Modding your Soft Pad into a Hard Pad for less than $20

[256kbs]

Ok, so you cheap bastards bought your soft pads... You know they suck but you arent about to drop $200 for a metal pad... So what do you do? Mod it, duh!

So, this is my simple guide... Its really just a knock-off of someone's other project, but Ill go a little more indepth.


Supplies

-Wood: For most pads, you will need a 3ft by 3.5ft board. Now, I know your cheap, but you cant be too cheap. If you end up getting crappy would, it is liable to split and ruin your pad. I found this pressed board for $16... It was really heavy and think, but because it was pressed, it was perfectly smooth. I bought it from Home Depot, it was in a 16x8 sheet and I got it cut for free (Just look around in the lumber section, they'll cut it for you for free!) to two 3x3.5 sheets.

-Durable Plastic Cover: This is what will go over your pad. I bought this stuff used to cover up hardwood flooring or carpet for protecton... It was ribbed with grip (good because I cant lose grip now) and very thick. My original idea was to use a chair mat for carpet, but they sucked and were $35 each. I went with this durable (yet flexible) stuff that was $.89 a foot. Make sure it could with stand a good beating from your feet.

-Scissors or Exacto Knife: Get something that you are good at cutting a straight line with.

-Double Sided Carpet Tape: This will be holding your pad to the wood. This stuff is cheap and you wont need that much.

-Scoth Duct Tape (Clear): While it isnt completely translucent, its a decent break from the regular duct tape.


Instructions

Ok, onto the building!

First, lay out your dance pad on your wood. Line it up and trace the dance pad on to the wood. Remove your dance pad and take out your double sided tape.

Line the inside edges (so your dance pad will stick to the tape) with the double sided tape.

Using whatever method you prefer for getting your dance pad on the tape, do it. Make sure there are no wrinkles or creases in your pad.


Now that you have your pad on, go ahead and tape down your pad with the duct tape. This isnt really needed, but extra protection hasnt hurt yet.


Now for the "fun" part. Get your durable stuff and measure it out. Chance are, it doesnt fit your dance pad exactly. This is where Mr. Exacto comes in. Use your exacto knife to cut pieces off and fix them so they match your board.

I would recomend taping everything up to the max.


Well you cheap bastard, pat yourself on the back for making a mediocre hard pad. It does pretty good, surprisingly.


Pictures

[ghosx]

I think I used the same wood as you and I had some of that plastic stuff that goes under hard wood floors too. BTW I have a UM2 bundle pad.

first I cut out some of that plastic the laid it out over the peice of wood then measured where the arrows are on the pad then I cut out where the arrows would be.

after that I had a little left over plastic the I cout out little strips to go around the arrows so I can feel where they are. which feels good and better than before.

I duct taped the plastic to the wood and mad sure it was as tight as possible. After that I duct taped the pad over the plastic and worked out fine... but still is a peice of crap! since it is all unresponsive becaseu I played my pad to death!


Remember... if women dont find you hansome... they sure will find you handy! (red green)

another way you can convert your soft into a hard is the same is get some wood use the same steps and just order replacement arrows of the actual DDR pads or cobalt flux... the cobalt flux is about 16 dollars for replacement arrows. I wanna see someone do this but I live in canada and it is hard to get stuff from the us without paying for shipping costs to go over the border.
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what happened?!?!?!

[Rychan]

FAQs are your friends. Maybe if this one is different enough, you should submit it toward becoming a contributor.
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The "Rychan" Ignition Pad Modification | DeviantArt

[ghosx]

[Rat Boy]

this is cheap and sexy like whoah...I GOTTA TRY IT
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Vangulus The Great wrote:

Rat Boy wrote: mmmk here...in daikenkai at the end it sounds like he's saying "don't cum if i suck your dick" *listens* Holy sh*t it does sound like it. And to think the real ones aren't that much different.

[256kbs]

Hmm, mine isnt unresponisve, but I love this soft pad compared to the ones that come with the PS2. Bleh, those PS2 pads SUCK!

[fenwick]

hmmmmm...... Well that looks perfect for what i want to do to my pad, except 1 thing. The one thing is that I want some foamy cushion under my feet while dancing on that. I'm looking at doing just that but somehow adding some foamy stuff that they put under carpet between the wood and the pad, and also making it possible to feel where my feet are by certain areas being raised up. Anyways, All I need is some of that clear stuff, and some foamies, I already have clear duct tape, wood, and the pad. I willl have to mod my DDR pad by this weekend, or else i may die.

[Threadstopper!]

Would the wood put extra pressure and stress on the foam, and decrease its life?

There's also the problem of portability. One of the advantages of a soft flat is that you can stow it away when the pad is not in use, or fold it up and bring it to a friend's house. That is much harder if there's a big fat piece of wood stuck to it.

[Mr_Blasty]

I cut out cardboard arcade-arrows between the plastic and the pad on mine. It's the REAL cheap-bastard arcade feel. That cardboard gives you some nice tactile feedback
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10=footer's beaten as of 9/25/04
MAX300=B
MAXX UNLIMITED=D
BAG=A (BAG AA with 1.5 speed mod)
SAKURA=A
Paranoia Survivor=C
Paranoia Survivor MAX=D
The Legend of Max=C

[fenwick]

I did the same thing and it works!!!!! Instead of nice wood I went to Lowe's and got a piece of this "hardboard" crap. Anyways, I found the worst looking piece and asked if we could get it for less cuz its "defective". The guy says "sure how much you want it for?" I said"Free" but he thought i said "3" so I got a big peice of hardboard and had it cut for $3 plus tax. Then I went to the carpet section and I found that plastic floor cover stuff for 98cents a foot. and it was 3 feet wide. I get 6 feet. So anyways I end up paying only 5.88 plus tax for plastic stuff. So now i got all I need cept duct tape and packaging tape which I got at home, soit cost me only 8.88 plus 6% sales tax is


9 dollars and 41.28 cents.

so i got a really good dealyo!

[Maxx301]

woot i got all of this stuff for 8 dollars
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[Wilshire]

Have a look at this mod that I made. (It seems a little more relevent to the topic, though it cost about $40 to make)
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I have nightmares of double steps where chaos fills the air and bars are raped continuously.

[slvrshdw]

WHOA...dude thats awesome

can u get anmore pics tho?

im gonna have to try this after i get the ignition to work again..

btw..anyone curious what the ignition 2.0 look like on the inside?
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[Akira_247]

OMG you thief!

I did the almost EXACT same mod as yours to my pads!! Except one thing I sould add! 256kbs no doubt your feat hurt a little from hitting the wood so much!

*Optional

Take and old towel and lay 1 layer of it all over the pad. This will make it softer(I did this to one of my pads and the other one hurts my feet after awhile) Then measuer arrows and cut two square towel pieces from the measurement(I reccomend making 1 larger than the other so you can put it on top and it wont slide alot. Put it directly under the arrows and duct tape. Feel free to use as much as you want so they dont slip.

There you go a soft(er) pad and slightly raised arrows!