My home built metal DDR pad (Part IV)

PiccoloNamek · Basic Member Joined: 11 May 2003

Pat:

What thickness Acrylic did you use in your pad?

And how tall are the wooden supports for the arrows?

And while I'm at it, what thickness did you use for your weather stripping?

Also, there is no place around me that carries "Elmer's Ultimate Glue"

What kind glue should I use on my panels then?
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OH! Its Kyle · Trick Member Joined: 31 Oct 2003 Location: Joliet area

I was just wondering if u could use shoes on the metal pads?

Bahamut727 · Trick Member Joined: 05 Jan 2003 Location: CA

My RO ignitions are just about dead, and I am looking for a replacement (either metal or just new ignitions). I am contemplating the possibility of building my own, but, I am a retard when it comes to building things. How easy would it be to build one (I would download instuctions of course

)? Do you think the risk of messing it up would be too great for me to waste my money on? Thanks
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DDR4ever2003 · Basic Member Joined: 18 Jun 2003

alright, i think ima try this soldering thing one more time. You guys say the soft pads are easier than the controllers? Where is a cheap place to get one and is there a guide that tells u each solder point like the controller or could someone make one really fast?

TheKornKid · Trick Member Joined: 11 Aug 2002 Location: Toledo, OH

for figuring out which contact is which arrow/button, just take a piece of wire (any wire), strip both ends a little, and just tap one end on the large ground and the other end on any other contact (while it's plugged in and a game running or something) and you can see which button is being pressed. Just have a little piece of paper next to you with a rough sketch of the contacts and as you test them write down which botton/direction it is. I had a diagram posted a few pages ago i think, but my chip was completely different from that so to be super safe just test it yourself, can't go wrong that way

And I used 11"x11" non-arrow squares, and 10 1/20" x 10 1/2" plexiglass squares so that they had slight moving room (just like the arcade). The total width of the arrows and non arrows is 33"x33" (i have a particle board wrapped in metal border so overall it's 34 1/2"x34 1/2").

I used 2 layers of plexiglass that are each 1/4" thick, so i have 1/2" total with arrow graphics in between. i don't think that's ever gonna break

flipboy101 · Trick Member Joined: 18 Apr 2002

I finally got around to buying a Madcatz $10 controller to mod because I heard they are better for it than the $5 ones. Someone told me that the $10 controller's capacitors (sp?) would handle the higher voltages better than the $5 ones without the capacitors.

I have some good news and bad news though. The good news is that the controller hasn't died on me.

The bad news.... It stops registering buttons after one song...

So far, the only buttons it stops registering are the left and right arrows. The only positive about this situation is that it's either one or the other and not both at the same time.

Is there any way to fix this?

And for the people who've modded the Madcatz $10 controller, did you guys make alterations to the controller other than soldering it?

On my controller I took off the analog and shoulder buttons.

Did you guys leave those on and is it safe to remove those?
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SarcasmSRA · Basic Member Joined: 23 Sep 2003

flipboy101 · Trick Member Joined: 18 Apr 2002

SarcasmSRA · Basic Member Joined: 23 Sep 2003

OH! Its Kyle · Trick Member Joined: 31 Oct 2003 Location: Joliet area

What kind of wire do i use for the ground wires?

BTTB · Trick Member Joined: 10 Dec 2002 Location: Deep in you.

el_bombo89 · Basic Member Joined: 20 Oct 2003

Okay, since everyone else is asking a bunch of questions, I might as well too. Lol

Do I drill the holes in the Lucite bigger than the screws, and depend on the screw holding the bracket down to keep the lucite in place? Or do I just drill the holes big enough to let the screws still take hold of them, but not much? I read somewhere that drilling the hole in the lucite bigger than the screw was a good idea in order to avoid crackig the lucite. It is?

This is my last question. I've finalized my plan, bought all the parts and tools, gone through every web-site I can find, and have gotten all the information I need. I even made my own mini-web-site based off my laptop so when I build my pad in the garage my instructions are right there. If this can be answered, there's nothing stoping me from starting tomrorrow. Yah!

Thanks in advance, La

DDR_Apocalypse · Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2003 4:58 am Post subject:

hooded__paladin · Trick Member Joined: 10 Nov 2003

Hmm... has anyone solved a similar problem? I made my ddrhomepad style pad about 8 months ago, but it's kind of always had problems. The step where you screw the brackets into the panels was hard to do, so it was done fairly sloppily by me. Now, whenever you step in the middle panel of the pad (and even the left two metal panels) the left arrow goes off. I think it's because the brackets are too low. (you can tell that the two brackets going left of the center panel are lower than the others.) No amount of weatherstripping fixes this, because the tight panel just squeezes the foam until it's touching. (I've even put two layers of foam ... it just gets squished twice as much)

I'm considering changing to a Riptide style pad over Thanksgiving break. The fact that you can raise and lower the contacts is REALLY attractive to someone who's spent hours flipping, unscrewing, re-arranging foam, screwing, flipping, and testing the pad to no avail. I have worn out the screw holes in the back of my pad so much that some have no threads left at all (I think the wood I used, pine rails, is too flimsy and cheap to srew in and out of all the time)

Another question is, how much new material will I need to buy if I do convert my pad. I will need to buy new lexan, as the ddrhomepad's thickness of lexan is much too thin to put over an open hole. I of course have all the screws I need, and enough sheet metal to do the contacts. The biggest question is whether I can reuse the metal 'blank' panels without having to make new ones. The DDRhomepad design calls for 1/2" thick panels, the Riptide design calls for 3/4" thick. Is there any problem with having panels that are 1/4" lower? Oh, wait, I did think of something. The lexan panels are 1/2" total, and it needs another 1/4" for the foam. Is this right? Is there any easy way to use my 1/2" panels instead of making new 3/4" panels?

(I'm sorry for the long post, I mentioned everything I can think of. And no I am not a newb, I have actually been reading this thread for a long time, although due to some problems registering I haven't ever posted until now.)

ZotTower · Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2003 11:12 pm Post subject:

yea, so i havnt posted on this board for a few months cause 1) i finished my pad and 2) i moved to japan and dotn get to go online much yet. but what i notice is that this thread is getting soooooooooo repetitive. every single one of these questions has been asked and answered long ago in the thread. im not saying read the whole thing, but go to the 1st page where all the links to instructions are, and maybe read a few random pages before asking all the same questions.
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Fr0sty · Trick Member Joined: 16 Sep 2003

Anyone know if Gavanized Steel Flat Sheets could be used for the sheet metal? They're $6 each 2'X3'

oranges · Trick Member Joined: 05 Nov 2003

Now I'm done, but how do I get the graphics 11x11 my printer can onlu go up to 10.6x5.5

tolookah · Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2003 5:08 pm Post subject:

about the printing, your best bet is to go to kinkos, or some other local printing place, they will print to just about any size... me on the other hand got lucky by owning a printer that'll print on 13x19 paper (though its old, and my images are in B&W)

TheKornKid · Trick Member Joined: 11 Aug 2002 Location: Toledo, OH

hey oranges do you have any pics of your pad? just curious it would be cool to see, it's always fun seeing other peoples homemade ddr pads