How-To Clean and Sanitize Playstation 1 Controllers

[Disjaukifa]

Hey Guys,

I found a really great way to clean and sanitize used Playstation 1 Controllers, and the great part this can be used for other game systems as well! I will be showing ya'll how to clean and sanitize your Playstation controllers by disassembling them and then running parts of them through a dish-washer. Trust me the results are amazing, and it doesn't involve you destroying your elbows to get these controllers clean! A word of caution, I would not recommend doing this to rare/obscure/valuable/proto/etc controllers. Only do this if you feel comfortable with your skills and abilities to disassemble and assemble electronics.

Here are the two Playstation 1 Controllers I cleaned this evening. We have a White Standard Playstation 1 Controller SCPH-1080 on the left and a White Playstation 1 Dual Shock SCPH-110 that came bundled with a PSOne.





I'm doing two controllers in this guide because I want to cover the two most common types of controllers for the Playstation 1. However that being said I have now done this, including this tutorial, to 4 Playstation Controllers and not a single one of them had the same pcb and internal layout, they were are similar but they were all different, even the two White PSOne controllers were different, so you should take you time doing this!

Why would you have to do this you might ask? Here are a couple of photos documentating why one would do this:







As you can see from the above photos this Playstation controller as a bunch of dirt and grim on it and packed into the seams on the controllers. I don't know how it got there, I got this controller used today, but I don't want to use it in this condition. So here we go!

Step 1: Remove all the back screws from the controller. In the pictures below you will see that I have removed all the back screws and have taken the backs off of both controllers. The SCPH-1080 on the top and the SCPH-110 on the bottom:





Step 2: Remove Any Screws holding the internal PCB to the case, this is more common with the Dual Shock than the Standard Controller. Make sure to look carefully for all screws, in the controller below it had 2 screws holding the PCB to the case, all my other Dual Shock Controllers only had 1 screw. Also you will want to remove the two motors for the Dual Shock. Again each of my Dual Shocks were different. One had the motors on plastic mounts, one had the motors taped to the case and one just had them help in place buy surrounding plastic.





Step 3: Remove the silicone pads from the buttons and directional pads. There is an X bracket that goes over the D-pad in these controllers, pay special attention to the direction and orientation that it has to the controller case, if you install this piece back incorrectly, the d-pad will not feel correct. Notice in the image below that I have flip this plastic piece so you can see it. Three of the corners are rounded, the fourth is flat:



Step 4: Remove and gather all the pieces that you want to put in the dishwasher. Here is what I washed for the SCPH-1080 and the SCPH-110. For the Dual Shock, I pulled off the Analog sticks and washed them as well, they slid right off and its safe to wash them:





Step 5: Put in dishwasher and start washing cycle, normal wash with sanitize if the option is available to you. The way I did it is I put the case halves on the bottom shelf and the buttons and little pieces in the following plastic bin. I think my wife bought this bin at K-Mart, they are really cheap and really useful for not losing any pieces because it prevents them from going flying:





Step 6: Drying and Assembly. This is what I consider the most important step. You need to make sure all the pieces are dry, I mean completely dry, water and electronics don't go together . . . ever! What I like to do is take a towel and I get all the little piece, the buttons especially, and tap them against the towel, this will force any water that is in the various pieces to come out.



From there its just reverse the order of disassembly. A helpful tip! Take your time, don't rush, make sure everything goes back together smoothly. Here is a picture of the controllers laid out ready to be dried and then assembled.



In the below photos I took the top three photos and made them as a before and after.

Before


After


Before


After


Before


After


This is not a perfect process, and I still have a little bit of cleaning to do on both controllers. I highly recommend Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, they truly work wonders on any surface. I'm out of them at the moment, but once I get some more I will post more pictures of the controllers.

I hope this proves useful to others! If you have any questions please feel free to ask!

Thanks
Disjaukifa

[joehax]

Nice guide.

I wonder if dipping the whole controller in a jar of mineral turpentine or methylated spirits would have achieved the same result.

Obviously you'd have to let it sit and dry for a few days, but would save having to take the thing apart and have the added bonus of cleaning the electronic bits inside :-P

[Disjaukifa]

Nice guide.

