My home built metal DDR pad (Part IV)

stoli · Trick Member Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Location: Southern NH

Well, I haven't been to the site in a few days and was just catching up to see how some of you guys are doing. Some of the recent posts imply that I am tired of your questions. Not sure how that message was conveyed but for the record, I don't mind a bit. Actually, I don't think anyone has asked me anything directly in a while. I would like to second a comment that slvrShdw made...

"im sure that people like asking people what exactly to do, so they dont screw it up..like i did at first ... and i know that NO ONE wants to look thru 200 pages of old forum stuff."

The forum is here for a reason. Might as well use it. Worst that can happen is nobody responds to your question, right? If I, or anyone else was tired of the questions, or redundancy, we wouldn't have to come back to the site, would we. It's not like there is anything else more important going on in this thread. It seems to be getting used exactly as it was intended.

Hey shadow - you mentioned that your pad doesn't work when you wear shoes. Why not? What is happening?

-Stoli
_________________

My Chrome Pad Website

slvrshdw · Trick Member Joined: 05 Jan 2005

ya..i dont mind helping people too

in fact, after TEN HOURS STRAIGHT of working (about), i think i FINALLY got it working perfectly..and it even has a control box somewhat based on the arcade, course i still cant play WITH shoes

and i still have no idea why i cant play my pad without shoes..i think it may have something to do with the weatherstripping i used..
ill try to put some more in later and see if that helps or not

my friend came over yesterday and we worked on it for about 5 hrs
then today we worked from 12 noon- 10 pm, with a lunch break and some store shopping for equipment...but it took so @#$%^& long

and from now on NO ONE EVER USE A WIRELESS PAD!!!!!!!!![u] i cant stress that enough now
it was almost done but then the stupid wireless pad thing had to screw up
so then i was forced to go out and buy a $20 ps2 dance pad and butcher that..and u NEED to test each spot before u solder the stuff, becuz they are NOT the same as all the other pads (circuit board)

basically i wasted about 3 hrs today just trying to get the wireless pad to work, when later i just ended up buying the wired one

now i NEED to type up a list of recommendations, MUST-DOs, etc...

oh ya..now ill be able to use this pad for my friends b-day party (ddr fest, he was the one helping me)

wow..such a long post

_________________

steve771 · Trick Member Joined: 03 Mar 2005 Location: Nevada

Yep, gotta second (or third) the concept of a forum being for discussion, even if it is repetitive at times. You always have the choice of not responding. Some people are quick to pull that trigger "this is getting old, been asked, etc.", but I can understand not wanting to wade thru 200+ pages and trying to make sense of it all (although I will admit to reading most of them, how could one ever retain it all?). Ok, off the soapbox...

Got my pad DONE!!!

I'll try to get a web page up so I can post a pic. Been meaning to do that but it just gets put off.

Some observations:

Man, this was a pain to do. Tolerances aren't super critical, but it is extremely important to be very, very close. Close work = time, and a lot of it. You should really love building stuff, and don't expect to save much money (especially factoring the time factor in). I had to buy a couple tools, so it was a wash IF I had a pad I could buy that suited me. I built mine because I really didn't see a product out there that I was confident would work the way I wanted. Soft pads just aren't very good, IMHO. If you like them, great, no offense. I liked the feel of them, but the response wasn't what I wanted. Metals... well, I was unsure, and it seemed like a lot of money at the time. What if those didn't hold up either?

Ok, to the good... the pad I built is responsive, leaving no doubt as to whether you hit the pad or missed. I like the way it works. I find socks best for me, as shoes don't give me that feel of where I am on the pad. However, it is also tougher on the feet, but not horrible, and I think I'll get used to it. I'm still not very good, but I know it's me, not the pad.

Bottom line is I would do it again, given no alternative. However, the new pad coming out by Red Octane looks interesting. I would wait for a review before going either way.

Finally, thanks to all for all the advice/info/thoughts!

Klott · Trick Member Joined: 15 Apr 2005

Alright, this might be a stupid question, but with what do you guys secure the weather stripping and the mousepad/foamcore with? Just regular glue?

Im in my final stretch of the pad.. This project DID actually stretch a bit too long... I dont like school

HyperStepz · Trick Member Joined: 03 Feb 2002 Location: idaho falls, id

i just finished my pad today, and it looks excellent. it took approximately 15 hours from start to finish. i haven't put any graphics in between the panels yet.

my only problem:
the right arrow seems to have a delay and ghost stepping, all of the other arrows work fine.

klott:
the weatherstripping should have a sticky side. i didn't secure the foamcore as it was going to have screws in it eventually.

mikieson · Trick Member Joined: 14 Nov 2003

I have downloaded riptides videos but i dont get a video. I do get sound. It says its just avi. I figured any player would play that kind of file?....Any help

daitenshi · Trick Member Joined: 11 May 2004

You are just missing some codecs. I don't know what it uses exactly... Try downloading a better player like mplayer or bsplayer or soemthing, or get gspot and find the codecs needed.

slvrshdw · Trick Member Joined: 05 Jan 2005

i just used windows media player to play mine

the weatherstripping i used had the sticky side on it too
if not, use like hot glue, thats what i did on the mousepad i used (its hard to get off tho)

Garcia · Basic Member Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Location: Brazil

In the start of each chapter the divx logo appears on the bottom of the screen, so probably www.divx.com has everything you need. But you don't really need a better player for it, Windows Media Player worked fine for me.

