first you may wonder "is it easy? do i need material ?"
the answer is yes !
... to both, unfortunately...
needed:
-a dremel (yep, i have one since last week, now i have fun with it
) prefferably dremel 400 or any model that can go as low as 5000rpm, i haven't used any higher speed, i think 10000 would be quite much ... -some patience and precision skills
-old game pads
-a transparent CD box
so is it possible without a dremel ?
sure, but it won't look that good
is it possible without patience and precision ?
forget it!
by the way i'll not tell you what to do, i'll tell what i did, feel free to adapt anything, it's not a howto, it's just my own experiment
lettsa go!
first , of course, dismounting pads or etc, i personally tried nes, snes, and an old GBC i think nes or snes would be the wisest choice, nes having a thick cover like the GP2x, but the snes has some small cavities to maintain the rubber in place, good, but the cover is slimmer, and the cross is wider
anyway first think to do, practicing on some old cd box, take the pad's cover, put it on the plastic, and fill the cross with a "special for CD" pen, then cutout carefully
nes here
snes there ...
that's quickly done , so the question is why clear plastic and not cardboard?
1/cardboard doesn't make you practice
2/plastic is more rigid and solid, for trying the pad's feeling etc
3/ you can figure that the NES's cross width is almost exactly as large as a thick cutout disc :
PERFECT!
but i use a thin one anyway for begining, then the big one to finish
ok, let's check the SNES scale....
i'm definitely sure it would fit!
... but i'll begin with the ness, i don't wanna mess with my faceplate
first to do: protecting!
...never too cautionous ...
then dismounting it all , personally it's not my first time, but you may find dismounting guides somewhere if needed i think
and GO!
done with a little sandpaper tube for dremel, if you don't have a dremel you can do it by hand with 80 to 180 density, it will only take much longer :-P
i suggest using it on a tube too, like a big battery or something, to begin the big job, to not attack the protective tape, then finish with the smaller paper on a flat surface, always making little circles
until you begin to eat the paper, then for the finishing blow,
thank you dremel discs, that's sans paper, really paper so it's soft, AND the diameter is great as tou see
do i NEED a dremel for that ?
nope, you can also make a little tool for your drill or again by hand, use precise sandpaper, AT LEAST 320 ,
then you can polish it to make it shiny, but i don't bother with that yet
most of the surface will go away anyway 
that's done , relief removed!
no need to protect anymore, time to admire
that may look complicated but it's really simple until now, the next is trickier
remember my old cutout ? now it will get useful
first checking outside...
...and inside, that can fit , yay :]
then cutout again, so first i marked what's to cut, using the same middle as the otiginal one, the cross will be exactly at the same place, not upper or lower it can fit that way, and it'll not look strange with the original circle, so once the clear plastic well positionned, and the inside filled with cdr pen, cutout time again!
first with a too small cross, cutting like # , the corners come by themselves afterwards, just moving them in and out, the gp2x circle acts as a cutout limit
then, finishing and making the cross bigger with the thick cutout disc i shower earlier, stopping often to remove the plastic garbage and trying to insert the cross,
it has to be larger than the cross of course, i stopped once i could move the cross enough to draw a 1mm² square, like with the original controller
the result is :
... neat
END OF PART ONE , see you soon for the interior modding!
)
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