How do soft pads work?

[eyebrowsoffire]

I need some general information on how soft pads register steps. My pad is acting up, and maybe if I understand how it works, I can fix it. Anything you can tell me is helpful. Thank you!
_________________

qkumbr wrote:

this man knows what the fuck is up. give him some tokens.

rampage wrote:

I'd like to sanction some qkumbr tokens for eyebrowsoffire.

It's official, people. I have qkumbr tokens.
My tiny little NNR is open for business! Challenges wanted!

[Tomo_kun]

Do you understand how a switch works?


Its basically a switch, but it use's foam between the contacts.
_________________

Cutriss wrote:

FLCL, God of Gods wrote: Uh... so when do we get the porn forum? If you can't find porn on the Internet, you're not trying.

[logos]

Has anyone ever posted pictures of what soft pads look inside? I believe I seen some before -- those could be quite helpful for people who want to understand how pads work, or how to remedy problems of defunct soft pads.

If these pictures aren't around anymore, I'll post pics of my pad when ever the time comes to service it. But, that unfortunately won't be for some time I would imagine.

logos

[Sinistar]

I have a couple, but they're not all that exciting.

Here's a shot showing the foam layer being pulled away from the plastic contact sheet.

Here's the ground contact sheet itself.

And finally, here is the top portion of the bottom layer that has the switch contacts.

Basic construction is that you have two layers of plastic sheet with conductive traces painted on each. Between these two layers is a layer of foam containing several holes between the sheets for each arrow/button switch. When you step on the switch, you're pushing the top plastic layer into the holes to contact with the bottom plastic layer, completing the circuit, and causing the switch to trigger.

Soft pad problems often occur because the painted traces become severed in some way or the layers within the pad shift to the point where the three layers are no longer lined up properly.
_________________

CF cbox mods and more at the 'Pad'

[eyebrowsoffire]

Thank you all! You were extremely helpful!
_________________

qkumbr wrote:

this man knows what the fuck is up. give him some tokens.

rampage wrote:

I'd like to sanction some qkumbr tokens for eyebrowsoffire.

It's official, people. I have qkumbr tokens.
My tiny little NNR is open for business! Challenges wanted!

[Molobolo]

LOL! good job messing up that beatpad (those peices of crap), Wow they looked diffrent then i thought, Wheres the O-so called switch?

[Sinistar]

The switch isn't a physical switch. It's just the contact made by the two plastic layers containing the traces.

Those traces lead back to the circuit board in the controller housing (plastic box at the top of the pad).

I think I've torn apart 4 Beat Pads now so I could use their boards for Xbox control boxes.
_________________

CF cbox mods and more at the 'Pad'