Recently, my Steam Controller's left bumper stopped working. Upon dissasembling it, I discovered a piece of plastic had snapped off of the trigger assembly:
Helpfully, other have modeled the part, and made it avaiable to use for 3D printing. Unfortunately, I don't have a 3D printer, and even if I did, the part requires an uncommon type of plastic filament (polycarbonate) in order to be durable enough to act as a sping. If you do have these things, you can stop reading here, and print that part.
I considered using a 3D printing serivce to have the part fabricated, but all tose services have minimum order prices that are nearly as much as buying a whole other for-parts Steam Controller. Then I realized the spring doesn't need to be plastic; most springs are made of metal after all. However I couldn't find any appropriate flat springs at any store nearby. So what, would I need to order one from some special supplier? Nope:
This is a standard hair snap clip, basically just a thin sheet of spring steel, and it happens to be the perfect size. You can buy them at practically any drug store or grocery store for a couple of dollars. With it and few tools, you can repair the Steam Controller bumper. By lucky coincidence, it even takes nearly the same amount of force to activate as the factory spring, although it does not click as loudly.
- A ~2 inch snap clip
- Safety goggles
- Wire cutter
- Two pairs of pliers
- Torx T6 screw driver
- Strong adhesive tape
- Drill
- 5/64 drill bit for drilling metal
- A block of scrap wood
-
Put on safety goggles.
-
Use wire cutter to cut apart the snap clip. You may need to wiggle the clip up and down in the cutter to cut it, since wire cutters are not made to cut steel. The cut off part of the clip will probably shoot off at high speed, so seriously, wear safety goggles.
The circled piece will be our spring.
-
Using two pairs of pliers, add a 90° twist about 7 mm from the edge of the spring. Space the pliers aproximately 5 mm apart from each other to leave room for the twist.
Make sure the twist is 90° and in the same direction as the image below.
-
Again using two pairs of pliers, add an approximately 45° bend to the long end of the spring.
Again, make sure the bend direction matches the image below.
The result should fit nicely on the trigger assembly, and cover the screw hole.
-
Centering the spring as best you can over the screw hole, temporarily fix it in place with strong adhesive tape. The spring should feel firmly supported by the plastic nub where the trigger assembly snapped.
-
Using the 5/64 bit, drill a small hole about 11 mm from the edge of a block of scrap wood. This will let the trigger assembly sit flat on the wood.
-
Place the trigger assembly on the block of wood with the trigger hanging down off the edge and clamp it in place, like in the image below. The peg on the bottom off the assembly should slot into the hole we drilled in the previous step.
-
Using the screw hole in the assembly as a guide, drill a hole through the spring with the 5/64 bit.
-
Using the wirecutter, trim the long side of the spring to 15 mm, starting from the end of the bend.
(sorry this photo is so blurry)
-
Using pliers, make a small bend downward about 1 mm from the end of the spring, then a small bend in the other direction about 2mm from the end of the spring. The result should be a small bump, which will activate the microswitch on the controller PCB.
-
Paritally re-assemble the controller, so that the trigger assembly is in place but the bumpers are not, screwing the spring to the trigger assembly.
Adjust the spring so it's in line with the button. You sould be able to do this by hand.
-
Dissasemble the controller, and fully reassemble it in the right order. Since the bumpers are replaced before the trigger assemblies, the spring needs to be slid into place after the trigger assembly is replaced, but before it is screwed down. This may take a bit of finagling. After the spring is installed, test that you can feel it click.