I wonder if dipping the whole controller in a jar of mineral turpentine or methylated spirits would have achieved the same result.

Obviously you'd have to let it sit and dry for a few days, but would save having to take the thing apart and have the added bonus of cleaning the electronic bits inside :-P

I don't think it would have to be honest and I think you would have still had to take the controllers apart as well to let them dry completely. I've found that most of the time the PCB are in fantastic shape because they are never in contact with with anything, its all the pieces that far the outside that get bashed and abused.

Like I said in my first post I want to get a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and post further pictures of my results as I think it will get the rest of the dirt and grim of the controllers.

What I also like about this method is that it cleans out the silicon pads which seems to make them more responsive and have a greater spring, might jsut be my imagination though . . .

-Disjaukfia

[Cyantist]

Step 6: Drying and Assembly. This is what I consider the most important step. You need to make sure all the pieces are dry, I mean completely dry, water and electronics don't go together . . . ever! What I like to do is take a towel and I get all the little piece, the buttons especially, and tap them against the towel, this will force any water that is in the various pieces to come out.

UH UH

Water and electronics don't do squat. Its the impurities that cause the problems and conduct. If you were to pour completely pure water onto electronics that were even turned on nothing would happen.

Just incase anybody does ever wash the electronics my number one tip is LET IT DRY. I've found that a few days in the sun can be best especially in spring or summer. Also remove any batteries (IE CMOS). There are parts of the circuit that are still live with batteries in

[n64coder]

Nice guide with pictures. Always good to learn stuff like this.

[retro]

I wouldn't recommend this method at all. I would say that standard anti-bacterial kitchen cleaner would do a better job of sanitizing than a dishwasher! I've seen diswashers do very poor jobs of plates and glasses, not to mention the damage done to certain patterns etc. (and don't forget, your controller has printing on it). Then there are the controllers that have labels - they're going to get trashed! Plus... do you really want all that crap in your dishwasher, with items that come into contact with your food?!?

Far better to invest in a can of foaming cleaner. It does all the hard work for you, you just wipe it off. This is what we used in the games shop I worked in, and the owner had done so since the days of 8 bit micros.



Or you can use a household cleaner - for really dirty consoles and controllers, I use Milton fluid (sterilizer for babies).



*EDIT*

Incidentally, you don't want to wash the rubber contacts. They have a carbon conductive surface - destroy (clean) that and the buttons won't work!

[ASSEMbler]

I would never use a dishwasher.

What's wrong with an ultrasonic cleaner?

[Disjaukifa]

I wouldn't recommend this method at all. I would say that standard anti-bacterial kitchen cleaner would do a better job of sanitizing than a dishwasher! I've seen diswashers do very poor jobs of plates and glasses, not to mention the damage done to certain patterns etc. (and don't forget, your controller has printing on it). Then there are the controllers that have labels - they're going to get trashed! Plus... do you really want all that crap in your dishwasher, with items that come into contact with your food?!?

Far better to invest in a can of foaming cleaner. It does all the hard work for you, you just wipe it off. This is what we used in the games shop I worked in, and the owner had done so since the days of 8 bit micros.



Or you can use a household cleaner - for really dirty consoles and controllers, I use Milton fluid (sterilizer for babies).



*EDIT*

Incidentally, you don't want to wash the rubber contacts. They have a carbon conductive surface - destroy (clean) that and the buttons won't work!

I would never use a dishwasher.

What's wrong with an ultrasonic cleaner?

I don't own a ultrasonic cleaner, and I didn't have any of the above cleaners listed. I used what I had available to me to clean my controllers. I have also used this on one of my PSOne case, which at some point had soda spilled all over it (before I got it) and caused the open button to stick wide open all the time.

Like I said in my first post I wouldn't recommend this on the more obscure and rare controllers and parts, however these Playstation controllers are dirt cheap ( and dirty ) as well as the PSOne, if they had been destroyed, I wouldn't have written this guide, but it worked and it seems to work great, so I thought I'd share . . .

-Disjaukifa

[retro]

I don't own a ultrasonic cleaner, and I didn't have any of the above cleaners listed.

Really?

