My home built metal DDR pad (Part IV)

willburz · Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 1:26 pm Post subject:

How would I use my old Afterburner control box instead of the PSX controler? I'm not too good at this kind of stuff so any help would be great.
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MuffinFlesh · Basic Member Joined: 24 Jul 2006

hey...im having trouble with my dance pad.i just made my own metal one following riptides design,and every button seems too work,except no matter what screen im on,when i press the start button,it restarts the game.the other problem im having is whenever a song starts,it INSTANTLY,like right when the thing finishes loading,says i failed.Im not sure if anyone has had any of these problems before,but i dont have time to browse 270 pages(even if ive already looked at about half of em).help please?

slvrshdw · Trick Member Joined: 05 Jan 2005

it sounds like the start/select buttons are wired together or both are constantly "on"

anyway, id just check the wiring on that; that should be the problem
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MuffinFlesh · Basic Member Joined: 24 Jul 2006

oh..ok but does that explain the restart?the select button works when pressed alone,the game restarts when start is pressed,and the song says failed when it starts.but ill try that.respond if you have a different theory now that ive given more info.please >.>

EDIT:well...i just checked the connection.the wires definately were not crossing,but the soldering looked sorta loose on the select button,so i pulled it a lil and the solder came off,leaving behind what looked like the copper that i scraped was burnt.also,i didnt see any problems with the start wires or anything...but that was the button that seemed to be causing the problem...suggestions?

EDIT(again):ok,i fixed that problem.the buttons i was using were monentary off buttons,the guy at radioshack handed me the wrong thing and i didnt think to check

anyway,i got constant on switches and it worked perfect,but now the right button isnt working...there seems to be a short in the circuit

guess im gona have to replace the controller board.oh well,i have 6 extra

well bbl,gona test it.(im only 14,im surprised im almost done

)

sorry for this but...EDIT(YES AGAIN):welll...now ive gone through 4 controllers.sony was too small,2 of them short circuited,and one just didnt work.ive searched around for the mad catz controllers...buti wanted to get peoples opinions first.also,i looked for the gamestop 3rd party controller that ddrhomepads design uses,and i ordered 3 off of their site on July 7th,and they were still back ordered on july 27th,so i canceled the order.anyone got any good controllers to get,or can just tell me a link that has the gamestop controller or somethin?
kthnx

slvrshdw · Trick Member Joined: 05 Jan 2005

k, well i have used the mad catz one....

its worked just fine

anyway, too many edits :-p (hahaha)
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MuffinFlesh · Basic Member Joined: 24 Jul 2006

xD

could you hook me up with a linky to wherever you got it from?

hoshikaze · Basic Member Joined: 05 Aug 2006

woohoo!! i can post now!!

(for some reason it was saying i had to wait a day. weirdness.)

okay, here's the deal: over a year ago my beloved and i built our own ddr pad. it was the classic metal pad design and it worked great.

last night we pulled it out to try it again and found something very confusing... the arrow buttons work on the menus but do not register for the songs. it's about 1 in 50 arrows that doesn't get a boo, and i know i'm not THAT bad or out of practice.

i tried stepping harder and i tried stepping lighter. neither method helped. the arrow buttons in the controller work for the songs, so that's even more confusing to me.

oh, and we tried two different ddr games to make sure it wasn't the disc.

any ideas? my sweetheart wants to take it apart today, but neither of us know what to look for.

slvrshdw · Trick Member Joined: 05 Jan 2005

well, looks like you beat me to it!

anyway, i really dont have a clue; thats just weird

i have no idea what to tell you, except get a new dance pad for the pcb?
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hoshikaze · Basic Member Joined: 05 Aug 2006

what's a pcb? *

* is that the wiring? we used an old ps1 controller the first go round, and i'm sure he'd prefer not to have redo all the wiring if it can be avoided.

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

cr4zy · Basic Member Joined: 03 Jun 2005

hello guys...

I put running my homemade and I try to find information about rail... anyone have the rail size and the place to put?

it help me so much ^^

thx anyway

HitokiriX · Trick Member Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Location: Berwyn, PA

DARREN HAYEZ · Trick Member Joined: 13 Apr 2006 Location: Michigan

Okay. This is going to be a long post. I'm not satisfied with my RO3, and I don't have enough money for a CF or anything, so I've been thinking about making a pad for a long time. I found a design I really liked yesterday, and today I remembered I had the control board from my old Game Stop softpad. However, I have NO experience with building things, wiring, or anything of the sort. So I have some questions.

