Glue + Fixing my Sony Dualshock2's L3

I wonder sometimes if it takes longer to fix something while taking pictures of it for a blog. My left L3 button's rubber sheath came loose while playing ICO. Of all games, really. Essentially, what was happening is that the L3 button's sheath was rotating on itself when you went from one direction clockwise or counterclockwise to the other. Really annoying.

I was trying to climb a tree at Kingdom Hearts to get Pooh Bear some honey. As you probably know, getting honey for Pooh bear is definitely a highlight of owning a PS2. Lemme just say that the controls and camera in Kingdom Hearts are brutally annoying, which is why I'm letting IZA play the game instead of me. I'm playing Halo right now, remember?

First things first, though, is a translation job on the part of LePage glue that should not go without mention. As a Canadian designer, you often have to deal with the pains of including a french version of the instructions when it comes to text layouts. I was pretty impressed with how this was handled:

Click to enlarge/understand

This product, like most epoxy glues, is sold in sets of two tubes whose contents, when mixed together, create the chemistry for powerful binding. Having instructions in a different language on each tube, is just a stroke of genius IMHO.


Above is a picture of the problem at hand. You can see through the blur of this image that the sheath is no longer clinging to the base. First thing that you do, is to pop it off. It's pretty damn resistant and wont tear.


Ok stop. Before you venture into any kind of gluing activity: PRACTICE PUTTING IT BACK ONTO THE CONTROLLER. Trying to be precise will get you nowhere. Simply get part of the circle in, and simply smear the rest into place. Note that heating up the rubber with your hands will really help. Once you've mastered the ancient technique of thousands of factory workers, you're ready to apply the glue.



Get a surface to mix your epoxy. Old stuff from your garbage can is always best. Put a little bit of glue inside the sheath, and swiftly apply the ancient technique.

This occurred after 4 years of usage.