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Shadow_Dragonz
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Joined: 16 Mar 2003
Location: California |
1200.  Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2003 12:33 am Post subject: |
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Hi everyone,
It's been a while since I've posted. Well, I'm on my way on building another dance pad, yet this time it's going to be one of Riptide's design, or at least it should be. 2 months behind schedual, and I still can't find any weatherstripping  . The only other thing that is tripping this project up is the design for lights  . Does anyone have any ideas? I at least have LEDs chosen for it now....don't know which ones to get though. I'm learning quit a bit though  . I know my questions are a bit thin, but if anyone could help me, I"d greatly appreciate it.
Thanks in advance 
Shadow_Dragonz
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Istari Asuka
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Joined: 27 Oct 2002
Location: Tucson, AZ |
| 1201. Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2003 9:23 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | The only other thing that is tripping this project up is the design for lights . Does anyone have any ideas? |
I'm using these and they work great. |
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Shadow_Dragonz
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Joined: 16 Mar 2003
Location: California |
| 1202. Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2003 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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Hi,
Istari Asuka
They look like a good idea. Do those come in any other colors?  How did you wire the pad for them?
I'm still in the process of learning the electrical parts and such. There's just a lot of different ways on doing it. 
Thanks in advance
Shadow_Dragonz
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hooded__paladin
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Joined: 10 Nov 2003
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| 1203. Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2003 8:35 pm Post subject: |
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| since I'll be changing my pad into Riptide's design, I also am interested in lights. I think I could do super-bright LED's, because my dad could help me with a circuit, but how are the cold cathode lights? It seems like you'd have to be careful about not breaking them. LED's would also be cheaper, so I think I might go with LED's provided I can figure them out. |
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Istari Asuka
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Joined: 27 Oct 2002
Location: Tucson, AZ |
| 1204. Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2003 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Shadow_Dragonz wrote: | Hi,
Istari Asuka
They look like a good idea. Do those come in any other colors? How did you wire the pad for them?
Shadow_Dragonz |
No, they don't come in other colors, but it really doesn't matter, as the paper arrows are MORE than adequate to make them look right. In other words, they look like they're supposed to. If you were worried that they since they are white the arrows would light up white, you dont' have to worry about that.
As for wiring, each light includes a little control board that you wire it to, and then you wire the board to your relays (that are connected to your arrow contacts as well). You'll need a power supply as well, of course. |
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Shadow_Dragonz
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Joined: 16 Mar 2003
Location: California |
| 1205. Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2003 9:20 am Post subject: |
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| Istari Asuka wrote: | | Shadow_Dragonz wrote: | Hi,
Istari Asuka
They look like a good idea. Do those come in any other colors? How did you wire the pad for them?
Shadow_Dragonz |
No, they don't come in other colors, but it really doesn't matter, as the paper arrows are MORE than adequate to make them look right. In other words, they look like they're supposed to. If you were worried that they since they are white the arrows would light up white, you dont' have to worry about that.
As for wiring, each light includes a little control board that you wire it to, and then you wire the board to your relays (that are connected to your arrow contacts as well). You'll need a power supply as well, of course. |
Okay, so the color shouldn't be a problem, and if I feel that it isn't adaquate, then I could do something about that later on. But I doubt that  .
I understand how the whole circuit is suppose to be set up with the power supply and the relays, but I don't understand it exactly. I basically just have an overview idea of the whole schematic. To clarify, I don't know what kind of relay to get nor what the relays exactly do for the arrow contact. I know that I'll need wires for the circuit built for the light, but I don't know what kind. The same goes for the wiring, as I do not know which will be sufficient enough for the job. And then lastly, I do not know what kind of power supply would be good either, nor how to build that into the dance pad.
I've read Paster's design for adding lights to his DDR dance pad, but one problem is that he doesn't explain how it works or why he chose what he did. His explaination is that he knows what he's doing. That's great and all, but I would like to know why I'm doing what I'm doing. Simply put, I'd like to know what I'm doing rather than just be told what to do. I know that it's simple enought to tell someone what to do. As for this, I'm trying to learn too, so if I wish to do this again or make changes, I would know how.
Also, from this I do plan to try and write up a guide, add to the FAQ, or something similar to help others. I just hope that someone can, or knows how to help me .
I hope that I'm not asking too much  .
