but

210
00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:02,720
we're getting a high quality controller. Like, we've got the aftermarket gilly

211
00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:07,760
kit sticks now. >> Mhm. Let's do a little more soldering.

212
00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:11,360
Solder on the battery connector. I pre-wired them a little bit for you and

213
00:14:10,079 --> 00:14:15,680
they're going to be pretty long. So, we're going to solder to We have a plus and minus. Just make sure you line up

214
00:14:14,079 --> 00:14:19,920
your black to minus, your red [music] to plus. We're actually going to wind up cutting them because we're going to also

215
00:14:18,399 --> 00:14:22,959
solder in a switch. We're going to also go ahead and add some safety hot glue.

216
00:14:21,519 --> 00:14:26,480
>> Is that different from regular hot glue? >> Yeah. Yeah. This one keeps the [music] battery safe. We're just going to go

217
00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:30,880
over it with some hot glue. This helps insulate it and also keep us from

218
00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:34,160
potentially [music] accidentally ripping them off. It does lead into one of the

219
00:14:32,639 --> 00:14:37,440
quirks of this device, and that it needs to be on to charge. Originally, I wasn't

220
00:14:36,079 --> 00:14:43,040
going to have a power switch at all and just have it go into like a sleep mode like most electronic devices do. There's

221
00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:46,639
not a physical flipping switch. But one of the issues I ran into is it's

222
00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:51,760
actually the hull effect sticks. They draw power when it's in sleep mode. And

223
00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:53,360
I ran out of GPIO pins to use for

224
00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:56,000
something that could control the power. >> Got it. That's for future Tommy to deal

225
00:14:55,680 --> 00:15:01,440
with. >> Yeah, future Tommy to deal with. >> Yeah, screw that guy. >> And we'll have a lot more pins to work

226
00:14:59,519 --> 00:15:05,120
with, which will let us enable things like, you know, turning on and off

227
00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:09,600
power. This is probably a little in the weeds right now. I'm thinking there

228
00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:11,440
might be some extras over at LMG.gg/flat

229
00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:15,760
plane that didn't make it to the YouTube cut. So, uh, maybe we'll see you guys

230
00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:18,399
over there. All right. Next, I prefer to cut the red wire. That's [music] going

231
00:15:17,279 --> 00:15:21,760
to be your your positive. >> Yeah. Bomb diffusal tips. >> Mhm.

232
00:15:20,399 --> 00:15:26,639
>> Always cut the red wire. >> Always cut the red wire. That's what they say. Not to keep making [music] my

233
00:15:25,279 --> 00:15:30,765
project sound awesome, but this is might be the most jank part. It's just lining

234
00:15:29,199 --> 00:15:34,880
up the screen is really difficult. [music] Okay. >> It doesn't line up well,

235
00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:37,279
>> just, you know, by default. And so, I'm going to solder one of the holes.

236
00:15:36,399 --> 00:15:41,040
>> Solder a hole. >> Yeah, just one of them. >> The holes.

237
00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:45,199
>> Yeah, the through hole where the uh Sorry, LIKE THESE. >> OH, YOU'RE SPIN it that way. And you

238
00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:48,399
kind of have to angle it to kind of get it in there. >> Oh, yeah. >> And then it rotates down.

239
00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:52,480
>> Oh, yeah. >> Make sure the pins are coming through. >> This is the part where I mean it's a

240
00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:57,360
little jank, >> dude. We're close. >> Very close. >> I can I can smell it. Wait, no, that's

241
00:15:55,680 --> 00:16:01,279
the leaded solder. >> Take a deep breath. [laughter] These are

242
00:15:59,759 --> 00:16:05,279
cool. They're not your typical vibration motors. These are actually called LRA,

243
00:16:03,279 --> 00:16:09,199
which is a linear resonating actuator. It's got a baby solenoid [music] in

244
00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:12,800
there that like pushes forward and back >> rather than an offset weight on a motor.

245
00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:17,920
Currently, my best place I have to install it is [music] just in between this back button and the ribbon

246
00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:21,279
connector for the trackpad. >> Okay, so here's where [music] our bougie

247
00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:25,440
vibration motor goes. >> It is a bougie vibration motor. They're more expensive [music] than a typical

248
00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:29,440
vibration motor. We're going to install our batteries real quick. Grab a

249
00:16:27,199 --> 00:16:32,240
battery. Press it into the connector. Yeah, puncture the battery first, right?

250
00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:36,240
>> Don't puncture the battery. >> How do you get the energy out of it then?

251
00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:38,880
>> Battery safety is a really important thing when it comes to lithium ions.

