Nerd Fashion - Nerdy Themed Beer Logos

I don't tend to blog about it much on here, but those who follow me on Twitter or Instagram know that I have a huge passion for craft beer. What better way to show that passion on here than by mixing it with my passion for nerdy things? Here are some of my favorite nerd and gamer themed "beer' logo shirts from Redbubble. I own both the Triforce and Starman ones already and will probably add some of the others to my collection now!

Triforce Pilsner Potion

by Steven Thibaudeau
Available on Redbubble

Moon Prism Pale Ale

by limegreenpalace
Available on Redbubble

Gingerbread USS Enterprise

How cool is this? Blackmarket Bakery in Costa Mesa, CA turned the USS Enterprise into an awesome gingerbread "house"!

Check out the whole album of images here!

Aluminum Cans made into video game icons and more!

These adorable sculptures from artist Makaon are made from old aluminum cans! Check out the artist's site and blog for more awesome sculptures.

Makaon - Website - Blog

"Little Video Game Books" by Joebot

Check out these adorable prints from the third volume of "Little Video Game Books" – a tribute to Nintendo, from Joebot!

Check out the rest of the prints, and read more about his inspiration, here.

To purchase a print check out Joebot's Etsy!

My Custom PS3 Controller

Read how to customize yours below!

After doing my custom 360 controller, I've really been itching to do something else. Since I don't see a huge market of custom Wii controller parts, I decided I should probably just do a PS3.

I started out with just a white PS3 Dualshock 3.

I ordered my parts from this eBay seller, who I also ordered my pink 360 parts from, since I was so happy with their quality and even though he's in the UK he ships awful fast. And...also because Extremerate.com didn't have the start/back buttons in their button sets, and I really wanted to do pink for those. Apparently though there are pink and orange (and probably other color) parts on Amazon that have the triangle, square, etc on the buttons. Doh! Might have to order those and replace since I definitely don't remember which button is which on the Dualshock.

I got the parts earlier this week and kind of sat on it for a while, but while the sun was shining and the boyfriend was cooking a turkey, I finally decided to start on my little project today.

The first step is to remove all the case screws on the underside with a #0 Phillips screwdriver. There are 5 screws in total to remove the case, all very obvious to find, no hidden ones like on the 360 controller.

Once again, the case requires some maneuvering to get off, especially around the 2 triggers. BE CAREFUL. These CAN pop off, but it's not like you weren't going to replace them with a better color anyway, right?

The back of the case has absolutely no parts in it, so you can just set it aside once removing it. All of the parts of this controller sit in the front. First thing you can do is remove that pesky battery. It's kind of clipped onto the motherboard on the left and right, just lift it up and it should come off. Disconnect it from the plug on the left of the motherboard as well.

The motherboard is connected to the front of the case by another screw, which I highlighted above in red. Same type of screw as the ones that held the case together. I knew about this screw, but what I DIDN'T know about was that the vibration motors are held in by clips, which I highlighted above in purple. Below is a picture of what I was looking at before removing those clips. I was so confused.

But how do I get to the buttons?! 

You've also got to pull back the piece of plastic where the trigger buttons sit from the front of the case, but that was pretty easy to figure out. The whole plastic piece should now come out along with the motherboard, allowing you sweet, sweet access to those front buttons, which just come right out. I recommend holding the front of the controller face down so that they don't just fall out all over the floor.

Remember when I said those trigger buttons come off easily? That's why one set is missing in these pics. 

Also, see the green in the above picture? That's part of the guts of this controller, all these super thin circuits inside a very thin piece of plastic that feels like you could easily tear it. Be careful with that, I was scared I was going to crack it.

The analog sticks are the same as they were on the 360. They just pull right off and there's a little knob that sticks out that they just pop right on to.

Putting the new analog sticks on.

Trigger buttons.

I hate trigger buttons.

They're probably my least favorite thing to replace. The 360 controllers actually used springs, but these use a little piece of wire to give them their...springyness... Don't lose it, they're sneaky little things.

So, below you'll see how the trigger I removed from the controller has that middle plastic bar with the metal bit and the two I got don't. Don't panic! The middle part pops right out (again, watch out for that sneaky metal piece). Also, as easy as the triggers remove from the case, they pop back in just as easy. Also: the metal piece also needs to be on the side that will be closest to the outside of the controller (left trigger? left side. right trigger? right side.)  Once in the controller pat of the metal will be inside the trigger and the other part will be pressing against the plastic inside the controller. You can see how the metal bit should look in the second picture below, and see how the 2 trigger pops into the controller in the third picture.