Thanks
Shadow_Dragonz
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Shadow_Dragonz
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Joined: 16 Mar 2003
Location: California |
| 1206. Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2003 9:57 am Post subject: Dance Pad Project and a reply to a post |
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Hi everyone,
So far on my project, after a grueling 3 months of obtaining/earning money, I have finally almost purchased all the supplies I need to start building the dance pad. As of right now, all that I am missing for the dance pad are the lights (preferably bright LEDs or the one mentioned previously by Istari), the wiring for the lights, relays, and a power supply for the lights. Also, I am missing the images for the arrow contacts .
I am thinking that I will start construction this weekend on the dance pad. However due to recent snow and cold weather, I may find my 2x4s warped  . There always seem to be something wrong  .
I cannot really say much else about the project. Nothing has really gone on about it other than trying to figure out a plan on adding the lights and buying the supplies. Oh...I'm having to buy weather stripping from NJ  . Oh what fun! I can't seem to find any stores up here that sell weather stripping. And to add to that, I can't find any place online that sells the correct type other than the store in NJ. But at least I'm getting the supplies I need  . Does anyone know where I could go and look to try and find weather stripping, or where I could buy it online? I have already checked out Home Depot and there is no Lowes here.
Since this is my senior project, I will have to document the entire thing, and take pictures. So when I'm finished, I should be able to help out other people better and more cleary explain what to do/what is going on .
That is it for now. I'll have more updates in the up coming days/weeks .
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| hooded__paladin wrote: | | since I'll be changing my pad into Riptide's design, I also am interested in lights. I think I could do super-bright LED's, because my dad could help me with a circuit, but how are the cold cathode lights? It seems like you'd have to be careful about not breaking them. LED's would also be cheaper, so I think I might go with LED's provided I can figure them out. |
I think that super brigh LEDs would be a good choice. They don't require much power and they are cheap, not to mention that they are bright and come in different colors . It's almost everything you could want in a light! About the cathode lights, I don't know much about them. If it's a problem that you think that you would break them while using the dance pad, you could just mount the light in each of the hollow spaces within the arrows. If that is too trouble some or that it seems that it cannot be done, then you could simply put some type of cushioning in each arrow and do it that way.
LEDs shouldn't be that hard to figure out. If I can learn how to do it, I believe that anyone can . The only problem I would see is that if the leds have enough angle to light up the entire arrow. If it cannot do that, then one would have to place more than one LED per arrow. The other alternative would be to place a relector of some type at the bottom of the arrow and use that to get the entire arrow to light up. I heard from Riptide that he had success at using, I believe, just regular foil testing it out. Simple and effective .
I hope that this helps you out.
Shadow_Dragonz
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Shadow_Dragonz
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Joined: 16 Mar 2003
Location: California |
| 1207. Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2003 10:24 am Post subject: About repitition and more! |
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| ZotTower wrote: | | 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. |
It's nice to see that you are still around. Any whoo, I have a FAQ for anyone that doesn't know it already. Also, there is a link at the 1st page of this forum/sticky, not to mention a link from Riptides web page! The FAQ does answer a lot of FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) and tries to help people out. Other things that are on there are mods which can be added to certain dance pads, as well as other "mods" that can help simplify making/building a dance pad, or just make it stronger. I am bias for it, for I did write it. So I do recommend that people go and take a look at it. Also, I do take comments on if something is missing or incorrect. It is there to help and inform, so it would be greatly appreciated if someone could give me a lending hand at what is wrong . Also, if there are any questions that are not answered, or have not been answered to the extent that is needed, then just (anyone) reply here and I or someone else should be happy to give a helping hand.
| Fr0sty wrote: | | Anyone know if Gavanized Steel Flat Sheets could be used for the sheet metal? They're $6 each 2'X3' |
I have not tried that. But it sounds like it could work. What guage is it?
| hooded__paladin wrote: | 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.) |
It could be because that they brackets are screwed down. My design of it is done a little differently, so I don't have to screw down the brackets. So, I do not have those problems .
Not to disaprove of Riptide's design, but I do not like the idea of redoing screws. I'm thinking of the pain of making sure that they all line up level. That could take hours. So, I'm planning to make something similair to the way of BlueBeefman and just do a screw down bracket of some type and have all the screws level. I can always just get tubing or different size weather stripping for sensitivity. To make it easier on you, you could just finish one arrow and test that one for the sensitivity. For that, just finish one, and since it's riptides, you wouldn't really need to screw down the brackets .
I think you could just use the same things you have. You would have to remake or possibly redesign the contacts. I will have to think of that =). I can't at the moment really give you any more input since the class is now over. Sorry about the rush on the last question. I'll try to get back to you later on.