And another thing.. In the end of the video, where riptide is dancing, are the "knock" noises 100% from the contacts under the arrows hitting the screws (he's not wearing shoes or anything..)? If so, is there a way to make it less noisy?
I built a pad a while ago, where the contacts are 2 pieces of sheetmetal (like Stoli's), and 30% of the noise I hear is from the contacts, the other 70% is from your feet hitting the pads, very quiet... But in my project it had some inconveniences that Riptide's contact style wouldn't have, so the next pad I build, if there is a way to make it less noisy, I'll go with Riptide's

slvrshdw · Trick Member Joined: 05 Jan 2005

ok..i got a few pics to show

i kno that the sheet metal sqaures are beat up, but oh well..
i might replace them ALOT later...its just been so long since ive actually played..
what do u think of my custom box?
does it look good? (it took a while to get it working)

its very nice to play on..and ive noticed the 1 by 2 i used for the support on the box shakes when u play

i still need a border on it tho..my friend hurt his ankle on it..

_________________

slvrshdw · Trick Member Joined: 05 Jan 2005

sorry for double posting..but i pressed the submit instead of preview for the pics..

i guess i pasted the wrong url

oh well, u get the point

_________________

Plautus · Trick Member Joined: 17 Oct 2002

latindude88wpg · Trick Member Joined: 12 Nov 2004 Location: winnipeg, mb

hey guys,

i haven't been here in a while, so here we go:

stoli - i completely agree with your view on what a forum is for, but i still think that people should read a few pages before asking can this be used for xbox too? or stuff that has been answered a zillion times. i'm glad you have been answering questions though (and that's a sweet looking pad too)

slvrshdw - i had the same problem you had, being unable to play without shoes. i just lowered the arrows a little bit, and found out that when i play shoeless i'm a bit afraid to stomp. then i had trouble dancing with shoes, due to some static weirdness, but that went away after a while. i love your control box, btw. it's a really neat idea to have it set up like that, otherwise you lose it (true, sad story). is there a way to deattach it though, like, if you wanted to move it somewhere else?

klott - the weather stripping i bought has a sticky side on the bottom, you just peel a piece off paper off.

mikieson - try downloading the divx codec. http://www.divx.com/

plautus - so you just want the exact same thing as the afterburner? i could probably give that a shot at the end of the week. just pm me if you have any other requirements. i made a blue-matrix design for my pads and i think it looks quite different. here are some pics:

sorry about the long post, have a great night!

Plautus · Trick Member Joined: 17 Oct 2002

latindude88wpg · Trick Member Joined: 12 Nov 2004 Location: winnipeg, mb

hey,

well, i started making the graphics and to be honest with you, they look crappy, so i'll keep trying.

the light in the centre is the latindude's patented crotch light. see, my pad is hooked up to my computer and i have it so the lights flash to the beat of the music (there's a tutorial i wrote somewhere based on cnlohr's idea and a lot of people came up with a bunch of sweet ideas).

i built the pad last year, in november. i forgot to change the date in the pictures). i've had two problems (looks-wise, that is):

- the paint got scratched (mostly because my pad became part of the party-mobile, long story), but it seems to be resistant to normal use (i play with shoes all the time). it's just cheap glossy spray paint.

- the arrows faded away, mostly because they got printed on crappy photo paper.

HyperStepz · Trick Member Joined: 03 Feb 2002 Location: idaho falls, id

i hunted for a similar problem and after an hour of searching, i gave up.

well everything was working, for about 5 minutes. i'm pretty experienced with soldering btw. i've gone through a couplelof controllers with proper soldering technique, and i'm still having trouble. while sitting in the menu for my ps2, the triangle square X and O buttons are randomly triggered. this is a gigantic pain in the butt while trying to navigate a menu in DDR. the controller i am using is the same as Stoli's and i followed his soldering chart. my homemade pad is a ddrhomepad design. btw, all of the arrows respond properly.

any suggestions?

thanks in advance
-hyperstepz

Plautus · Trick Member Joined: 17 Oct 2002

The Afterburner-style arrows captivated my attention, and while I've never seen one in person or even played ITG, I spent the better part of an evening on these, and if they look as pretty printed as they do in my graphics software, I'm thinking these are my arrows, even if they aren't perfect replicas.

Click the arrow for the larger version.

300dpi seems more than most people use for arrow graphics; I suppose I could post smaller ones if it were a problem...

JediJesseS · Basic Member Joined: 05 Feb 2005

Hey all, just had a question I thought somebody would be able to answer. I built my pads with xbox dance pad controllers, and then made an xbox to usb converter. The pad works great for a bit, and then the USB unmounts itself and stops working until I unplug it and plug it back in. This does not happen if I don't wear shoes while I play. People have said this is a static buildup, and that seems to make sense.
The pad works perfect on Xbox, and a regular Xbox controller works perfect with the converter I made. So my question is, how have people fixed this problem in the past? Where exactly does the static build up? I used aluminum flashing for my non-steps and Lucite for my steps. I've tried adding resistors to the circuit, and that seems to help it last longer, any suggestions on the amount of resistance that would be appropriate? The problem seems to just be with the USB so anyone with knowledge about that would be great!
I'll post some more about the pads and design later, first I wanna see if I can get this to work!

Pictures!
https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/slowikow/shared/pad.jpg
https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/slowikow/shared/AA.jpg (Skulk Heavy)

Heffenfeffer · Trick Member Joined: 22 Apr 2002 Location: Las Cruces, NM

HyperStepz · Trick Member Joined: 03 Feb 2002 Location: idaho falls, id

i tried another psone controller, and i'm still having troubles. now it's like my left arrow is constantly being pressed, ie. i press right and it immediately triggers left again. i no longer have random button registers though. this is a controller/wiring issue again because my arrows are all taken apart right now as to make testing easier. i'd think the only reason it would do this would be both the left and ground contacts on the pcb are soldered together...but the naked eye can see that they aren't.
[/confusion]

Heffenfeffer:
i appreciate your input a lot. as for a soft pad, what make/model would you recommend?