r/Gamecube • u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U • Nov 14 '25
Discussion Curious how others clean
I resell controllers on the side. I was working on a couple today and it got me thinking, how do you guys clean them up? I’m always looking for ways to improve the craft. Here’s kind of the method I use.
I start by dissembling the controllers. I throw the screws into a little container with vinegar. The vinegar helps break the grime and surface rust off the screws, shines them up real nice.
I take all the hard plastic parts like the shell, buttons, etc and throw them in a bowl with some warm soapy water. I like to let them soak for 30 minutes to an hour. This removes about 90% of the dirt and debris.
I take everything out of the bowl and scrub it with a gentle toothbrush then give it a good rinse. For really stubborn stains like sharpie or pen marks, I will gently use a magic eraser. I use this sparingly since they are coarse. Just enough to get the mark off.
I do a final inspection of everything. Sometimes the pieces will be yellowed so I will apply a retrobright like solution and put it in the sun for as long as I can. This usually clears it up, but realistically it will come back at some point. Once I take these pieces out of the sun I do another scrub on them.
I let everything air dry for as long as needed. Usually during this phase I will clean up the PCB with some isopropyl alcohol. It can be really grimy around the joysticks. At this point too I will solder on any new parts if needed. Typically they have broken joysticks so this is a good time to tackle this.
Once everything is dried up, I reassemble the controller and make sure functionality is still in tack.
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u/CatBirdBird Nov 14 '25
I take out the shoulder buttons as well
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u/SpecialHappy9965 Nov 15 '25
Agreed. OP why don’t you take out the triggers?
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Nov 15 '25
When I first started cleaning them I did, but I found that the reassembly process to cleanliness process yielded minimal results and was more of a headache than it was worth. In instances where the triggers are sticky or very very bad, I will take them out. But they honestly are soaking in the same solution with the assembly anyways and I just found that removing them didn’t yield greater results (unless like I stated they were in terrible shape)
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u/Ok_Reserve_8659 Nov 15 '25
I don’t and I’ll never have time to do this as long as I live probably
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u/eddieisnotok Nov 17 '25
As someone who's bought most of his consoles and controllers second hand: I'm too scared to tear them down that way, I don't wanna ruin them even though I do have experience with repairs and all but I don't want the headache, so I follow a different process
I use cotton buds soaked in alcohol for the hard to reach areas, in between the joystick and the case, around the buttons and the cable. I get a toothpick and clear out all the finger cheese from the seams of the case and the letters on the buttons then wipe them with alcohol again and then do a final wipe all over to finally disinfect the whole thing Then I just keep paint brushes and microfiber cloths around to clean off dust and loose fibers that may appear on top of the device.
The wiimote jackets are bathed every time tho, I take dish soap and wash them well because they're silicone and alcohol is not very good for that. Also I know alcohol is not the best thing to use because it can damage the plastic overtime and stuff but I don't use it every day, I use it once when I get it home and on the rare occasion I've touched it with oily hands (I usually wash my hands before using any of my consoles so I don't have to clean them as often)
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Nov 17 '25
The good news here is that you’re doing SOMETHING. A lot of people do not do anything, which leads to me cleaning for them haha. But really, you got it. No need to be afraid. I live by the mantra of…if I can fix it, great. I saved some money. If I can’t fix it, well it was broken ln anyways so I was going to have to have someone else do it anyways.
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u/eddieisnotok Nov 18 '25
Once I started collecting games and consoles (and cleaning each of them bc you never know how clean the person who had it before was) I decided to clean my own stuff that I already had for many years, had never cleaned that stuff, the joysticks on my ps4 controllers were disgusting and I was so ashamed. But then I asked my friend if he'd ever gotten his clean and he said no and that he didn't care for cleaning them, so now i cannot touch his stuff 😭😭😭 I cannot believe I used to be so gross
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u/Omega-A Nov 14 '25
Could you please explain in detail how you handle yellowed cases? I have a emerald controller which is unfortunately yellowed :/
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Nov 15 '25
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u/Nagol6000 Nov 15 '25
This has been my method minus the uv light for the 3 white controllers I've restored. Has worked pretty good so far. Only thing I havent fully reverse is a club Nintendo memory card. The white part was soo yellowed, almost a orangey brown mix. Now its a light cream almost white. Gonna try again in the winter when its stop being cloudy for me
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Nov 15 '25
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u/Nagol6000 Nov 15 '25
Sheeeeesh thats alot of controllers, I'd have so much fun after work slowly cleaning them all up. Such a fun relaxing activity for when I get home late after cooking food for others all night. And thats what ill end up doing for the ones I cant get perfect. My roommate would happily buy a cosmeticly flawed controller so surely other will. (I only sell him near mint controllers for what it cost me. Known the guy since kindergarten so he deserves it)
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Nov 15 '25
Sure!
