My home built metal DDR pad (Part IV)

stickfigureman3 · Trick Member Joined: 24 Jan 2005 Location: Redmond, WA

Well, here's what shows I'm a total n00bish 15-year old who knows little to noghint on wiring stuff together.

In Stoli's design, how do you have a common wire going to each button while having just one wire go back to the controller for the commons? I assume it completes the circuit, and is in that case pretty important.

Any help would be appreciated. And if it was somewhere else in the instructions...well, that's why I'm only 15.
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"Let us whack mightily upon our enemy as the oaken staff assaults an unwary pinata! All for the chocolaty treasures within!" --Javier

deM' · Trick Member Joined: 10 Apr 2005 Location: Southington CT

i dont quite get what your saying in that post, but im assuming the "Common" wire is ground, if so you only need one ground, as in connecting it with any other signal wire will complete that signals circuit. so you could run one ground wire into the pad, and then splice it into 4 and run one for each button, they can all have the same ground, hence the use of the word common

stickfigureman3 · Trick Member Joined: 24 Jan 2005 Location: Redmond, WA

That's probably why I didn't get it. Anyway, the instructions say:

tolookah · Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2005 8:18 pm Post subject:

Electrical paths are a neat thing, consider the common in a circuit as the sewer pipe to a home, all the faucets and washing machines and bathtubs are connected to it, but not directly. Consider your specific signals the pipes that lead to the faucets etc. they can come from different places (eg, water heater, water softener, purifier) but they will all have to go through the common point, the exit. the common you can add wires to and those wires are considered common.

now remember, this is for small signals only, once you get near high power applications, all that i just said goes away (I brushed the surface of the situation, but i think i explained it)

if you have some questions about electronics, check the link in my sig, it covers some really basic electronics useful for DDR pads (and a Ps controller pic )

Edit: to make sence of that, you only need one common coming from the controller, as you can just split off the wire and they are electrically the same point in the circuit, so from one common wire, you can make many.
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Aim: Tolookah
MSN: Tolookah
XBox: Tolookah
DDRPad Soldering and electrical Help: http://www.tolookah.net/DDR/ As hooded_paladin put it: "Currently, help for Beatpad Pro, official Sony Playstation Controller and ANY controller unless you are extremely stupid or lazy."

slvrshdw · Trick Member Joined: 05 Jan 2005

to stickfigureman3:

AIM me, ill help

(if im away leave a message)

ive gotten the wiring down in the pad, and got a riptide based pad, but its basically the same wiring...

just AIM me (anyone else can too)
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stoli · Trick Member Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Location: Southern NH

Here is one way of looking at it:

Wiring 1

... and here is another:

Wiring 2

For those of you who want to see the other 98 ways, ask slvrshdw.

-Stoli
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My Chrome Pad Website

SHSbrando · Basic Member Joined: 23 Aug 2004

ok, i am not new to the whole pad building scene because i have built one before, [url]http://www.angelfire.com/games5/shsbrando/

But i do have a question, i am remaking 2 more pads and i think i am going with stoli's design and i want to be able to play DWI as well as XBOX and PS2. The PS2 and XBOX controllers are set because i can plug which ever one i am playing into the ethernet port on the side of the pad. But I was wondering, should I just go and buy a USB adaptor for the PS2 controller or wire through a keyboard (my friend has done it so it wont be that hard). And lastly will the USB adaptor be compatable with DWI

thanks for answering the questions

tolookah · Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 3:17 pm Post subject:

SHS, that's easier done than said

check here: http://www.xbox-scene.com/articles/xbox-usb-xbox-cable.php
or here: http://www.xbox-scene.com/articles/xbox-to-usb.php
and you will be plugging your xbox controller right into the computer, much cheaper than an adapter and it shows up as a gamepad in windows, so it should be recognizable in DWI
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Aim: Tolookah
MSN: Tolookah
XBox: Tolookah
DDRPad Soldering and electrical Help: http://www.tolookah.net/DDR/ As hooded_paladin put it: "Currently, help for Beatpad Pro, official Sony Playstation Controller and ANY controller unless you are extremely stupid or lazy."

