My home built metal DDR pad (Part IV)

Rockclmbr6 · Basic Member Joined: 13 Jun 2005

Whoops! Sorry bout that. I actually read that post the night before at like 2am, so I must have forgotten about it by the next day or something.

Ha, sorry. But thanks for the help anyway.
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Ravenwing · Trick Member Joined: 22 Jun 2003 Location: Leavenworth, KS

Got a quick question for Stoli:

On the last picture on your site about mounting the controller, is the green CAT5 that splices to the black telephone wire soldered to the ground/common? Just wondering 'cause I got some Retros for my own pads, and I'm trying to find the right solder points.

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

Aflac · Trick Member Joined: 28 Mar 2005

Finally, today we go to Home Depot to buy the materials for my new to-be-shiny DDR pad! Jeez.

Anyway, what do you most of you use to cut the metal? I know you use tin snips for cutting the corners off of the sheet metal, but what about the more major cuts? Anyway my friend (whose tools i'm borrowing) said that "he doesn't think he has anything to cut metal with." So i was just wondering.

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

Synaesthesia · Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 11:26 am Post subject:

I cut the Lexan by scoring it with a razor. I just lined up a straightedge, put a small groove in the material (so the razor would be less likely to jump), removed the straightedge, then scored away. I probably cut 1/2 - 2/3 through the Lexan, then lined the scored edge up against the edge of the workbench, and slowly applied pressure, and bent the pieces off. It worked out just fine for me, and I was scoring/bending lengths of over 3 feet.
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Aflac · Trick Member Joined: 28 Mar 2005

Ahh. Stoli, I need some more measurements or help. Should the top border sheet metal thing be the same size as the bottom border sheet metal thing, or should it be 3/4" shorter? And how big should the side border sheet metal be? agh so confused!

Also, when you drilled your holes into the base, was there a set pattern you followed, like one inch from the corner or anything?

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

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

Aflac · Trick Member Joined: 28 Mar 2005

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

Ravenwing · Trick Member Joined: 22 Jun 2003 Location: Leavenworth, KS

As far as cutting the sheet metal goes, I cut my steel flashing with a jigsaw + metal smooth cut blade and using a flat for my cutting surface (wooden platform like you'd see stuff sitting on outside of a grocery store...ideal for cutting a floppy material like sheet metal because the surface is strips of wood with gaps between then, so you can support the jigsaw and still not bite through wood as you cut the metal) Worked like a charm. And yeah, I was actually confused myself at first with the width of the metal borders...ended up having to re-cut another side border 'cause I made it an inch too thin..

Also found that it's much easier making the short bends -after- making the long bends!
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We all LIVE, therefore we are all EVIL, because the two words are one and the same...
...Oni mode is LIVE.

Aflac · Trick Member Joined: 28 Mar 2005

urg... i feel like i'm a disease, feeding off of you guys.
Stoli: drilling the holes from the base to the borders/squares, did you make a pilot hole? If you did, how did you line up the holes in the base to the spot on the border/squares? And is counter-sinking the screw holes necessary? You stated you didn't want the screw head to protrude from the base. Is this just to prevent any sort of snagging or something going wrong with the screw head? thanks.

Oh and i got my sheet metal quote today. The company said (paraphrased) "the stainless steel sheet metal, with the mirror finish, will be $1954." Me:"What size is that again?" Them:"That piece is 48 inches by 48 inches. The other sheet, the stainless steel galvanized sheet, will be $985. The size for that is 24 inches by 48 inches."

^So, i'm guessing thats a load of BS? Or did all of you buy your sheet metal at $150+++ a square foot?

Edit: oh, and another thing for stoli. For the lucite panels- about the silicone/rubber tubing, does that need to be flexible? My dad brought home some rubber tubing, but the size is 3/8 instead of 1/4". He also brought home some other type of tubing, clear, but hard and more like plastic. This hard tubing was the right size, 1/4", so i was wondering if this was usable for the screw shaft in the lucite.

EDIT EDIT!!: another thing, Stoli. For the Euscheteon pins, can i replace these with regular nails, or is there something special about those pins? Thanks a lot.

SuRfReAk · Trick Member Joined: 19 Dec 2004

I started my new pads today... So far so good. Aluminum Flashing is much easier to work with than sheet metal, tin snips are a snap to use on it. Anyways, what I found best to cut the "old school" sheet metal (compared to the spiffy new flashing) was a skill saw with an abrasive blade. The blade does not have teeth, its a circle made out of, well, an abrasive material

. I dont know exactly what it is, but it says that its made for cutting metal on the blade, and it works. However, it SHRINKS (wears away from all the use). You'll need a blade for each pad, but you can cut multiple squares at once (I stacked all my 5 sheets of metal, clamped them, and then cut). Carbide blades work well on lexan/lucite.

Aflac: Smack them. Knock some sense into them.
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Ravenwing · Trick Member Joined: 22 Jun 2003 Location: Leavenworth, KS

Aflac:

Funny you should mention that step, I just did it today! Yes, yes, yes, make the pilot holes!! All you have to do is drill them where you want them on the base, then just clamp the border down you'll be screwing, flip it all upside down, and drill a little further down into the border through the hole you already made. I used flathead screws, and no countersinking...the wood cracks a smidge if you get the head totally flush with the wood, but it didn't hurt anything, though. Dunno about the pins...haven't permanently attached the flashing to my borders yet, so I guess Stoli can let us both know about their magical properties.

And something tells me they left a decimal place or two out when they gave you that quote...I ditto Surfreak about giving them a good smacking.
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We all LIVE, therefore we are all EVIL, because the two words are one and the same...
...Oni mode is LIVE.

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

TheHillster · Trick Member Joined: 01 Sep 2003 Location: Pelham, AL, USA

I have a question that may seem completly retarted but I thought I'd try:

Could you not use whatever is inside of a softpad for sensors, etc in a homeade metal one...seems like it'd save alot of time if I worked? Would that be possible or are the sensors in a soft pad just not sensitive enough?

This probably doesn't make any sense

...

Synaesthesia · Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2005 1:03 pm Post subject:

I don't see why you couldn't, though those sensors are not exactly durable. That's why most people want to build/have a metal pad, to have sensors that don't die on them whilst they play Hardcore of the North Expert.

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ohls · Basic Member Joined: 20 Jun 2005

heres some straight forward questions:

how much does plexi glass cost? and how do you cut it up?
and it is plexi glass thats best to use, right?

how do you make the foot pads go back up? small springs?

thanks!