Hardware Metal buttons

[WargleBargleston]

I recently got a metal circle pad on Shapeways and now I'm considering doing a full mod of my N3DS to replace all the buttons with metal versions.

Does anyone know if there would be any issues in doing this? My primary concern is if the conductivity of the metal would affect any internal components. I checked a few guides on iFixIt and it looks like most of the buttons (except the shoulder buttons) have a rubber gasket acting as a buffer so it seems like this wouldn't be a problem, but I've never done a mod like this before.

 

[ThoD]

It wouldn't short circuit anything, so no problems there. HOWEVER, depending on the type of metal, you may be completely unable to put the system in sleep mode, as it works with magnets and if the type of metal the buttons are made of has any sort of conductive properties, it will interfere and result anywhere from being unable to put the 3DS in sleep mode or it being in sleep mode all the time without being able to undo it. Besides that, I can't think of anything else. ONLY system in the 3DS family that's immune to this completely is the O2DS (because it doesn't use magnets for sleep mode).

But I gotta ask, why even bother? It's not anywhere near worth it, metalic buttons will most likely be heavier (not by noticable much but enough to ruin the padding even faster than normal buttons or even the motherboard), on top of them having slower input timings (again, not by much but there is a delay there).

 

[WargleBargleston]

Good to know about the sleep mode! I had no idea it functioned that way. Are the magnets detecting contact between the two halves? I would've thought it was just a switch inside the hinge. The material I was looking at on Shapeways is stainless steel with gold plating, so depending on the proximity of the sleep mode sensors that could be a problem.

I don't really have a compelling reason for wanting to replace the buttons besides "this seems cool" and "I wonder if I can model these accurately".