Hope that helps
Shadow_Dragonz
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Shadow_Dragonz
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Joined: 16 Mar 2003
Location: California |
| 1208. Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:02 pm Post subject: More replys to questions |
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| TheKornKid wrote: | 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  |
Couldn't you use a electronic tester?...To clarify more, one that allows you to see if there is a current going through wires. They would let you know if they are bad or not, but for this, you could just tell what is ground and positive. I would think that there would be no charge from the ground. It's just a thought though; however, I think this would be better and prevent anyone from possibly frying their controller before they got to actually solder to it.
Half an inch, that's about what I'm going to use .
| el_bombo89 wrote: | 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 |
Okay, first about the lucite. If you are drilling in the lucite to hold it down with the brackets, drill the holes slightly bigger than the screw. First though, you want to start with a small drill bit and then work your way up to the desired size of the drill bit. If you don't, you could crack the lucite.
Sorry that this didn't get answered to you ealier. Wonder why everyone over looked it
| 9feetandabove wrote: | | TheKornKid wrote: | 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
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Right, you do that, I'll do this:
http://customddr.com/arrowtocontroller.html |
By the way 9feetabove, if you were to scratch the area for the soldering and heat the area to place the solder to, then there really shouldn't be problem. I had the same problem too, but that was lack of inexperience, and the fact that I scratched half the contact off the Sony Playstation controller. I am not saying that you have no experience or lack in it, but you could've not made the surface rough enough to solder to, or not heated it enough too. But if either work great then, both could be used .
Well, I think that is all the posts. Whew, that was time consuming, but I hope that it has helped everyone that has posted . I'll try to get back to anyone that has any more questions.
Shadow_Dragonz
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Fr0sty
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Joined: 16 Sep 2003
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| 1209. Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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| 30 gauge |
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Haacon
Basic Member
Joined: 20 Nov 2003
Location: Provo, UT |
| 1210. Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2003 4:51 pm Post subject: Controller shorts |
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| Alright, I'm not electronics genius, so I don't know what the heck the deal is. I used the ddrhomepad design, built two pads, and everything went pretty dandily at first. Only after a few hours of play, both pads shorted. A few of the buttons continually registered. After a bunch of trial and error I finally identified the short in the controllers (I think). I'm not sure what the deal is, as no solder spread from any contact to the ground... I thought maybe it was just shoddy soldering, so I tried with some more controllers, same thing happened, and 40 bucks and 8 controllers later, somethin keeps goin' wrong. I know it isn't the pad because I desoldered the wires leading to the pads to make sure... help me out someone, please, this is getting pricy and frustrating. |
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hooded__paladin
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Joined: 10 Nov 2003
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| 1211. Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2003 4:51 pm Post subject: |
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Dang Shadow_Dragonz, you went on a binge.
I think maybe Riptide's new design, brackets with however many washers are needed under them, would be the best. More surface area and easier leveling, rather than a bunch of screws that are all different levels.
As for the EASIEST lighting you could do, is a couple superbright LED's powered by 1 9V battery for each arrow. That'd make it really easy to supply power.
One thing, that I can't really figure out, is how to get the 4 sets of LED's running off the same power adapter. The current would vary with the number of arrows lit up at the time! Like, if there's current for 1 arrow of lights, what happens when 4 arrows try to light up? They don't! And if you supply enough current to light all 4 up, then you'll overload the LED's if only one is lit up!
Anyone know how to fix THAT?
My dad was talking about a current regulator ... and I read a little about that in my electronics class, and it seems like a good way to do it. But I don't know how to make/buy one or how they work or what.
So, again, anyone know how to make an LED system so that different #'s of panels can light up without messing up? |
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Shadow_Dragonz
Trick Member
Joined: 16 Mar 2003
Location: California |
| 1212. Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2003 10:32 pm Post subject: |
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Well, here I go again on my reply streak .
| Haacon wrote: | | Alright, I'm not electronics genius, so I don't know what the heck the deal is. I used the ddrhomepad design, built two pads, and everything went pretty dandily at first. Only after a few hours of play, both pads shorted. A few of the buttons continually registered. After a bunch of trial and error I finally identified the short in the controllers (I think). I'm not sure what the deal is, as no solder spread from any contact to the ground... I thought maybe it was just shoddy soldering, so I tried with some more controllers, same thing happened, and 40 bucks and 8 controllers later, somethin keeps goin' wrong. I know it isn't the pad because I desoldered the wires leading to the pads to make sure... help me out someone, please, this is getting pricy and frustrating. |
Hmmm...It sounds like it could be any number of things. One, it could be due to static. I think you'd have to ground it off so that the static doesn't build up. The ground would lead to one of the metal panels of the pad if I remember correctly . It could also be due to bad wiring, bad wires, and/or that the panels are too close to each other and are creating a circuit. The last thing that I can think of is that you have put a screw though a wire or that some where in the wiring/panel, you have a screw contacting the positive. That, I believe, would certainly fry any controller and bring it to it's electronic death.
