Devout Stealth homepad

[Tenchi50]

well tofu i think your concerns may have become reality..

my up arrow is staying pressed now :/ i've felt around, and it feels like it's not contacting anywhere unless i push it, but i thought i must be wrong.

then i added another layer of carboard to the edges to see if it made a difference, but it's still staying pressed.
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Recall|Goovestats Challenges please
[quote:2aaeee914c="Xantar"]I'm not even posting my name after Guy Love. He frick won the thread I don't even know what this thread is about but he won it.[/quote]

[ChilliumBromide]

If you have any spare sheets of steel lying around, perhaps you could give one a shot. It could be a wire issue, like perhaps some wires are touching near the chip. Or possibly you're getting static buildup. Check if there are any visible dents or irregular warping on the panel. If there is, you'll probably need to either hammer it flat or replace it.

Another thing you can try is tightening the screws more. As Devout said, the screws hold the corners down so that the middle will pop back up when it's not being pressed.

Oh, and obviously check for bubbling in the tin foil too.
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I used to be active here lol

[Tenchi50]

yea i'm gonna go to lowes this week and replace the panel :[
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[quote:2aaeee914c="Xantar"]I'm not even posting my name after Guy Love. He frick won the thread I don't even know what this thread is about but he won it.[/quote]

[methejuggler]

Well, I've been lurking around DDRFreak for a while now, and since I finally got around to making my own home pad, I thought this would be a good chance to make an appearance.

First... pictures here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cjmanca/DDRHomePads

There are some descriptions and such aswell there...


Here's a list of a few things to note if building one yourself.

1) Use bolts instead of wood screws.... wood screws tend to strip the plywood after opening the panels up more than a couple times. Plus, you can torque bolts down further. Make sure to use a washer between the nut and the plywood, or the nut will just dig into the bottom.

2) When putting the cardboard on the panels, make sure you use as close to a 1/4" gap as possible between the edge of the wood and the cardboard.... too little and there's no upwards force applied to the panel after it stretchs over the cardboard.... too much, and there's just not enough upwards force. Also, make sure this 1/4" gap goes ALL the way around the outside of the wood... (corners are an exception of course, since you need to put the screws there... I just went diagonal across the corners... sorry, no pictures of this at the moment... if I need to repair one of my sensors, I'll take some)
NOTE: If you're having problems with a sticky sensor... Check your cardboard spacers!!!
Seriously... this was the solution to most of the issues with my sensors... you don't usually need to add extra cardboard, but rather, adjust the distance the cardboard is from the edge... (although, I did need to add a second cardboard layer for one of my sensors, but that piece of metal was badly mutilated during bending the edges down)

Oh, and just a side note.... how wide the cardboard is doesn't really matter that much, since it's the height change that's important... I used 1/8"-1/4" wide strips of cardboard, and it worked fine.... Just make sure your screws are close to the corners.... if the screws are further in than the cardboard, I could see issues.

3) Again, when putting the cardboard on, make sure that the tape extends at least 1/8th of an inch off the edge of the cardboard onto the tin foil *everywhere*... if the cardboard is able to flap at all, you'll get a weird hissing noise when you use it... this took me a bit to figure out, since I figured it was a trapped air issue, but nooo... =P

4) Make sure to scrape off plenty of tin foil around the screw holes.... don't be stingy.... when you punch the sheet metal down, and force the screw in, the sheet metal will cut through any tape you have "protecting" the tin foil, and cause sensor malfunctions... this was the cause of the rest of my sensor issues =P

5) When bending the edges of the sheetmetal around the plywood, MAKE SURE that the corners are cut out *exactly* to the edges of the plywood.... if in doubt, cut off *more* than needed... if you don't cut off enough, when you hammer it down, it will cause the sheetmetal to warp, and make a metalic ping sound and flex up and down.... this will cause sensor issues (not to mention noise issues).

6) Once you have each arrow panel set up, and have decided where on the base to put it, and drilled the holes for the bolts, bolt it on (no need to screw the nuts on) without the sheetmetal on, and drill a couple holes straight through from the middle of the panel through the support underneith.... this allows air flow, and makes the pad more responsive.

7) Since you're using bolts instead of wood screws, the bolts will of course be protruding from the bottom... which would scratch up any hardwood floors.... to fix this, I cut up small 3"x3" squares of pine (left over from my corners... I used the pine since it's softer, and doesn't crack as easily when screwing into), and screwed them into the bottom, then screwed rubber furniture legs onto these... the wood acted as a spacer so the bolts wouldn't touch the floor, and the rubber legs provide grip.

8) When wiring everything, I suggest making the sheetmetal the ground connection, since then it doesn't matter if the panels touch each other (they're all the same ground connection anyway)...

9) Also, leave about 6" of wire for both wires going to each panel... just bend it double between the panel and the wood next to it (I cut the cardboard spacers under my center piece about 1/2" shorter than the panel, and used that space under the center panel for the wires).... The reason for this is, if you need to open up a sensor for maintenance/to fix it later on, this extra slack on the wires makes things SOOO much easier to work with the panel...

10) Make sure to use electrical tape on all active wires, and wrap any that are going near the sheet metal, since if the sheet metal clamps down on one of these wires, it will make the game think you're holding the arrow constantly.

11) Use a punch to put two holes in the *side* of the sheet metal (the bent down part), and loop the ground wire through this twice before soldering it to the sheet metal... this is to prevent strain on the solder point if you need to do maintenance on the pad later. Sucks to have to re-solder =P


I've used this pad on carpet (4 thicknesses so far), hardwood, cement, and laminate so far.... I've yet to have it move noticably within the course of 10 or so songs... I've only had it set up on carpet for an extended period of time though. I'd guess it would move more on the hard surfaces, but havn't been able to do extensive testing.

