My home built metal DDR pad (Part IV)

Ulala321 · Trick Member Joined: 28 Sep 2004

Quick question, I'm building two pads, so I'm building two control boxes with "select" and "start" buttons on them... will the one plugged into controller port #1 take preference when selecting songs, etc, will they both work just fine, or can anyone think of any problems arising with having two control boxes plugged in? Thanks.

Mukan · Trick Member Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Location: Avondale AZ

Well, considering 2 soft pads work just fine, and whoever picks something at the first menu gets to pick everything after that, I imagine it would work much the same as 2 controllers or 2 soft pads.

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

Hey that's a cool way of editing the arrow graphics Sinistar. would it be possible to help me edit riptide's arrow graphics? he's got the chinese characters on them on his site for viewing but he has this white border that surrounds the graphic that i want to enlarge. Instead of having it surround the characters I want the white border to be on the very edge of the arrow graphic like shown in pictures of his built pad. could anyone help me edit this?

Rockhopper · Basic Member Joined: 30 Sep 2004

Hey guys, I'm new to this forum but after reading through several of these posts, I've noticed a common theme of people wanting specially designed arrow graphics but not having the program (specifically photoshop) to do it with. This may have been mentioned before (I didn't read all 140 pages of this thread), but there's a great, FREE program called the Gimp that has a lot of the same features as photoshop which you can easily create custom arrow graphics from.

Get it here: www.gimp.org

riptide · Trick Member Joined: 14 Aug 2002

Heffenfeffer · Trick Member Joined: 22 Apr 2002 Location: Las Cruces, NM

Hey-yo...I've got a quick question on grounding a pad. Erm...how do I do it? If my guess is accurate, I'd say that I just need to get a 1-prong plug (something with only the ground prong that fits in a wall socket) and solder the other end of the cord to a metal panel on the frame of the pad. Or is it one of the mending brackets (I've got a new Riptide model) that I need to solder to? Or do I need to solder to the controller itself?

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

The extension cord ground should be connected to the metal panels. The mending brackets should be touching the panels so it's all connected as one large metal frame. The metal panels are in no way connected the the controller curcuit, so don't worry about the controller when grounding it. This is how my design is set up.

ch · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 7:31 pm Post subject:

is that working well for you, weston? cause if it is, ill do it.
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CStarFlare wrote:

I approve of the direction this thread is going

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch?e=20090310025322668

moonmen0 · Trick Member Joined: 08 Jul 2004

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v353/codekeeper/000_0420.jpg

this the stuff that i just bought from home depot, i am gonna end up having to cut two inches off cause its 14 inches, and the either had 10 feet or 50 feet. I am worried that it wont be enough, i am making homepads's pad.

12 x 5= 60" for the non-arrow panels
9.5 x 8 = 76 for the buttons

= 136" 11.33'

which is a foot and 4 inches longer that what i have, is there anyway that i can make this length work,

and did i get the right type of metal?

thanks
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ch · Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2004 6:04 pm Post subject:

you could use the 2 inches you cut off the side to make the bottom contacts, that would save you quite a bit. just arrange them in rows or in a square and wire them together.

||-|| ||-||
|| || || ||
|| ||-|| ||

or something

so anyway, you guys, based on experience, whats better to use: weatherstripping foam, or latex tubing?
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CStarFlare wrote:

I approve of the direction this thread is going

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch?e=20090310025322668

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

CartoonHero: Yes, the grounding method I have seems to work very well. I haven't fried my controller yet. This is actually what Patser had instructed in his guide.
As for what's best to use, I have Manco Super-R weatherstripping. It's made up of a foam rubber. It has not lost it's shape and it still presses back as well as the day I put it in. I strongly recommend it.

Ulala321 · Trick Member Joined: 28 Sep 2004

What about ddrhomepad's weatherstripping? Does it get the job done well?

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

If you're following his design, you don't want to use that rubber foam kind because it probably won't compress enough. Just a regular foam weatherstripping will work, but it'll wear down over time. I don't think it matters too much in that design.

moonmen0 · Trick Member Joined: 08 Jul 2004

moonmen0 · Trick Member Joined: 08 Jul 2004

does anyone know how to get the spreckles off of the metal???
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WHAT WAS I THINKING WHEN I READ 100+ PAGES OF POSTS?

ch · Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2004 6:47 pm Post subject:

the speckles are from the process of making the galvanized metal. galvanized is outstanding for the contacts, but not for the blank panels. you should use stainless or zinc sheet metal for the blank panels. or, if you dont want to spring for it, you could cover them in duct tape for a punk effect. or paint them. but you must get diff sheet metal for the tops.

but judging from your pic, i dont think it would look too bad
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http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/index.php?module=see&l=uk&code=36e44d4914f14070cc5b3d4c6bcd1042

CStarFlare wrote:

I approve of the direction this thread is going

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch?e=20090310025322668

dbdrummer · Basic Member Joined: 23 Nov 2002 Location: Gray, TN

I just realized this... Eerybodys freating about how "hard" PSX coltrollers are to solder to, so I ripped apart one of my 3 non-working soft pads (the cheapo $20 ones). The circuit boards in the box at the top have leads on them that are 1/8 x 1/2 inches for each of the 10 buttons (X, Tri, Sq, O, U, D, L, R, Start, & Select) and a 5/8 X 1/2 inch lead for the ground wire. This MAY need a little work to get the wires to solder, seeing as how im out of solder and just ripped the pad apart about an hour ago, but PM or e-mail me if you want more info or just want to know how things worked out.

dbdrummer · Basic Member Joined: 23 Nov 2002 Location: Gray, TN

in case yall wanna know my details, ima make my pad from scratch and just use concepts from riptide and ddrhomepad. mabye a few others i run across. alayal will get the proper credits for ideas (and me for my own). again, if ya want details, feel free to e-mail me or PM me... i may just get my stuff on a site soon

dbdrummer · Basic Member Joined: 23 Nov 2002 Location: Gray, TN

this is sad, in that im replying to myself in my 3rd post of the night, but Operation: Rip-Apart-Crap-Pad is currently successful, so those HUGE leads WILL work! I just navigated through 3 menus of different games, all with 100% triggers, so now im off to labor on the frame and work on soldering as soon as radio shack opens up...

Mukan · Trick Member Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Location: Avondale AZ

Ok, 1, no one is freaking out about how hard those controllers are to solder to, atleast not anymore..

and 2, your first and last posts are within 25 minutes of each other.. Try the edit button next time..

But it'll be interesting to see how your pad turns out, keep us posted!