D-Pad mod part 2 - internal pictures....

coolhand · 06-02-03, 11:20 AM

ok, here are some pics of the actual mod. basicially the top piece of the nav button on the pcb just pulls off, so all i had to do were a few steps.

remove top of nav button

krazy glue rubber o-ring to top of nav button

press top of nav button back on

remove orginal bumps from bottom of the D-Pad to give it a flat surface to glue to.

put krazy glue on top of o-ring, and bottom of D-Pad, place the motherboard assembly into the top part of clamshell, and hold the D-Pad for a few seconds to let it stick to the rubber o-ring on the nav button.

at this point the action was good, but the o-ring added a bit to much height, so i took the thing apart 3-4 times, shaving a bit of material off the two parts each time to get the dpad a mm or so lower to keep it from binding up in either direction (mostly left).

reassemble for the final time.

accidently delete pics of process....take axim apart again to take new ones lol...

thats it.

deftech · 06-02-03, 01:53 PM

Wow, great pics. I'm debating over doing this myself, but I think I might wait a bit until I start working again. It would kinda suck to tear up the Ax and not have any money for a new one! :)

--deftech

deftech · 06-02-03, 01:59 PM

BTW, How much improvement did it TRULY make? I saw the video, but is it worth the mod if you don't already have the case open for something else?

--deftech

06-02-03, 02:05 PM

great pics!

coolhand · 06-02-03, 03:26 PM

you would have to use it to know how much more of an improvement it is...but its easily as good as any other pda nav button i have used....its still a big clumsy dpad, but now its at least solidly connected to the unit and has a real nice tactile feel when you click it in either direction.....i use the dpad alot for controlling mp3's etc, so im quite happy with it, and if i got another one tomorrow, ide crack it open and do the same thing - only even better as i have all the initial experimenting out of the way.

deftech · 06-02-03, 04:31 PM

You should write Dell and tell them your findings when solidly connecting the D-Pad. Maybe they honestly haven't toyed with it since this was their first go-around at a PDA??

--deftech

MrRock · 10-10-03, 04:45 PM

After reading this set of posts over and over again for the past few months and completely losing any hope of help from Dell, I set out to do my own d-pad modification. I didn't like the idea of cutting or glueing so what I came up with was ridiculously simple. Keep in mind that even this will void your waranty if you have one so be careful.

I used a piece of 3M double-back mounting tape cut to the size of the underside of the silver d-pad. I cut it slightly oversized for a snug fit against the 4 Up-Down-Left-Right posts. Once I had it on there I made sure the springs were all lined up dead center then pressed the unit together so that the black d-button stuck dead center of the tape on the underside of the d-pad.

As the original author of this thread indicated would happen, the button does stick out some. The could be reduced by using thinner tape or cutting the post down some (as the original author did). The button doesn't stick out much and I actually like it better in the position that it is in now, I feel like I have more access to it.

The result is incredible. The d-pad is as responsive if not more responsive than any other PDA I've used! I don't have to worry about pressing too hard because there is no glue to break, if by some freakish act of nature the tape became unstuck, it would simply re-stick the next time I pressed the pad. Best of all, it is completely reversible although I can't imagine why anyone would want to go back to the crappy standard d-pad.

taphil · 10-11-03, 02:56 AM

I had the d-pad problems with the two Axims I had (before I switched to the E755). But on the Axim, I took it apart and tried bending the metal things behind the d-pad and playing around with the foam problem to fix the d-pad but to no avail.

Then by chance I figured I'd try adding about 0.5mm thickness of paper in the sqaure of the black d-pad button (shown in the first and last pic above). Just cut up paper 0.5mmx0.5mm and put a few in the hole. Then the d-pad worked like a d-pad is supposed to after that. No glue, cutting, or anything drastic.

pkenyon · 10-11-03, 04:31 AM

CoolHand,

A stupid Question: What size o-ring (size).

Paul

AceTKK · 10-14-03, 06:36 PM

Fantastic mod! I'm going to take a shot at it myself tonight. What would you say is the optimum thickness for the o-ring in order to avoid having to shave down the post?

thx,

-Ace-

RedruM7 · 10-14-03, 10:27 PM

I have to say, these are the kinds of posts I love reading and seeing, good stuff people, although I feel obligated to warn the less expeirenced, that this does infact clear all your memory. I just noticed this when I pulled the two case sides apart (after stuggling to realize there were an additional two skrews under the battery) that the backup is connected to the back outercase and when separated thus all power is gone. A minor setback I guess, since I wanted to reinstall WM2003 anywho, but I went with the 3m dbl sided sticky tape, and man, what a difference, I acctually cant remember exactly how the Dpad felt before (which was all but 10 min ago) but I know it never felt this good.