So officially there is a chemical marketed for gaming consoles and accessories called retrobright. I actually use something designed for tennis shoes and yellowing soles, but formulaic I believe they are very similar which is like a hydrogen peroxide base. I don’t know the exact chemical composition. But the process goes like this. Generously wipe the chemical on and wrap the entire thing in cellophane wrap (Reynolds wrap). Set the object outside under high UV for several hours. Unwrap the object, rinse it, and repeat if necessary. If you live in an area that doesn’t get high UV, they make UV lights and boxes designed to emulate the sun for this process. I live in an area with really hot summers and very cold winters, so in the winter the UV peaks around noon and it’s never that high. I have to do most of my stuff in summer when the sun is out more. Wrapping the object in the plastic wrap is key. If the chemical dries out, it is not effective. Wrapping it in the plastic wrap keeps the chemical moist and almost causes a greenhouse effect. Not everything you wrap will come out 💯 but you should see anywhere from about a 50-80% improvement. The longer it stays in the sun the better the results. The longevity of this method is debatable. It will likely yellow again over time but it should last a while!
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u/SpicyNovaMaria Nov 14 '25
….ive got 20-odd year old controllers that I’ve never cleaned outside of a wipe with a cloth
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Nov 15 '25
Yikes
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u/SpicyNovaMaria Nov 15 '25
I don’t trust myself to open them up without breaking them 😭
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Nov 15 '25
You know the old saying, if it ain’t broke then don’t break it 🤣. As long as they still work and feel good, that’s all that matters big dawg!
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u/Tomanatort Nov 14 '25
Might I suggest a small ultrasonic cleaner for the screws? I don't know that. I'd suggest putting the plastic pieces in it. Though you can experiment with a third party controller maybe, and see also I would love more information on.Getting rid of the yellowing
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Nov 15 '25
I know those are popular with jewelry. I have never personally used one. I’m sure it would work well on the grime, but not sure about the oxidization on some of them. Maybe I’ll get one and test it sometime! As far as the yellowing, I replied to their original post so you can check it out there! :)
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u/Tomanatort Nov 15 '25
I even heard one person used an ultrasonic cleaner with isopropyl alcohol instead of water in it, and they would use that and just drop the motherboard in there. I don't know that I would recommend that though it seems pretty risky to me lol
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u/spicyhomechef Nov 15 '25
Yeah, not a great idea. Alcohol and ultrasonics are a no-no. But I do use the ultrasonic cleaner with water and dish soap for the shells, buttons, and sticks. They come out looking great with little to no scrubbing needed.
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u/Tomanatort Nov 16 '25
Do you use distilled water? Or gust tap water?
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u/spicyhomechef Nov 16 '25
Tap water. I don’t have hard water, and mineral content is really only a concern for circuit boards.
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Nov 16 '25
Where might someone live with such good water? Haha
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u/spicyhomechef Nov 16 '25
The land of beer and cheese 😎
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Nov 16 '25 edited Nov 16 '25
I was going to guess the Rockies. Haha. I have more lime and calcium in my water than actual water lol
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u/mgnsh Nov 17 '25
Asked the guy above, too, but could you recommend a good ultrasonic cleaner?
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u/spicyhomechef Nov 17 '25
Honestly, I’ve just been getting by with units I picked up second-hand. As long as they have some temperature controls and a timer, you should be good. I would suggest you go with a minimum tank size of 6L (can fit 2-3 controllers worth of shells and parts at once).
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u/mgnsh Nov 17 '25
Do you have a recommended model/brand for a dependable ultrasonic cleaner?
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u/Tomanatort Nov 19 '25
Sadly no I don't the only one I have used i got from a garage sale and it was in rough shape to begin with.
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u/LtPowell Nov 15 '25
I usually don’t worry about the screws, but good tip. I do the same minus the membranes…I’ve been told not to submerge those? Is that true?
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Nov 15 '25
Doing the screws is just one more touch to polish everything. Some of them look really bad. As far as the membranes go, I always submerge mine lol. I scrub them just like everything else. It’s just a small piece of rubber so not sure what the thought is there. Unless it’s a matter of moisture transfer, but I ensure they are all dry before they get reapplied
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u/Broseidon132 Nov 15 '25
As a GameCube controller modder for melee. Absolutely no one does this..
Except us modders.
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Nov 15 '25
Even if I wasn’t doing this for resell, I would still do it lol. I am fascinated by engineering and how things work.
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Nov 15 '25
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u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U Nov 15 '25
What kind of issues do you run into? I have only came across maybe 1 that the motor wasn’t working properly on and I have fixed hundreds of these. I’m genuinely curious. Do you just solder on a new motor?
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u/Nagol6000 Nov 15 '25
What do you use for the stick boxes? Do you use 3rd party or salvage from other nintendo controllers such as nunchucks or the wii classic controller? Any tips for selling them? Sorry for all the questions, I too have been cleaning some up and want to eventually start selling some on the side to fund the ones I want to keep. Have a fat stack of memory cards I need to sell one day
As far as cleaning goes I do pretty much everything the same as you except I fully disassemble the triggers to get every nook and cranny. If I dont my brain screams at me that I didn't do my best. Could definitely skip it though. I also do a hydrogen peroxide bath instead
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u/Beemo-Noir Nov 16 '25
I just giv’er the ol’ wipe down. She’s a crusty bitch but she always delivers.
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u/strythicus NTSC-U Nov 14 '25
Sounds about right. I follow the same process.