I would say that standard anti-bacterial kitchen cleaner would do a better job of sanitizing than a dishwasher!.....

Or you can use a household cleaner

You don't have a standard household anti-bacterial cleaner? Like this?



That, combined with you putting skanky controllers in the dishwasher... umm yeah, don't invite me over for dinner!

Incidentally, foaming anti-static cleaner is available from your local electronics store very cheaply. The anti-static properties should help repel dust - something you won't get from your dishwasher.

What I said about the rubber contacts still applies - they are electrically conductive and washing them will damage that coating, shortening the life of your controller. If you don't believe me, see here:

http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/8339.html

[Cyantist]

You don't have a standard household anti-bacterial cleaner? Like this?

We have a dishwasher downstairs that I obtained for free that was working that I use solely for cleaning plastics and electronics. My grandma is under strict orders not to use it at all without asking me.

I'd like to add on it doesn't need to be named brands. I use the cheapest shit my corner shop has (if its only a small item that needs cleaning) and it comes up perfect

Don't think we're shooting the messenger. If it works for you then it works for you. Some people wouldn't have anything electronic related (case or electronics) anyway near a dishwasher but it works for me and so I do it.

[Cooper]

Fantastic guide - beautifully clear and well annotated. But I still don't think I'd have the nerve or patience to try it myself!

[danntor]

I would never use a dishwasher.

What's wrong with an ultrasonic cleaner?

How well does that work? Been packing up my stuff and have noticed some very dirty controllers and hardware and this sounds like an easy way to clean them.

[APE]

I would never use a dishwasher.

What's wrong with an ultrasonic cleaner?

I don't know about you but I always throw my electronics into my sonic shower.</Star Trek nerd>

The best way to clean stuff is typically to pull it apart, grab a wash cloth and scrub whatever flat surfaces can be scrubbed free of dirt with just water. Then grab a toothbrush and scrub the smaller spaces making sure to get the dirt out of said spaces. This works for 99% of dirt but doesn't get some of the more stuck on items such as adhesive residue (don't even think about using solvents on it. Stuff eats plastic most of the time. i.e. toulene, xylene, et al).

Your best bet is to live inside a clean room good enough to make CPUs in.

[Joe Musashi]

A guide? Seriously? I've been taking controllers apart and cleaning them with a wet cloth, cotton buds, (q-tips) and kitchen towel for over 10 years. I never realised this was to be considered a special mission. :)

[retro]

The best way to clean stuff is typically to pull it apart, grab a wash cloth and scrub whatever flat surfaces can be scrubbed free of dirt with just water.

Is that how you clean yourself? With JUST water?

The reason we don't clean ourselves with just water is the same reason it's not good enough to clean anything properly - it doesn't kill bacteria. That, and a detergent makes it much easier, of course!

[Tchoin]

Those ultrasonic cleaners look sweet! But they are kinda expensive, at $385 the cheapest I found.

[Disjaukifa]

We have a dishwasher downstairs that I obtained for free that was working that I use solely for cleaning plastics and electronics. My grandma is under strict orders not to use it at all without asking me.

I'd like to add on it doesn't need to be named brands. I use the cheapest shit my corner shop has (if its only a small item that needs cleaning) and it comes up perfect

Don't think we're shooting the messenger. If it works for you then it works for you. Some people wouldn't have anything electronic related (case or electronics) anyway near a dishwasher but it works for me and so I do it.

Agreed, I'll probably keep using the dishwasher and some Mr. Eraser to do all my common equipment (ie not rare). Its easy, fast and has worked very well so far for me, I've been extremely happy with all the results.

-Disjaukifa

[spssps15]

Mr clean wipes are really good at cleaning the controllers and it doesn't ruin them or anything and keeps them clean for a little while.....Sanitizing Equipments Manufacturer

[jinn]

I use soap, sponge and a toothbrush. After they are clean and dry I use ret0rbrite to have the Controller or Console look like NEW.

[omp]

I use car wash. Fill the laundry sink with hot water along with the car wash and leave soak over night. Next day scrub away. I use methylated spirits for the contacts. The other day I used Jiff as a trial on some green Dreamcast controllers, did the trick.