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east coast fool
Basic Member
Joined: 17 Feb 2004
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1640.  Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2004 9:40 pm Post subject: |
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I have a question, for my custom built ddrhomepad design, i used a cat5 cable, is it possible to disconnect my controller from the pad when moving?
U know, like how a ethernet cable plugs into a router or ethernet card. I saw some adapters and connectors at home depot today.
I also have another question, how should a trick bar be like?
I have two 36" 3/4in galvanized steel pipes and two 90 degree corner connectors and a 12" 3/4in steel nipple pipe. U think this is suitable for a trick bar? How do u clean and get rid of the slimy oil stuff on the pipes?
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CeLLuLoiD
Basic Member
Joined: 03 Dec 2003
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| 1641. Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2004 7:45 am Post subject: |
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| Heh, thanks marko but I found the solution. The solder on the controller for the right arrow was a tiny tiny bit off the solder point. That fixed the whole problem. |
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Little Firefly
Trick Member
Joined: 08 Jun 2003
Location: Heading away from the white light... |
| 1642. Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2004 12:15 pm Post subject: |
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I finished wiring all my arrows today (except for one screw, which I totally stripped   the next step would be putting together the control box.
I am using the circut board and plastic box from my soft pad, but I need to buy pushbuttons (preferably as small as possible). There are a bunch of different kinds, and I was wondering which ones I could use for the X,O,Start, etc. controls.
I'm very excited, it acctually looks like a pad now!
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Tenesu
Basic Member
Joined: 05 Feb 2004
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| 1643. Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2004 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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| Little Firefly wrote: |
I am using the circut board and plastic box from my soft pad, but I need to buy pushbuttons (preferably as small as possible). There are a bunch of different kinds, and I was wondering which ones I could use for the X,O,Start, etc. controls.
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Normal Open, Single Pull-Single Throw (SPST), Momentary Pushbutton Switches. You can find them at radio shack, usually they come in packages of 4, 2 red ones, and 2 black ones. There's no difference except for the color.
Linky here for example |
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Tenesu
Basic Member
Joined: 05 Feb 2004
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| 1644. Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2004 7:49 pm Post subject: |
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| east coast fool wrote: | I have a question, for my custom built ddrhomepad design, i used a cat5 cable, is it possible to disconnect my controller from the pad when moving?
U know, like how a ethernet cable plugs into a router or ethernet card. I saw some adapters and connectors at home depot today.
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Yes you can. Just make sure you wire the jacks correctly, it's a pain if you make a mistake. |
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MarKoPoLo
Basic Member
Joined: 18 Oct 2003
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| 1645. Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2004 8:26 am Post subject: |
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are you sure there? usually a pushbutton that is black means its a normally closed not a normally open. so yes there would be a difference. you would want the normally open not the normally closed.
enjoy
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Tenesu
Basic Member
Joined: 05 Feb 2004
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| 1646. Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2004 2:25 pm Post subject: |
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| MarKoPoLo wrote: | are you sure there? usually a pushbutton that is black means its a normally closed not a normally open. so yes there would be a difference. you would want the normally open not the normally closed.
enjoy |
The ones from radio shack are NO, color irregardless. Don't ask me why they put 2 different colors in a package  but every time I've bought them they've always been whats marked on the package. |
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NeoGoldenBoy
Basic Member
Joined: 23 Feb 2004
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| 1647. Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2004 8:31 am Post subject: |
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Hi:
Im new to this forum, but I want to make a dancing pad, I know this community is of DDR, but the pad that I want to do is a pad of Pump It Up (PIU), I suppose that it is possible to do it, like the DDR one, but does anybody have an idea if it can be made in the same way (except for the arrows and center "buttons"...)? |
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east coast fool
Basic Member
Joined: 17 Feb 2004
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| 1648. Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2004 2:00 pm Post subject: |
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How do u add a trickbar to a ddrhomepad designed pad?
I have steel pipes and floor flanges but i do not want to mod the pad too much.(add a completely new frame) I hope it can be comparable to arcade dimensions.