252
00:16:37,576 --> 00:16:41,839
[music] I'm sure this is not the first time people have heard this, but for

253
00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:46,160
these batteries that I source specifically, they're like the ones through Adafruit. [music] You're paying

254
00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:49,199
more for them than like you ones you can just buy on Amazon or something, but at

255
00:16:47,839 --> 00:16:53,120
least you can guarantee that they're like safe cells. [music] It's really

256
00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:57,920
easy to buy knockoff cells that will just catch on fire. Got it connected.

257
00:16:55,839 --> 00:17:00,959
So, I'm going to flip my switch. You should feel it vibrate in a moment.

258
00:16:59,279 --> 00:17:03,440
Before that, triggers. >> Oh, yeah. We'll need those.

259
00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:08,000
>> Triggers are helpful. >> Yeah. >> The little spring goes on there.

260
00:17:06,559 --> 00:17:12,160
>> See that little knob? And then you got to clip [music] the two things over.

261
00:17:09,839 --> 00:17:14,400
>> Sure do. One last sanity check before we screw it down. >> Yeah.

262
00:17:13,199 --> 00:17:18,400
>> We'll walk over here. >> Yeah, let's do that. >> Can you trackpad click?

263
00:17:17,360 --> 00:17:23,439
>> Trackpad click. >> Cool. >> Hell yeah.

264
00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:27,439
>> All right, let's screw it together. >> So, this one's yours. This one's mine.

265
00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:29,520
>> Mhm. This is also the part where we install some magnets to help hold it

266
00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:33,919
together. >> Oh, yeah. How do they work? >> How do they work? >> Yeah.

267
00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:37,520
>> I don't know how to explain how magnets work. >> Are you saying that you're not smart

268
00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:42,160
enough to explain it or I'm not smart enough to understand it? >> Uh, both. And it should hold in actually

269
00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:45,120
pretty solid even without the screws. >> Mhm. Yeah, it kind of snaps on there a

270
00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:50,937
little. It kind of looks like there's one more hole here. >> So, that hole actually to be able to

271
00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:51,919
access that reset button on the MCU. [music]

272
00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:55,840
>> Got it. >> Remember, we double clicked that reset button earlier to put it into the

273
00:17:54,640 --> 00:18:00,880
bootloader mode. Got it. >> You could flash firmware to it.

274
00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:02,400
>> There you go. It'll uh I like the word

275
00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:08,000
self clearance. They'll get better at snapping together as time goes on.

276
00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:09,919
>> Yeah. Sick. I I get to use it now.

277
00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:14,880
>> Yeah, let's use it. Time to play some games. >> Heck yeah. I've never played Skate. What

278
00:18:12,799 --> 00:18:18,320
are the odds you think that your controller would make me good at it?

279
00:18:17,039 --> 00:18:21,760
>> Very low. >> Really? >> We can try. >> Is that because your controller is not

280
00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:26,559
very good? >> No, it's because you're probably not very good at skate,

281
00:18:23,919 --> 00:18:28,240
>> right? Well, your coaching should make me better at it.

282
00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:32,720
>> Yes, most definitely. >> Okay, cool. Oh, man. I can do like a flying sidekick.

283
00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:36,720
>> Yeah, jump in the air and hold the right trigger.

284
00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:40,799
>> Why would you have me do that? >> So, you could do a front flip. So, now

285
00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:45,440
let go of the right trigger uh [music] at the right time and you can land it.

286
00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:49,440
>> Yeah, there you go. >> Okay. All right. Okay. I got this.

287
00:18:47,120 --> 00:18:52,400
>> So, the way you oy is by pressing or going down on your right stick and going

288
00:18:51,039 --> 00:18:57,200
up quickly. So, if you just put your finger towards the bottom of the trackpad and hold it there, [music]

289
00:18:55,440 --> 00:19:02,400
it'll you'll go into like an ollie position. And now, slide your finger up

290
00:18:58,799 --> 00:19:03,200
straight up. Yeah. Kick flip.

291
00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:08,720
>> Okay. >> Oh, backside crook. >> So, basically, we've just got a lot of

292
00:19:06,559 --> 00:19:12,400
granularity in our controls here. >> Yes. A lot of like customization and

293
00:19:11,039 --> 00:19:18,080
just like a different way to interact with the game that you wouldn't have in any other experience. Just like with the

294
00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:21,360
Steam controller and the Steam Deck, if you're not that into the trackpads or

295
00:19:19,919 --> 00:19:24,480
the game doesn't benefit from it, you can just completely ignore them.

