Modifying a Smartphone Controller: Upgrading from Small Switch-style Sticks to Large PS4-style Sticks

I added a grip to my favorite smartphone controller and it feels great, but at this point, the small size of the thumbsticks is starting to bother me a bit. Also, the left stick was becoming a bit unresponsive, so I decided to disassemble, clean, regrease, and replace it all at once.

The original controller uses Nintendo Switch-sized sticks. I want to upgrade these to PlayStation size. First, I took it apart and, for a start, tried putting a thumbstick from a PS3 controller I had lying around. Since the shaft is compatible, it fits perfectly. It feels great when moving it around too.

Here's how it looks from the side. There are no problems at all in this state, but...

Because they've gotten bigger, the cover won't go back on.

So, I decided to enlarge the holes in the cover part.

Furthermore, on the left side, the board with the LED indicator was interfering with the rim of the stick, preventing it from moving 100% to the right. So, for now, I tried snipping away at it with nippers.

Yeah, it ended up looking a bit like a dog that just got out of the bath and looks all shrunken and goofy, but it moves comfortably now.

It looks like I'll be able to manage somehow with this setup.
Actually, the PS3 sticks felt a bit slippery due to age or something, so I ordered PS4 sticks, which were selling for around 300 yen on Amazon.

The PlayStation 4 controller sticks have arrived. Except for this shape, they are identical to the PS3 ones.

I decided to keep the lower umbrella-like part because leaving it out would let dust in and look bad. That said, it still interfered with things, so I shaved down various spots. I trimmed the LED indicator section and glued it in place with a bit of adhesive.

Also, no matter how much I trimmed the cover, it still hit, and since lowering the height of the sticks seemed like it would prevent the collisions, I carved out the stick holes to make them deeper. I had already experimented with this a bit during the previous PS3 stick phase.

Alright, this made it super comfortable. However, a major disaster happens right after this. To be continued in the next USB Type-C connector repair edition!

My thoughts? It's amazing. After all, the Switch is geared towards kids (which is a great thing), so it's a bit too small for adult hands. The buttons on this controller are quite small, too. Us older folks are much more comfortable with the PlayStation series layout, which has remained largely unchanged since the PS1 that we grew up with. Ultimately, my end goal is to just hack together a custom controller built on a PS4 controller base.