Btw, I may consider building another pad. I want a trickbar and custom lighting and feels most like the arcade. Which pad design is most suitable to accomplish this? (webaddress would be nice)
I saw Patster's pad, it is nice, but is there any instructions rather than pictures?
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Paranoia Survivor
Trick Member
Joined: 22 Jan 2004
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| 1649. Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2004 6:42 pm Post subject: |
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How would u add lights to Riptides Design?
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hooded__paladin
Trick Member
Joined: 10 Nov 2003
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| 1650. Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2004 9:38 pm Post subject: |
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| NeoGoldenBoy wrote: | Hi:
Im new to this forum, but I want to make a dancing pad, I know this community is of DDR, but the pad that I want to do is a pad of Pump It Up (PIU), I suppose that it is possible to do it, like the DDR one, but does anybody have an idea if it can be made in the same way (except for the arrows and center "buttons"...)? |
you can easily change Riptide's design into a PIU pad by building blank panels instead of arrows and vice versa. It's quite simple.
Keep in mind that the arrows will all be equally sized squares, not like the arcade where the corner arrows kind of stick into the center one. Just in case you have to have it PERFECT, because there is no way. |
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Shadow_Dragonz
Trick Member
Joined: 16 Mar 2003
Location: California |
| 1651. Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2004 11:19 am Post subject: |
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| Paranoia Survivor wrote: | | How would u add lights to Riptides Design? |
I do not know myself  , but I do believe that there are a few people that have accomplished it. I think that there was one person that has, or was, documenting it.
You'd have use LED lights or lighs of the about same size, since there isn't that much room underneath the each arrow panel. Also, I think you'd need transistors to get the right current to each LED light or what ever light you choose.
Hopefully someone else can be of more help to you
Shadow_Dragonz
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game3eak
Trick Member
Joined: 17 Feb 2004
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| 1652. Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2004 2:25 pm Post subject: |
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Ok back to my question a couple pages back?
When i build the dance pad do i need to buy both a paddel AND a Mad Katz pad (for the way that it shows up on live) or shold i just use an Xbox or a PSX controler and forget the pad showing up on live?
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Home Slice
Basic Member
Joined: 18 Feb 2004
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| 1653. Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2004 3:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Why would I want to use a control box? |
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Tenesu
Basic Member
Joined: 05 Feb 2004
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| 1654. Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2004 5:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | You'd have use LED lights or lights of the about same size, since there isn't that much room underneath the each arrow panel. Also, I think you'd need transistors to get the right current to each LED light or what ever light you choose.
Hopefully someone else can be of more help to you
Shadow_Dragonz |
You have to use resistors not transistors to make sure the you get the right current and voltage across and through the led and what voltage power supply you have. The resistance you need would depend on the specifications of the led. The benefits are that you only need one 3-9Vish DC power supply going into the pad as opposed to a 120v supply along with not needing relays to turn the led's on and off. The drawback is that they don't light nearly as much area as an incandescent light would.
If you use 120V lights you have to use relays to switch them on or off along with an ~9v DC power supply to trigger the relays. The benefit is that the bulbs are easy to replace (incandescent at least) and are fairly cheap. The drawback is that you have added complexity with the relays and power supplies. |
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Phoenix Flame
Trick Member
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: PA |
| 1655. Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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To make the pad feel the most like an arcade........ I'm sure you can make a few alterations to other people's pad design, as long as it doesn't interfere with the main connections. For example, I'm sure you can take Riptide's design and just make it higher, so that it seems a little bit more like the arcade, or even add more to the back and add a trick bar. The possibilities are endless.....
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Istari Asuka
Trick Member
Joined: 27 Oct 2002
Location: Tucson, AZ |
| 1656. Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 11:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Shadow_Dragonz wrote: |
I do not know myself , but I do believe that there are a few people that have accomplished it.
Shadow_Dragonz |
Well, my pad is of a riptide design (more or less), and it has lights. However, I don't think I have time to write up a guide, as I'm rather busy right now, and because my dad (EE-type) handled that part.
Anyways, as I remember promising lo these many months ago, I made a video of it in action.
