A recent attempt to fix our drifting left Joy-Con brings back high school memories, when my woodwork was so dreadful that the teacher stared in disbelief at my misshapen project.
At home, Dad tried to fix the lopsided roof, the misaligned walls, the crooked nails holding them together. It still looked like an earthquake casualty.
Later that school year, my LED lights project, which involved soldering on a tiny circuit board, didn't fare better. The lights didn't work.
So if our Joy-Con had a voice, it would have pleaded, "Oh please don't send me to Piko's Hospital! I'm not in such bad shape—really! Sorry for walking you off the edge of the tower in Breath of the Wild oh I won't do it again don't touch me heeelllllllp!"
I wouldn't have subjected our Joy-Con to my clumsy DIY skills if I could've sent it to Nintendo for a free repair, like you can in some countries. In Japan, though, repairing one Joy-Con costs 2,160 yen. (Meanwhile, repairing a Switch Lite costs 4,860 yen, one-fifth of the console price!)
 |
| Joy-Con repair kit from Amazon. Comes with two new control sticks (not shown here). |
The truth is, though, I didn't buy the kit to just save money but also because I wanted the fun of taking the Joy-Con apart and peering at its lovely electronic innards.
Warning: Proceed with caution
But maybe you shouldn't do this for fun, unless you want to risk ruining one of your Joy-Con parts. Because I almost did.
 |
| I recommend following this video by Spawn Wave. |
If you're adamant, then watch this step-by-step video by Spawn Wave on how to replace a drifting Joy-Con stick. He says you can do it in 30 minutes, but he's experienced at repairs. So give yourself an hour or two, just in case. Pay attention to everything he says, especially warnings about:
1) Accidentally stripping screws (don't apply too much pressure)
2) R-button spring bouncing off (keep pets out of the room!)
3) Not losing tiny screws (stick them on duct tape)
I would add:
4) Try to be gentle with ribbon cables.
Introducing: The Screws from Hell
After weeks of the repair kit sitting in a drawer, I finally had time to sit down with the Joy-Con, having spread my tools on the baby's diaper table. I had anticipated this moment greatly: the chance to prove my DIY skills weren't total crap, triumphing over Joy-Con drift all by my clever self.
 |
| The first step: unscrew the outer casing. |
I stumbled at the first very step: removing the four screws on the outer casing. For the life of me, I could not unscrew the first.
I wailed at my husband, who was entertaining baby and our friend L in the next room. "I can't get this thing off!"
"Shall I help?"
"No! I'll do it myself."
This conversation repeated several times until I gave up. Husband secured the baby in her chair and removed the first screw for me. "You just have to apply a little pressure."
I struggled to remove the second screw as well. Hearing my groans, he offered to help again.
"NO, I'll do it. What's the fun otherwise, mumble grumble . . ."
I ended up stripping the screw—the Y-driver could no longer grip the screw head.
Husband came over, put Little Miss S in her chair, and had a go. After a few failed attempts, he used a bigger Y-driver. The screw came loose.
 |
| Battery atop the inner casing. |
Disassembling the rest came easy. The battery and inner casing came off with a satisfying click, revealing the motherboard. With care, I removed three ribbon cables and the control stick.
Now, I did not replace the control stick.
Just before my repair session, I had offered our friend L the use of my repair kit to fix his badly drifting Joy-Con. Feeling sorry for him, I ended up giving him both new control sticks, because he had accidentally ruined the first stick by scratching its ribbon cable with tweezers.
I decided to simply spray my old stick with compressed air. (I did not have electric contact cleaner, which is another fix for drift.)
 |
| Pull up the rubber skirt under the stick. Spray compressed air or electric contact cleaner to remove dust particles that may be causing drift. |
What's the point of taking the Joy-Con apart just to spray compressed air? you may ask.
Well, besides the satisfaction of knowing I could assemble and re-assemble it, I found that spraying compressed air was much easier while holding the control stick on its own, freed from the Joy-Con. Under the control stick's head is a rubber skirt, and this was now easier to pull up. I sprayed a few shots of air under the skirting.
So far so good.
Reassembly
My difficulties began again as I re-assembled.
The inner casing, which covers the motherboard, is held by teeny-tiny screws. They kept slipping out as I tried to screw them in. This went on for 5 minutes. It was as infuriating as trying to change the baby's diaper-pants when you've got one leg in and the other leg slips out again.
 |
| Inner casing's teeny-tiny screws. You only need to remove these three. |
But at last, I put everything back in place—except the outer screws, because Spawn Wave recommends testing the Joy-Con first.
I turned the Switch on for calibration, and horrors of horrors: there was a continuous downward drift.
Every time I moved the cursor, it plunged to the bottom of the screen. This was identical to my friend L's problem. Had I accidentally taken his old stick? No, more likely I hadn't reattached a ribbon cable properly.
 |
| Be careful not to damage these three ribbon cables. |
So the casing came off again. I removed the three ribbon cables and tried to re-shove them in, without shoving too hard. It was hard to insert the cable heads into their very tiny slots. I alternated between using my fingers and a tweezer. During the struggle, the R-button and its spring bounced off. (As I said, you don't want dogs or babies in the room. They might grab your R-button and run off with it. Or swallow the spring.)
 |
| R button's spring might bounce off. |
I must have done it right, though, because on second testing: Thank heavens, no drift!
But alas, the heavens did not grant me complete victory. While rescrewing the outer case, the final screw would not burrow in place neatly.
 |
| I'll never be a handyman, amateur or otherwise. |
The screw head stuck 2 millimeters out and looked slightly bent. It reminded me of the crooked nails of my high school woodwork.
I loosened and re-tightened it a few times, to no avail. I summoned my angel-cum-husband, who did no better. We merely stripped the screw, and now it was stuck for good. Which meant I might never be able to remove the casing again—or ever fix the Joy-Con again!
The stubborn screw seemed to taunt me, the way it stuck its head out brazenly. Running my finger over it felt rough to the touch. But it didn't stop the Joy-Con from working, so we let it be.
 |
| It still works. |
Overall, I was satisfied with the "fix" and relieved I hadn't completely ruined our Joy-Con. But I also felt drained and a little traumatized by the two-hour project, most of which was spent struggling with screws.
What I learned from it all? Don't force the screws.
Update
One week after repair: Slight drift returned to the (L) Joy-Con. Compressed air might have solved the problem but only temporarily. I might try replacing the control stick next time.
 |
| Used pliers to unscrew. |
But guess what? I managed to remove the stuck screw, using pliers! Replaced it with a new screw, which . . . well, got misaligned and stuck too. Back to square one.