When on my carpet, once it settles in (takes about a song), it doesn't move at all... period. It'll move about 1/2" during the first song, while it finds it's "groove" though... so my two pads in my doubles setup are pretty much permanently a 1/2" apart... they settle that far apart, and then stay there... which really isn't bad I don't think.


In terms of usability... other than the corners where the screws are, there aren't really any dead spots on the pads. Even if you touch a 1/2" from the edge with your finger, it still registers, since it causes the sheetmetal to flex all across, which touchs closer to the center. I've never missed a step when my foot has touched the sheet metal at the right time... and all I've gotten on is a toe at times, because I kinda suck still =P (hardest songs I can pull off is the occasional 8... but usually hover around 6 footers)

I'm sure I had other things to say... but I can't remember them offhand =P

I think I went through just about every possible issue while making this pad, but found ways to resolve them all, and have a better understanding of the design now than I used to as a result.... if anyone has any questions, let me know =P

Oh, and feel free to steal any of my tips for the official guide, Devout....
Thanks for the tutorial!
I love my pads, they work flawlessly now that I'm done tweaking =P

[PlayWithFire]

After dusting off my crappy foam pad, i realized how much i like DDR, and how much my pad sucks. I only play 5 foot songs, but the pad is very unresponsive. I can't even pass a song on beginner on that pad. So, i started looking around at buying one, and came across this thread. It looks easier then other tutorials, so i think i will actually give this a try, and build 2 pads.

methejuggler, i love your idea about using the female cat 5 connector. One of my concerns was that for now, i plan to play on my xbox. But in the future, i may get the 360, or the Wii version of DDR, and i don't want to have to resolder things. So, i will take your suggestion on using a cat 5 cable that would just stick out from the back of the controller. You are pretty clever. And since the controller will still work, i won't have to worry about building in any other buttons into the pad.

Can someone tell me what is the best controller to use for the original xbox?

[methejuggler]

If you're going to put the cat 5 cable into the controller like that, look in the controller for some empty space with something to latch on to... you'll want that to wrap the cat-5 cable around after soldering, so that if tension is put on the cord (and it probably will be with any extensive use), that the tension isn't directly transmitted to the solder points... if you wrap the cord around a piece of plastic in the controller first, that should relieve the stress...

If there isn't anything to wrap around inside the controller (or it's too cramped/not enough space), you could try using some silicon calking or similar on the hole where the cord protrudes... but make sure you use the calking on the *inside* of the controller, since the tension would be trying to pull it out.

Sorry, I don't have an XBox, so can't recommend a controller for that... but yes, you hit on the other reason I used a female cat-5 connector on the pad.... my younger brother has a 360, and I was thinking that this way I could just make another controller out of a 360 controller to connect to the pad in the future.
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My home pads:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cjmanca/DDRHomePads

[Ghettobarney]

Use the controller from your soft pad. They have big contacts so they're easy to solder to.
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OMG I BEETS MACKS 300!

[PlayWithFire]

are the any tutorials on how to reuse the softpad to make your own pad? I don't just wanna tear it up without some directions.

[pooface]

Just rip it open and follow the paths of the contacts. Don't worry about ruining your soft pad, after making your own you will not need it anymore.
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Trying to build a mat...

[spritemanjc]

[slvrshdw]

any pad you just unscrew the box and remove the plastic contacts from the PCB, and then you still could put it back if you ever needed to
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[PlayWithFire]

i have the same pad that's pictures in this eBay auction

can the steps be reused somehow as well?

[Tenchi50]

do you mean the actual arrow panels?

the pcb, yes. but you need to get the xbcd driver if you want to play on your computer, if you've gonna play on xbox, then it should just work.
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Recall|Goovestats Challenges please
[quote:2aaeee914c="Xantar"]I'm not even posting my name after Guy Love. He frick won the thread I don't even know what this thread is about but he won it.[/quote]

[PlayWithFire]

i do mean the actual steps, like reuse the sensors maybe

[Tenchi50]

oh. well i've heard of it being done,but not with this design, but i also think it's not very practical to begin with.
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Recall|Goovestats Challenges please
[quote:2aaeee914c="Xantar"]I'm not even posting my name after Guy Love. He frick won the thread I don't even know what this thread is about but he won it.[/quote]

[PlayWithFire]

ok, thanks for the answer
i'll just reuse the control box, and not worry about the rest of the parts

[PlayWithFire]

I decided against using my old DDR pad, since i would also like to my pad to worth with a 360, so i would hack up a 360 controller as well.

I do have one question though. What about hooking up the Start and Back buttons? I was thinking i could use the same approach, and just use another CAT 5 cable, so i would have two female jacks sticking out of the pad. One would be for the arrows, and the other for Start, Back, A, B. Has anyone done that?

Also, where can a buy a good button that will look nice on that pad? I've looked at radio shack, the problem with all their switches is that they are too big, and i wont' be able to hide them inside that pad. I want something slim.

[Tenchi50]

happcontrols.com or whatever the correct address is. they sell arcade buttons
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[quote:2aaeee914c="Xantar"]I'm not even posting my name after Guy Love. He frick won the thread I don't even know what this thread is about but he won it.[/quote]

[PlayWithFire]

sweet, thanks! it's exactly what i was looking for

[ChilliumBromide]

Too bad they're kind of expensive. If there's anywhere else I could get necessary buttons (2 triangles, 2 rectangles) for a control box without spending $30, that would be cool.

And I've tried ChannelBeat already; they have a minimum order of $200.
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I used to be active here lol