296
00:19:23,120 --> 00:19:27,840
>> Yeah, there's no reason you have to use them. But it's that extra layer of

297
00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:32,960
interaction you get that [music] I think makes my controller stand out. >> We mentioned this very briefly earlier,

298
00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:37,760
but officially there's no support for two players just yet. But you loaded a

299
00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:42,559
player two firmware onto this one. >> I um [music] hardcoded in a a second

300
00:19:41,360 --> 00:19:47,120
player support, so it's still very experimental. So, no promises this will work perfectly, but we can definitely

301
00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:51,440
give it a try here. I did do a pre-release on the GitHub for the two

302
00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:54,480
bits of firmware. Ideally, in the future, I'll have some sort of like

303
00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:56,640
pairing routine where each thing will have its own unique dongle,

304
00:19:56,080 --> 00:20:02,960
>> right? Yeah. >> But for right now, any dongle can talk to any controller. Okay. How do I pass?

305
00:20:01,120 --> 00:20:06,720
>> Uh, I think it's B. Nice. >> Wait, I have a player down.

306
00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:10,640
>> The [snorts] player down. Time out. >> Uh, sure. Hey, look at that. You have another player down. Hey, look, another

307
00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:14,559
one. [laughter] Hey, look. A third one.

308
00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:18,320
>> You just pushed me over. I have nobody up. How am I supposed to fight against

309
00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:21,679
that? All three of my players are on the ground. >> Hey, you have all the same players I do.

310
00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:25,840
You could throw the stick. Look at this replay. They're just They're all dead.

311
00:20:23,919 --> 00:20:30,240
That's a cheesy goal. You know what's not cheesy is this project. Yeah, it's a

312
00:20:28,559 --> 00:20:36,720
little expensive. Yeah, it's a little timeconuming, but as far as like DIY

313
00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:38,559
things go, it's it's pretty polished actually. >> Thank you.

314
00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:42,640
>> Good job. >> Thank you. still a lot of things that can improve. There's a whole laundry

315
00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:46,640
list, but I guess one thing you could take away from this video and this [music] project is that this is actually

316
00:20:45,360 --> 00:20:50,400
probably the least functional you'll see it. I have a Discord setup for this

317
00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:53,600
project specifically. And then there also is a GitHub setup where you can

318
00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:58,400
open issues [music] for suggestions. Let's get all of that linked down below. Thank you so much for coming up here.

319
00:20:56,559 --> 00:21:02,720
This was an absolute blast. This is such a cool project. And uh who knows, maybe

320
00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:07,200
by the next time we talk about it, you'll be [music] doing some pretty

321
00:21:05,120 --> 00:21:09,360
crazy stuff with like controllers or >> I make lots of things. You should

322
00:21:08,559 --> 00:21:15,120
subscribe to me. >> Yeah, do that. >> Thank you for bringing me out. This was a great time.

323
00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:17,760
>> And this is a great time to tell you about our sponsor,

324
00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:21,840
>> War Thunder. Have you ever thought to yourself, "A shucks. I'd sure love to

325
00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:25,440
blow some stuff up right about now." In a video game, of course. Well, War

326
00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:30,159
Thunder is a free-to-play comprehensive vehicle combat game with over 2500

327
00:21:28,159 --> 00:21:34,480
different vehicles for you to pilot. That's tanks, planes, boats, and the

328
00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:39,440
other types of planes that have that like silly propeller hat. What are they

329
00:21:36,799 --> 00:21:43,200
called again? With over 95 million people playing on their computers,

330
00:21:41,120 --> 00:21:47,360
phones, and consoles, that's a lot of stuff for you to blow up. Again, in a

331
00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:51,919
video game, of course. One of War Thund's coolest features is something

332
00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:56,080
called damage x-ray view. Rather than traditional health bars, you can see the

333
00:21:53,840 --> 00:22:00,159
precise spots you are damaging on your opponent's war machines. It isn't just

334
00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:03,600
for hardcore PvPers, though. There's three different modes for you to choose

335
00:22:01,679 --> 00:22:07,600
from. Arcade mode for those craving a faster paced match with simplified

336
00:22:05,360 --> 00:22:11,200
physics. simulator for a more realistic challenge and realistic mode striking

337
00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:15,200
that middle ground. Check out War Thunder for free today on PC, console,

338
00:22:13,360 --> 00:22:19,760
and mobile using our link in the video description. >> If you guys enjoyed this video, why not

339
00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:22,880
check out the time that we had that kid up who built his own laptop? That was

340
00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:26,799
that was pretty wild, too. >> It was a cool video. >> Yeah. Would you watch that? >> I did watch that one.

341
00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:32,000
>> So smart. >> How is he so smart? Yeah. >> It's like not fair to the other people,