- What is the difficulty of making a pad?
- How much does the average metal pad cost?
- What exactly is sodering and what do you need to do it?
- Are there any alternatives to sodering?
- Are homemad pads better than store bought pads?
- How hard would it be to make a bar for the pad?

And lastly, I have a (crappy camera phone) picture of my Game Stop control board. Could someone tell me which thing is which button? (I'm assuming I'd need to scrape the black stuff off.)

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HitokiriX · Trick Member Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Location: Berwyn, PA

slvrshdw · Trick Member Joined: 05 Jan 2005

cool, a gamestop board too ;-)

ya, i used one of those too, you DONT need to scrape it off

just be careful and drill small holes in each of the contacts

then push the wire thru, fold it and solder it (soldering it is the hard part)

but it works perfectly fine after that
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Robopop · Basic Member Joined: 13 Aug 2006

I purchased the components for the home pad by DDRHP but im confused about the thickness of the plywood base for the metal squares that are not touch pads. He listed the plywood thickness as 1/2 " thick, but if I add up the thickness of the completed arrow pads it would be about 3/4 " thick, which is way above the non arrow pads.
My measurements come from 1/4 " peg board
plus 1/4 inch thick weather strip or mouse pad
plus the 2, 26 gauge metal plates for switches
plus 2 lexan panels at 3/32" each = 6/32" with paper insert
which comes up to a resting thickness of about 3/4"
I assume that if the bottom of both the switch panels and the non switch panels were to lye evenly on 1' stock the switches would be squeezing heavily against the corner braces because they are thicker. or will be sitting lower than the non switch panels causing the gal panels to float. Was it a typo and should I be using 3/4 " ply for the gal covered panel's??

One more thing, He mentioned using 1" x 3" MDF for the bottom rails did He mean 3/4 inch thick stock? because home depot doesn't seem to have anything that is 1 " thick

sorry to ask this but i want to do it right before starting.
Robo...........
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Robopop

syph7 · Basic Member Joined: 07 Aug 2006

Hey guys, after reading most of this thread I started building a metal pad. Its not really modelled after anyone in particular, but rather the best ideas from all the ideas I've seen. I'm documenting the build and plans will be posted once I'm done (another week I think)

Here is my question... I designed the pad to have a border all around, 1 inch on each side, 2 inches on top and 3 on the bottom. The sides are for spacing next to another pad for doubles, the top was to have some room for admin buttons, and the bottom was to allow for a bar. For the bar Im just going to use some pipe that will plug into sockets on the back. The frame at the back is built with a 2x6 and is very strong. The bar will be removable for storage. But now that i look at the pad (frame and 5 stationary squares are done) Im not sure I need a border... makes it bigger than it needs to be and i coudl jsut put the admin buttons at the top of the stationary panels like riptide did.

So if you guys were building a new pad, would you do a border, or just at standard 33x33 pad?? I need to decide now before I do much more.. I coudld resize it at this stage but later on it would not be easy.

Matrlx · Trick Member Joined: 22 Jan 2006

syph7: I designed my pad pretty much the way you described, with the only difference being a 5 inch border at the back.

The advantages to the borders are a bit of a safety buffer if you manage to trip, provides a convenient doubles setup if you build a second pad, and just gives it more of an authentic arcade look.

Disadvantages being the extra effort to build them, and the increased size/weight of the pad.

There aren't any huge pros or cons, it's really just a personal preference. I'm going to be keeping the borders on the next pad I build because I like the way it looks, and for the doubles setup.
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Matrix Arcade Style DDRHomepad: http://members.shaw.ca/lluk/ddrpad/

syph7 · Basic Member Joined: 07 Aug 2006

Ya that makes some good sense. I will keep them then, I'm just not looking forward to the extra work covering with metal... or maybe i could cheap out and do black paint.

Here's what I've got now.. I've been working on it since friday... so far so good. Its a beast.. heavy! But at least it won't move on me

http://www.pdainitiative.com/ddrmetal/panels_on.JPG

Weston · Trick Member Joined: 17 Feb 2003 Location: Minnesota

I like that frame design. After my heavy duty pad was built, I wished I had made it shorter, and something like that would have worked nicely. I still prefer having a three prong extension cord for a power source because it won't run out like a battery and it keeps the metal panels grounded to prevent the controller from excess static buildup. However, it would require some creativity to have a low frame while keeping an extension cord power supply.