Once you've got all that done, screw the motherboard back on, clip the vibration motors back in place, plug the battery back in and (without screwing it back) put the back of the controller back on. Give it a good few button and trigger presses to make sure everything feels right. I don't really play PS3 that much so I took Rich's controller and went back and forth between them to make sure everything felt the same before screwing the case back on.

Final step: Enjoy your awesome, custom controller!

Also, for comparison, here are my 360 and PS3s side by side. Twinsies!

Making geek dreams come true

I have recently fallen deeply, madly in love...

...with Shapeways.com

Shapeways is a 3D printing marketplace and community where one can upload a 3D model (in a STL, Collada or X3D file) and have it printed out in a variety of different materials. There are other sites like this, but Shapeways seems to be the only one offering sterling silver as a possible material option.

I had known about the site for a while, but I didn't make the connection until last night that this idea for a ring that I've had bouncing around in my head for months could be made a reality with this site!

Unfortunately, I don't know jack shit about 3D modeling. So, I'm currently looking at tutorials for Blender and SketchUp to see if maybe I can figure it out, seems pretty unlikely though. But I did manage to make a ring-like shape...kinda...

But, in between my tutorial videos and watching television, I'm browsing all the amazing items already available by talented artists on Shapeways. Mostly I've been looking at jewelry, but there are so many other items available!

Here are some of the many many items I've fallen in love with.

The Legend of Zelda - Winged Triforce Ring 
Created by ugoh

LEGO Ocarina of Time Swords 
Created by MINGLES

Deathly Hallows Dice Set Created by avandius

Assassin's Creed Ring V4 

Created by edrice

Mass Effect Omni Tool Ring 

Created by Ammnra

Stormtrooper Ring 

Created by henriquelana

Triforce Ring (pictured in silver glossy) 

Created by nakamura_shop

So many awesome things on this site! You can even have your character and creations from Minecraft printed!

Now, back to my lesson in 3D modeling... how the hell do I make a triangle in this program?

My Custom 360 Controller(s)

(also check out my custom PS3 controller!) 

After my previous trial run of making a custom controller with an older one, I decided to try my skills with a brand spanking new one!

It's actually amazing how much the official controllers have changed over the years. This one had light gray sticks and D-pad, and a glossy white bottom. My old controllers (white and pink) both had dark gray sticks, D-pad and bottoms and the home button in the middle had a brushed metal look to it, while the new ones have a chromed look.

So the first step was to, obviously, unbox my new controller and then remove all the case screws on the underside with my size 8 Torx screwdriver. There are 7 screws in total, 6 of which are easily visible, the 7th I've highlighted in the bottom picture to give a better idea of where it is. It's usually hidden by a bar code sticker.

So once all that is off I open up the case, which can require a bit of maneuvering of the trigger buttons. It's also important to open it with the button-side facing down, otherwise the buttons will just fall right out if they're not being held in by the case/controller innards.

Here's a decent picture of the insides of my new controller. On the left is the bottom of the controller with the circuit board sitting in it. The circuit board is not attached to either part of the case, so you can also take the board completely out. On the right is the front of the controller case with the rubbery backings for all the buttons and the D-pad. Again, that rubbery backing will NOT hold the buttons in by itself, if you turned that over all the buttons would just fall out.

So I decided this time around to do a pink and orange controller, since my trial run had given me the orange controller I had originally planned for, and since I had extra orange parts due to my accidental double order. I bought my orange parts from extremerate.com (and one set from Amazon) and I bought my pink parts from this seller on eBay.

I made the ABXY buttons a mix of pink and orange, and the start/back buttons pink. The analog sticks easily pop right off and I replaced those with orange ones. I also got a whole set of mini Phillips head screwdrivers so this time I would for sure have the right size and could replace the D-pad.

I didn't get a picture, but under the rubber part for the D-pad is a movement mechanism which has the front of the D-pad connected by two clips and two tiny Phillips head screws. Just undo those two screws and push the clips in and the front piece will come right off. Below is a picture of what the front piece of looks like, in both orange and light gray. For some reason my orange D-pads didn't have the two clips, but the pink one did. I haven't had any issues so far with the clipless orange ones so I guess as long as they're held in by the screws it doesn't matter much.

