My home built metal DDR pad (Part IV)

Scott_W · Basic Member Joined: 01 May 2003 Location: IL

Here are a few pictures:

I ordered some other red leds, those arn't bright enough

riptide · Trick Member Joined: 14 Aug 2002

trolli · Basic Member Joined: 17 Apr 2003

ok small question on the riptide design. I'm almost finished. I'm having a little bit of a problem getting the buttons to be sensitive enough, and then when I screw the corner brackets down having them go tight without having them go too far and trigger the button all the time. Thats a time consuming but easy problem to fix.

But here is my real problem. I have down and left working great. I then work on right, and get it working great too. Testing out on the Menu of 3rd mix. and all three work great. no matter where on the button i step it works, and only triggers once (except down, which if you stand on it it constantly goes down, I think this is how the menu is supposed to work though). But when I play the game to test out the three arrows I get a small problem. It seems that right is intermittantly working. almost like if I'm standing on one of the other arrows it conflicts with the triggering of right. Does that seem odd to anyone? Has anyone had a problem like that before? and any suggestions as to what to do to get around it?

Zep · Posted: Mon May 05, 2003 7:37 am Post subject:

Happy B-Day

Who ever I am talking to¿
_________________

trolli · Basic Member Joined: 17 Apr 2003

I think i actually found out a solution to the problem i mentioned above. Let me run this by you guys and let me know what you think. Since my problem doesn't happen on the menu, but only in game. I'm wondering if it has something to do with standing on one arrow and then onto a second one while still on the first.

Now I know that that should be possible, but with how I wired it I'm wondering if thats causing the problem. What I did is ran all the grounds together to a screw, then ran one wire from the screw to the ground on the controller. I'm wondering if that single wire isn't enough to be completing a circuit for multiple buttons at the same time.

Does this seem like a reasonable idea to anyone else?

`pr0digy · Trick Member Joined: 31 Mar 2003 Location: ogmios.ath.cx

Andreq · Trick Member Joined: 11 Apr 2003 Location: Quebec foreva

-joe- · Trick Member Joined: 08 Jan 2003 Location: lv

BluemeanieTrader · Trick Member Joined: 25 Apr 2003 Location: NY

Just a few tid bits after a few hours work...

1. A lot of people seem to have difficulty getting the plexi just right...(including myself at first)
What i did was make a jig for my corner brace support piece by tracing the corner brace on a piece of wood, cutting it, then making sure its perfect....make all 16 of them..

Then take your square piece of plexi, put it in its proper location on the pad, place the 4 support pieces over the plexi, but into position, then draw the line with a pencil and cut....Anything after that just sure form down..

2. I personally didn't want to wire my entire pad and then find out my contacts aren't touching or not working...
Remember touching a 9 volt to yer tongue when you were young...
I ran the wires from 2 brackets to the battery, and an additional wire (doesn't matter which bracket) out of the pad....
Then put the plexi (with the metal strip) on and pressed down....
Have the additional wire to your tongue...You'll know if it works or not...

Nice updates on the lighting plans....once i have all the soldering complete, i'll be working on that next...

frisina · Posted: Mon May 05, 2003 5:45 pm Post subject:

Scott_W · Basic Member Joined: 01 May 2003 Location: IL

riptide · Trick Member Joined: 14 Aug 2002

trolli · Basic Member Joined: 17 Apr 2003

Many people on these boards have asked the question of whats a good controller to use. And there has been much discussion on this.

I wanted to add to the list of bad controllers the interact slow/mo playstation controller. Its an old controller I had from when the playstation first came out, and it didn't allow up/down to work at the same time or left/right.

I did however find a controller that does work. soldering is a little hard on it, but you put the wires through the circuit board and solder from one side. makes a nice connection, once you actually get it through the small holes in the board. The controller I'm talking about is the weird one handed I believe they called it the rpg controller. Its also known as the ascii grip.

Here is what it looks like.

http://www.game-revolution.com/games/hardware/ascii_grip.htm

If I had a digital camera, or scanner I would show you a picture of the board inside of it, but I didn't have one at the time. The other nice thing about this board is that it is small.

Anyway, just thought I would pass that along, although I'm not sure how easy it will be to find that controller anymore.

NinjaFK · Basic Member Joined: 04 May 2003

Hey guys, I'm new to the site... I just finished my one pad... used riptide and ddr homepad as well as some suggestions on the site and it works well... need to do a little tweaking but I'm loving it so far (especially since I'm cheap and the pad's being held together by duct tape, talk about ghetto

). I used a $5 Mad Catz controller and it worked like a charm, also my friend's dad is an electrician and he gave us a continuity tester. Since I was working in a shop which didn't have a playstation I just touched the continuity tester contacts to the contacts on the controller and pressed down the button, and it beeped!! That way I knew it was working. Its really helpful and I suggest it to people who are thinking of building a pad and their work area isn't close to their playstation. Makes testing it easier. You can buy them at Radio Shack I believe, I'll have to check the pricing. Anyways, I have a question though... I'm using pretty cheap plexiglass, and it works fine, but there is a lot of sound when I step on the pad with shoes on. I'm pretty sure its the shoe-to-plexi sound that is really loud... and I was wondering if there is a way to dampen the sound, or should I invest in higher quality plexi to reduce the sound? Thanks.

frisina

For the love of God.... someone rescue me.

Just about to finish my pad today, after a four or so day haitus on working on it. I turned on the lights in my basement, and took a look at my almost finsihed pad, and almost started to weep.

... the panels rusted ...

I presume this means I purchased the wrong type of sheet metal. I used 22 guage welding sheet steel. All along I thought something was awry, as my panels were not shiney at all like some of the pictures and videos I had been seeing here on this thread.

So, can someone tell me: what kind, EXACTLY to buy? Looks like all I can salvage is the wood now. *Cries*

Help!

Thanks.

And, yes, the problem with my host is almost resolved, and I will have the Sony controller guide up soon.
_________________

Move sig.

Blue Beefman · Trick Member Joined: 31 Oct 2002 Location: WI

Well I used 22 gauge galvanized steel...doesnt rust
_________________

He is the Painkiller

trolli · Basic Member Joined: 17 Apr 2003

Well my pad is complete. All buttons work well. I started playing a couple easy songs to test it out. and everything seems to be going well.

Then the problem starts. after about 3 or 4 songs on normal mode all buttons on the pad stop responding. all 4 arrows, start, select, x, and o. Now when I disconnect the controller from the playstation and plug it back in its fine again.

Riptide says that its possibly a magnetic problem. Like the wires for the buttons are building up a charge the longer you play. and eventually it stops working because of it.

Does this seem reasonable to anyone else? Maybe like its not grounded well enough or something like that? I'm using riptides design of all the screws and wrapping the wires around each one.

anyone have any suggestions other then use blue beefmans or riptides new design that is still in the works?

frisina · Posted: Tue May 06, 2003 2:15 pm Post subject: Indeed.

crypistol · Basic Member Joined: 04 May 2003 Location: Arkansas

Looking foward to seeing the guide for the controller. I will keep an eye out for it