I hope this helps...hopefully though someone else will be able to give you some more/similiar/or better help.
| hooded__paladin wrote: | Dang Shadow_Dragonz, you went on a binge.
I think maybe Riptide's new design, brackets with however many washers are needed under them, would be the best. More surface area and easier leveling, rather than a bunch of screws that are all different levels.
As for the EASIEST lighting you could do, is a couple superbright LED's powered by 1 9V battery for each arrow. That'd make it really easy to supply power.
One thing, that I can't really figure out, is how to get the 4 sets of LED's running off the same power adapter. The current would vary with the number of arrows lit up at the time! Like, if there's current for 1 arrow of lights, what happens when 4 arrows try to light up? They don't! And if you supply enough current to light all 4 up, then you'll overload the LED's if only one is lit up!
Anyone know how to fix THAT?
My dad was talking about a current regulator ... and I read a little about that in my electronics class, and it seems like a good way to do it. But I don't know how to make/buy one or how they work or what.
So, again, anyone know how to make an LED system so that different #'s of panels can light up without messing up? |
Well, I am not done yet for today hooded_paladin .
Okay...hmmm. You said just one 9V battery. Are you talking about just 1 (which I don't think would be enough) or are you talking about each arrow getting their own battery. If you saw before, BlueBeefman made his pad, or one for someone else, with battery powered LEDs for each arrown. They ran from their own supply, and from what i can tell, from their own switch too . Now if you ran them so each arrow had their own battery, then I wouldn't think there would be a problem. Just be sure that you have enough LEDs to make the pad light up and that you position them correctly.
Now, if you are talking about just one battery to run them all, you would probably need a current regulator, or at least I think so . First off, why would you have all the lights light up at the same time? It is true that you want the worst case senario to be working, so you'd have all arrows light up, but the odds of that are about the same for winning the lotto (unless you really want to see them all lit up). The regulator would regulate the amount of current that would pass through to each LED, hense fourth the name, a regulator! If it were something like 10DC then it would only allow 10DC at a time to anyone LED. The thing is that you would have to solder them to each wiring seperately, to each LED circuit.
So, simply put, do you want to run the lights on 1 battery or on multiple batteries. I hope that helps. I have some ideas....but they are for my design pad...and they run on 25-100 Watt bulbs . Hmm...it's starting to look like a Riptide/Patster hybrid with a semi BlueBeefman mod  . Now I think that's something people have to see . Now to see if I can put those corners on them....or I'd have to cut more 2x4....ugh. I think this is going to take a looonnnnggg time to complete . Ah well, it'll be fun .
Well, I hope that helps.
Is anyone going to answer any of my questions????
Shadow_Dragonz
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RisingFire
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Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Maryland |
| 1213. Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2003 5:47 am Post subject: |
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Haacon,
I've broken about 10 madcatz controllers, a couple of Interact controllers, and a couple more controllers of various brands.
They all mysteriously die. I've become a master of soldering these damned things cause of this.
I've tried grounding the pad, I've tried switching all my parts for nonmagnetic versions, like screws. I've tried new wires. I've tried new wiring techniques. Nothing.
However, all my problems were solved when I decided to use the Official Sony Controller. the old dull grey one.
Thats all I will ever use now. I picked up some used ones for 7 bucks at funcoland/gamestop if I remember. Oh and I also bought some on ebay.
RisingFire
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hooded__paladin
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Joined: 10 Nov 2003
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| 1214. Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2003 6:26 am Post subject: |
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Shadow_Dragonz:
well, I think that 4 batteries, 1 per arrow, would be super simple, but it's not the greatest...
running them all off 1 power supply would be nicer, but I suppose you would need to add regulators? I know in theory what they do, but not too much else. Is there some other way to do it? Or is regulators the simplest thing? |
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rsd212
Trick Member
Joined: 16 Nov 2003
Location: East Lansing, MI |
| 1215. Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2003 8:12 am Post subject: |
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| hooded__paladin wrote: | Dang Shadow_Dragonz, you went on a binge.