So to contrast my orange analog sticks I decided to go with a pink D-pad on this controller. While I was at it, I also popped open my trial run orange controller to finally give it a proper, orange D-pad!

I chose to go with pink for the bottom piece of the controller, which just easily pops right in, and then orange bumpers for more color contrast.

On the left is the front of the controller with the circuit board sitting in it, and all my colorful new triggers/bottom piece. On the right is the back piece of the controller case being sad and lonely all by itself.

Since the bumpers were orange, of course the triggers would have to be pink! Now these are my least favorite piece to replace, since there's a lot of bending of plastic which I'm always scared I'm going to break. There's also a spring that goes in the trigger that I nearly lost last night when it sprung right out of my hand and across the room. I'm not even going to try and describe how to remove these, this guide does a much better job of explaining it than I could.

Done at last! But wait! I figured I might as well use some of my leftover parts and tweak my light pink controller since all it's parts were an ugly dark gray. I replaced it's D-pad with the light gray one originally from this controller, replaced the bottom with the glossy white also from this controller and gave it two hot pink analog sticks. I wanted to give it hot pink bumpers, but I guess the plastic wasn't shaped or cut right, because I could not get the hot pink bumpers to work, so I just had to leave them light pink instead. So just beware that you can get funky parts!

All three finished controllers!

I loved this project so much, and it was relatively cheap (probably around $40 for all the parts and the needed screwdrivers). I'll definitely be looking to customize more of my gadgets in the future. Any suggestions, because I would love some! I like taking apart things, I just always hope I'll be able to put them back together (but that's half the fun of it!)

Also, for comparison, here are my 360 and PS3s side by side. Twinsies!

Custom Orange 360 Controller - Trial Run

(also check out my custom PS3 controller and my pink/orange 360 controller!) 

After seeing this awesome pinkified 360 controller I really wanted to do my own in orange. Started researching paints and sandpapers when someone told me that tons of sites sell already colored custom parts.

Sweet.

So I went about ordering some orange parts (and accidentally ordered two sets of them) and a new white controller.

Tried to order a set of parts from Extremerate, but the payment page was really weird and I got an error message and no confirmation email, so I went to Amazon and found the same set (for more money, but with the torx 8 screwdriver) and ordered it. Go figure that two days later I get a shipping confirmation from Extremerate.

So my Amazon parts got here yesterday and today the set of gradient ABXY buttons I bought from Modjunkiez arrived, so I figured why not do a trial run on this older, slightly wonky controller I have? I'll be good practice to learn how everything goes together and if I break anything then oh well!

Why did I order extra buttons? Cause LOOK at those buttons on the Modjunkiez site, they look SO pretty compared to the ones posted on the Amazon parts I bought. Imagine my disappointment when I opened up the package and saw these ugly things.

Oddly enough, the Amazon order's ABXY buttons weren't nearly this ugly! They were all kind of the same color though. I mixed the ABXY buttons and managed to make a color combination that isn't hideous, but isn't that great either.

The wonky controller before:

New parts with my chosen ABXY colors:

There are 7 screws to open the case, which need the Torx size 8 screwdriver. The first 6 are pretty obvious, but the 7th is in the battery area underneath a barcode sticker. You can kind of see in the below picture the hole in the sticker where the screw was.

A comparison of all the ABXY buttons (actual controller buttons, Amazon order buttons, Modjunkiez buttons). I'd warn anyone that you really don't know what you're getting when ordering these online. See the button on the bottom right? It barely fit past the casing because it was made at such a strange angle.

I regret not taking more pictures of inside the controller, I figured I'll have another chance when I do the second controller. The analog sticks pop right in, as do the bumpers and the bottom piece. The buttons you just kind of place in to the front of the controller until you put it all back together. The triggers are a little more difficult, and I found this excellent guide that helped me with that.

The D-pad is actually secured by two, tiny phillips head screws, so I had to wait for this set of mini screwdrivers to come in before I could replace the stock gray D-pad with the orange.

The finished product:

I love it, and have given it the name Orange Soda. I didn't like the orange Xbox Home button at the top, so I left it at the normal 360 logo button instead. The ABXY buttons turned out a lot better than I expected them to as well.

Till next time,

Ky