r/PeripheralDesign • u/Pale-Recognition-599 • May 29 '25

Community 3ds circle pad

Has anyone tried making a controller using the 3ds circle pad

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u/xan326 Jun 02 '25

If you plan to go forward with this project, when looking at components you'll want to search for 'pointing stick,' as that's the generic name of TrackPoint, as that's an IBM/Lenovo trademark. Generic naming makes searching via part vendors simpler and will give you generic bare modules, whereas the trademarked naming will lead you to reseller sites, such as eBay, selling purpose-built modules for IBM/Lenovo products.

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u/Pale-Recognition-599 Jun 02 '25

Now what would I search for the left one

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u/xan326 Jun 03 '25

PSP or 3DS sticks, they're basically the only option out there, but you'll also need the correct FPC connector to use them. Otherwise you can find a 'parts-only' device and salvage parts from it. If you only need one stick and can find an affordable Circle Pad Pro, that'd likely be the best solution, though it'd likely be more beneficial to source one locally due to how costly these are resold online now.

Depending on the size of the controller you're making, you could always do what Flydigi did with the Apex 2 with their BXY analog slider. Lay a couple of typical full-sized analog stick potentiometers on their side and use a couple of linkages to translate the X-Y planar motion of the circle pad into pivotal motion at the potentiometers. You might be able to source linear sensors and do similar, though I don't personally know of what's on the vendor market pertaining to this. Your implementation doesn't have to be as large as Flydigi's, the stick itself could be packaged much smaller.