Please note, it is really awful quality because bandwidth and such is limited, and the music is fairly faint. This is because the mic on the camera is *very* directional, so it didn't pick up the music so well. Therefore the step sounds are exagerated--they're not actually that loud.
The DWI itself is "Scars of Time" (not the TM4 one), and is fun. If you have the chance, find it and play it. And no making fun of me: it was a bad day for DDR. At least I AA'd it (SM diff 5).
A couple notes on the pad:
You'll notice that on the edges of the pad the frame hasn't been put in yet. This is entirely cosmetic, and thus I've been too lazy to do anything about it.
Also, some of the arrow graphics are not straight anymore. I've double sided sticky tape to fix this, but it's just not worth my time as of now. The graphic just slowly shift between the two layers of plexiglass.
Finally, the pad does warp a tad (mostly vertically). The bottom layer is much thinner and more flexible than in standard riptide designs, and therefore came and is still slightly warped. It has flattened out somewhat with play. I could probably fix it by stacking heavy objects on the edges, but it's completely unnoticable when playing, so I see no reason to bother. It looks bad, but doesn't affect anything.
Anyways, that is my full disclaimer  . |
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Momo -YHB-
Trick Member
Joined: 15 Feb 2003
Location: Killeen, Texas |
| 1657. Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2004 8:19 am Post subject: |
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Hey Istari Asuka, can u take a picture of ur contact design?
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Istari Asuka
Trick Member
Joined: 27 Oct 2002
Location: Tucson, AZ |
| 1658. Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2004 1:31 pm Post subject: |
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| -Momo- wrote: | | Hey Istari Asuka, can u take a picture of ur contact design? |
These pics are taken on the worst digital camera in existance, so they really suck. I managed to make them a tad better in photoshop, but this is the best i can do. These are from the 2nd pad (still underconstruction).
Wiring
More wiring
Close up of a corner
Cords
Scars of Time video
The contact is actually just PC board that has screws going through them into the wood. The groove you see on each piece seperates every other screw from each other on the board (which is conductive), so that they alternate +, -, +, -, etc., meaning that if any 2 ajacent screws both make contact with the metal strip on the plexiglass, it triggers the arrow.
Originally we just put the screws straight into the wood, however this caused problems. The wood isn't very hard, and so some screws would go slightly further into the wood than others and depress the wood slightly, meaning that the arrows weren't all the exact same distance from the plexiglass, which resulted in poor performance. In order to prevent having to tweak every individual screw (like riptide did), we decided to use the PC board. It's large surface area spreads the pressure from the screws, ensuring they're all perfectly level. Also, it meant less wiring, as the PC board is conductive (copper top). The finished pad also has a washer for each screw to raise them up slightly ( on top of the board of course, otherwise it'd defeath the whole purpose).
The plexiglass side of the contact consists of strips of metal that are attached through carpet tape (works great!) and are connected together by a tiny piece of wire. This connection allows triggering if a - screw is hit on one side and a + screw on another side, making the corners more sensitive.
Unlike in a DDRhomepad or the like, where the metal on the plexiglass is half the switch, and thus has to be wired to the controller, it is not in my pad. The screws serve as both, as are just connected by the metal. Practically this lets the arrows be opened up more easily, as the plexiglass is not attached in any way to the pad by wires.
From the picture you can see 2 cords. They are the power cord and the connector. The connector is a 15 pin connector (like on a monitor), and is similar to how the CF works. It can connect either to a PSX control box or to a USB control box, or any other type of control box you made (such as xbox).
The power supply is just a wall wart, much like this one, and is housed entirely inside the pad. Just plug it into the wall and you're good to go.
The pad is also grounded, accomplished by connecting all the metal panels and such with copper tape and from their to the ground wire of the power supply. This was necessary because the first controller got fried (cheap 5$ controller). We've had no problems since grounding it.
Hope this post was somewhat helpful. |
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Home Slice
Basic Member
Joined: 18 Feb 2004
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| 1659. Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2004 3:05 pm Post subject: |
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| How do you use the non-arrow buttons for menus and stuff like that? |
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