My konami softpad mod

syph7 · Basic Member Joined: 07 Aug 2006

Hello all.

I'm a very beginner player. I just bought the xbox ultramix bundle last week. Playing with the stock soft pad on a carpet was just no fun at all. I could not get better than a D even on 2 foot light songs. So I found this site and looked at what others had done by mounting on boards. I did basically this but I used some shock absorbing foam between. It's meant to put in work areas where you would be on your feet for longs periods. I was worried just having a plain board would hurt my ankles and knees.

Anyway, I threw up a page to show what I did. This only took me 3 hours and I did it all this morning. Simple but effective. With this the same songs i was failing and getting D's, I'm getting B's now... so I'm much happier and having much more fun.

Anyways, here is the page if anyone is interested.

http://pdainitiative.com/ddr/

Cheers!

maxx freak · Trick Member Joined: 09 Aug 2005

All you need to do is put extra foam under the arrow buttons to raise them and you have a homemade ignition! Or put extra foam under the O,X,Triangle, and square buttons and the center area and you have an arcade style platform with recessed buttons! (Note: do not put too much, maybe a quarter inch or so)

syph7 · Basic Member Joined: 07 Aug 2006

You know.. I never even thought of that, but that's a fantastic idea. That foam I got only comes in 1/2" thick pieces, but I'll take another look to see if I can get something thinner.

red shoe paul · Vivid Member Joined: 24 Nov 2003 Location: Location:

Great job buddy, perfect example of a home made Ignition.

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Anguirel · Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 9:40 am Post subject:

That's pretty much the exact same mod I did to my Naki DPR2 pad. It worked great for about 8 months. Even then, the pad worked fine, but the cover was starting to wear out (ie: holes in the top layer of the pad). I didn't use double sided tape though, I just used duct tape.
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Share and Enjoy!

ceraf · Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 2:10 pm Post subject:

i'd say, this > ignition

i was thinking of doing this before, but then i decided to just make my own from scratch.

i'm often worried about raised button mods from sensor wear from the edges of what you raise it with. i've seen some hardboard mods underneath each arrow, and i always wondered about how long it would take for the bottom of the mat to rip.

seeth · Basic Member Joined: 14 Aug 2006

I just did this today and its looks great. It ended up looking really sleek with the matching black duct tape border. At Home Depot around me (SoCal) they didn't have the foam you used. So I had to use the expensive (20$) one from Sports Chalet. But in the end it was worth the extra bucks. Thanks for the tutorial!

Bemani Dog · Trick Member Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Location: Orlando, FL

When I got my first soft pad, I modded it using the pegboard mod. I sandwiched it between pegboard and individual pieces of plexiglass. It worked great, but it was unwieldy, so I eventually pawned it off on a family friend and got an Ignition Pad.

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Notice how thin and weak we are.

syph7 · Basic Member Joined: 07 Aug 2006

Glad my softpad mod was some help to others. I actually only used it for about a week. It worked perfectly though actually. What happened was I saw others who built the metal pads, and since im a tinkerer, I impulseively had to try. It ended up turning out great, but I butchered my softpad for the circuit board.

http://pdainitiative.com/ddrmetal/

So lets see its been about 3 wks since i was introduced to DDR, and ive done a softpad and metal pad now... I think I'll do some playing now before I build anything else.. lol

Cheers

soniku · Basic Member Joined: 09 May 2006

@syph7 i like ur simple metal pad design if possible could you give me a parts list and a measurements of the parts

BTW how much did this cost you

ceraf · Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 8:48 pm Post subject:

i'm just worried about that aluminum foil, but for a month into ddr, it should last a while.

You may want to opt for sheet metal as contacts in the future. overall, an awesome job!

syph7 · Basic Member Joined: 07 Aug 2006

Hey all...

Ya you live and learn right. The foil lasted all of 2 days. I replaced the foil with 1" by 2" sheet metal rectangles in each corner. I mounted the sheet metal with foam mounting tape to absorb some shock. The only reason i used foil to start with was that i wanted it to be silent, but i was happy to find the sheet metal mod is also silent using the foam mounting tape.

As for materials.. I think most of its pretty obvious, but this it was I used.

4' by 4' 3/4 inch plywood (20-40 bucks depending on quality)
2' by 3' of 26 gauge galvinized sheet metal
3/8 inch hardboard ( i acutlly used 2 thinner pieces together)
4x 1/16" by 11" by 14" pieces of lexan
16x stanely brackets
4x 5/8" spring mount normally open momentary buttons
1 donor xbox pad

The main board is cut to 33" by 33". Wood squares, hardboard and lexan cut to 10 7/8 square... the rest is just tweaking.

I've been abusing it lately, works very well. The whole project cost about 150 for materials.. but i spent another 100 on tools i needed.. dremel/drill bits etc.. so what you need depends on what you dont have. As for time, I'd say 50 hrs total, well worth every second tho.. i love this thing. Im very glad i ditched the border idea.. i like it small and thin, plus it would have cost more to cover a border with more metal.

I'm currently working on a removable bar addon.

Cheers

ChilliumBromide · Trick Member Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Location: Beaverton, OR