Bald buttons

Remove the letters and round the corners of OEM buttons to give them a smoother profile.

Bald buttons are buttons with no inset letters and rounded corners. The process of creating bald buttons is called balding. Typically the A, B, X and Y buttons are balded, and optionally the Z and Start buttons, and sometimes the D-pad.

There are two primary methods for balding: sanding OEM buttons, which is the primary method covered here; or using extra silicone to bald molds for resin casting.

Parts

  • A set of OEM buttons
  • Sandpaper in various grits between 800 and 8000
  • Polish
  • Microfiber cloth
  • Random orbital buffer with polishing pads, like the Chemical Guys TORQX (optional)
  • Padded sandpaper buffer pad (optional)
  • Power drill with Torx bit (optional)

Process

For each button, start by removing the letter by rubbing the button face down across a sheet of 800-grit sandpaper until it’s no longer visible. Then use a smaller piece of 800-grit sandpaper to carefully round the edges of each button to the desired shape.

Once the shaping is complete to your satisfaction, start working up through the grits to gradually smooth the surface. For example, go from 800 to 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, 3000, 5000, and 8000. It’s important to use at least a few grits and take your time with each one to avoid ending up with deep scratches later on. Make sure to wipe off the surface periodically so dust doesn’t accumulate and interfere with the sanding.

At 8000 grit the surface should start to look glossy, and no scratches should be noticeable. If you see scratches, go back a few grits and sand until the scratch is gone, and then work your way back up through the grits again.

Finally, apply some plastic polish to a microfiber cloth and buff the surface for at least 10 minutes until the surface has a reflective shine. Then wash it gently in soapy water and dry it using another microfiber cloth.

Using power tools

If you have a random orbital buffer, you can use it for sanding and polishing instead of doing it by hand, except for sanding the edges of the X, Y and Z buttons — since these buttons aren’t round, rotational sanding doesn’t really work on the edges, and manual sanding is still required. You can also optionally use a power drill and an appropriately-sized bit to hold your button and add some additional rotation.

Attach the 800-grit sandpaper to a padded sanding buffer pad and place the buffer face up on a sturdy surface. Optionally using a power drill to hold your button, turn on the buffer and gently work the button over the sandpaper, making sure to continuously hit different angles and rotations to keep from overheating and melting the plastic in one spot. Always inspect the button after going over the entire surface, and expect to need a little manual touch-up on most buttons. If you’re using a drill, stick to a low speed to prevent creating swirls in the button surface.

After going up through the grits like the manual process, switch to a cutting pad with your polish (or polishes) of choice, followed by a polishing pad and finally a finishing pad. Since this part of the process uses softer pads that the button can sink into a little more, you can usually get away with no manual touch-up even on the X, Y and Z buttons. Wash with soapy water and dry using a microfiber cloth.

The alternative “silicone drip” method

After creating silicone molds of OEM buttons to use for resin casting, mix up some more silicone and drip it into each mold until it covers the letter. Gently tilt the molds in each direction to get some silicone in the corners to round the button edges as well. Lay the molds flat so the additional silicone can set evenly.

Buttons cast in these molds will be shaped very similarly to buttons sanded using the technique above.