I've built a metal pad using ddrhomepad's design, and if you have the know-how, it costs about $125 and works really well. It took me and a friend (I'm relatively useless with power tools) about 15 hours to make, beginning to end.
But after that, I bought a Cobalt Flux, and it blows all other pads away. If you're not making a pad, save your pennies and make the CF yours.
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Left-Left-Right-Up-Down-Thud-Ouch!