One thing, that I can't really figure out, is how to get the 4 sets of LED's running off the same power adapter. The current would vary with the number of arrows lit up at the time! Like, if there's current for 1 arrow of lights, what happens when 4 arrows try to light up? They don't! And if you supply enough current to light all 4 up, then you'll overload the LED's if only one is lit up!
Anyone know how to fix THAT?
My dad was talking about a current regulator ... and I read a little about that in my electronics class, and it seems like a good way to do it. But I don't know how to make/buy one or how they work or what.
So, again, anyone know how to make an LED system so that different #'s of panels can light up without messing up? |
There shouldn't be a problem if the 4 light strings are all hooked up in parallel to the power supply with a switch (either contact switch in the pad, or a transistor switch coming off the controller). The PS would give constant voltage, so as long as its rated to put out the total wattage needed for all lights, you're fine. You can step on as many buttons as you want, and the current through each string should be constant. However, I would recommend a series resistance going to your light strings. Use whatever power supply you have lying around (old NES wall-warts or old CD-player supplies are nice), and try to get a resistance in series that makes it so its still bright, but if you added any more it would start to dim. Hope some of this made sense |
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Haacon
Basic Member
Joined: 20 Nov 2003
Location: Provo, UT |
| 1216. Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2003 10:19 am Post subject: |
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| RisingFire wrote: | Haacon,
I've broken about 10 madcatz controllers, a couple of Interact controllers, and a couple more controllers of various brands.
They all mysteriously die. I've become a master of soldering these damned things cause of this.
I've tried grounding the pad, I've tried switching all my parts for nonmagnetic versions, like screws. I've tried new wires. I've tried new wiring techniques. Nothing.
However, all my problems were solved when I decided to use the Official Sony Controller. the old dull grey one.
Thats all I will ever use now. I picked up some used ones for 7 bucks at funcoland/gamestop if I remember. Oh and I also bought some on ebay.
RisingFire |
Thanks RisingFire. Now, the question I have next is how did you solder to the contacts on the Sony controllers. They got that crazy anti-solder coating. There a good way to remove that? |
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hooded__paladin
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Joined: 10 Nov 2003
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| 1217. Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2003 7:18 pm Post subject: |
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rsd212: it seems like you're saying, run them all in parallel, and the current will be fine.
Now, when things are wired in series, things divide up the voltage and keep the same current. When things are wired in parallel, things divide up the current and keep the same voltage.
Since we do this in parallel (impossible to do 4 independent sets of lights in series anyway) it's easy to get the right voltage from your power supply with a resistor or whatever. But, you need to supply current so that 1 arrow at a time doesn't burn out, but 4 arrows at a time still light.
LED's have fairly small current ranges. Their lower range (which would be reached when 4 are lit) is MORE than 1/4 of their upper range (which would be reached when 1 is lit)
All the people who make pads with cold cathode or incandescent lights don't have as much of a problem because these have higher current ranges. Are you sure this method would work with LED's?
I'm not putting you down, I might just not understand this. I don't know how it would work. |
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Snof
Trick Member
Joined: 09 Jun 2003
Location: UCSC |
| 1218. Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2003 8:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Haacon wrote: | | Thanks RisingFire. Now, the question I have next is how did you solder to the contacts on the Sony controllers. They got that crazy anti-solder coating. There a good way to remove that? |
I was able to remove the black stuff with a bit of fine sand paper. I wrapped a bit over the end of a pen to get a small point to scrape with. |
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TheKornKid
Trick Member
Joined: 11 Aug 2002
Location: Toledo, OH |
| 1219. Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2003 12:42 am Post subject: |
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Yeah you can test the controller however you want, i'm just saying how i tested mine.
And that diagram isn't the same for all circuit boards, it was completely backwords from mine, it's a good thing i tested it. I'm just suggesting to test it because if you finished the whole pad and tried playing on it and THEN realized it's backwords, you'd be pretty mad and wished you tested it.
I think it's better to use a soft pad chip instead of a regular controller, because the boards on the soft pads are probably more durable and won't fry as easy (mine didn't even after my weird method of testing, lol). They're also designed to have the excessive wiring going from each button, I've heard of people frying their controller chips by having too much wiring, with soft pad chips that shouldn't be a problem. I'm not positive about all this, but it makes sense if you think about it.
Well i'm gonna go mod my metal pad cause like all purchased metal pads (maybe not CF's, never played on them though) it SUCKS! (after modding it should rule almost as much as my home-made pad.) Home-made is the way to go! good job everyone who's building, builded, or is planning on building a metal pad, we rule because we're obsessed with perfection.  |
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