stickfigureman3 · Trick Member Joined: 24 Jan 2005 Location: Redmond, WA

Well, so far I haven't started on my pad (I'm trying to make sure I know EXACTLY what to do before I start) and I've hit another wall; I don't have a router to cut a trench for the wire! Is there any way to bypass this and use a different tool to create a similar trench? Or should I just jigsaw all the way through and leave the wires exposed?
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"Let us whack mightily upon our enemy as the oaken staff assaults an unwary pinata! All for the chocolaty treasures within!" --Javier

Synaesthesia · Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 5:10 pm Post subject:

Is a wire trench a Stoli pad trick? I didn't need one, and half my wires are wrapped thickly in aluminum foil.
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im a lasagna whale

G_G

stickfigureman3 · Trick Member Joined: 24 Jan 2005 Location: Redmond, WA

Pretty much. I'm pretty sure Stoli's pad has little to no room underneath the panels, so the trench is basically there to make sure everything fits in cleanly and doesn't get crushed.
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"Let us whack mightily upon our enemy as the oaken staff assaults an unwary pinata! All for the chocolaty treasures within!" --Javier

SHSbrando · Basic Member Joined: 23 Aug 2004

I got a question for anyone who has built stoli's pad design. Do you have to put the X and O buttons on the pad,or could you leave them out and just make it with 4 buttons? Or will this screw up the design.

thanks again

Synaesthesia · Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 7:25 pm Post subject:

stickfigureman3, is there no room between arrow and non arrow panels? Becuase that's where my wires run--in the space between the panels' support rails, respectively.
_________________

im a lasagna whale

G_G

stickfigureman3 · Trick Member Joined: 24 Jan 2005 Location: Redmond, WA

I'm pretty sure that the Stoli design has all the panels either screwed directly into the plywood base or stuck on with an adhesive. If that is the case (which it looks like it is), since I don't have a router, I'd probably just have to make a trench with a jigsaw and just leave the wires hanging out.
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"Let us whack mightily upon our enemy as the oaken staff assaults an unwary pinata! All for the chocolaty treasures within!" --Javier

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

Don't cut a trench all the way through the bottom piece of plywood. That would destroy the pad's integrity. I can think of a few ways to do it.

Probably the easiest would be to cut the hardboard panels about 1/8" smaller. This would leave a 1/4" gap between the panels (a big enough trench to run the wires in). You would need to get creative where the wires pass from the top border into the pad, but it could be done. For instance, if you were going to mount a controller on the top border like I did, mount it between the up arrow and the O so the wires would line up with the trench. That way, you would only need to do some creative drilling in the top border to make a route for the wire.

Another way is to use a utility knife to cut out grooves in the bottom plywood big enough to run two or three wires in. This way, instead of running all the wires in a single, routed, trench, you just have several smaller trenches with a few wires in each.

Another way would be to run the wires on the bottom of the pad and drill holes through the plywood to bring the wires up to the switches. If you did this, you would need another layer of wood (maybe 1/4") that would elevate the pad enough so that the wires would not be crushed - in essence you would be making a trench in this additional layer on the bottom of the pad. It could easily be some simple strips of something like DDR Homepad uses. Space them a few inches apart, and run the wires in one of the spaces between the strips. If you did this, you would have to take the extra pad thickness into consideration when you wrap the metal border covering around the outside and to the bottom of the pad.

slvrshdw · Trick Member Joined: 05 Jan 2005

about the trench with a router...

on riptides pad, the wires arent even a problem..another reason why i like it...

and i can help instead of just stoli on his pad

any questions?:::AIM=jdp898989
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stupidbarber · Trick Member Joined: 28 Feb 2005

Ulala321 · Trick Member Joined: 28 Sep 2004

Stoli, quick ? for ya. In your final steps you say:

I thread a 3/8" length of "Super Blue Silicon Fuel Tubing" which I found at a local Hobby Shop for $1 per foot on to each screw. The outside diameter of the tubing is 1/4". You could also use generic rubber tubing from your local hardware store. It is cheaper but more rigid and does not provide as much cushion, but will work if you can't get the silicon tubing.

So, I couldn't get the silicon tubing at Home Depot, and they didn't have black rubber tubing either. Do you think vinyl tubing will work? It seems a little stiff, but I'm hoping it'll work against the lucite anyway. It was 99 cents for 10 feet... do you think there's any reason why it wouldn't work? Thanks!

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

Ulala321 · Trick Member Joined: 28 Sep 2004

It's fairly rubbery, so should be fine. Thanks!