My home built metal DDR pad (Part IV)

slvrshdw · Trick Member Joined: 05 Jan 2005

ok, i got some pics of the pretty much perfect sensors for me

[img=http://img283.imageshack.us/img283/5503/img00075zm.th.jpg]

[img=http://img283.imageshack.us/img283/5434/img00086va.th.jpg]

[img=http://img283.imageshack.us/img283/103/img00095kv.th.jpg]

[img=http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/4520/img00119li.jpg]

..k well, the thumbnails didnt work, but oh well

im going to fine tune them tomorrow
_________________

vesper · Trick Member Joined: 06 Dec 2005

I had the same problem with imageshack thumbnails lol

Those sensors look nice, I hope everything finally works out for you

Today I just readjusted all my corner brackets so that the bottom plexiglass doesn't wobble when I step on it, but now I think I'll have to re-cut the top layer. For my arrow graphcis I just printed it on paper and cut so I have an 8.5 x 8.5 sheet of paper inbetween the two panels, I hope that doesn't look TOO bad for now.

vesper · Trick Member Joined: 06 Dec 2005

I have two buttons kind of like that I'm going to use for X and O. I'm not sure how to wire it though. I see two metal leads coming out of the back so this is my plan.

The wire I'm using splits into two wires, so I'll solder each wire to one point. One wire will then go to the ground, while the other wire will go to X. Then I'll do the same for O.

If there's something I'm messing up let me know. I hope it doesn't matter which lead I use for the ground.

*EDIT* NVM it worked

marcan · Trick Member Joined: 28 Jul 2005

yep, all those switches do is join both leads when you press them. They don't care what is wired where (as long as you don't try to run some 100kW industrial furnace through them - then they melt from overcurrent)

vesper · Trick Member Joined: 06 Dec 2005

www.bearswim.com/pad/

The beast is finished... for now

As you can see, I need to get two more corner brackets for the back and print off bigger arrow graphics. Has anyone had problems with stickyness or something? I've gotten a few random misses on my up arrow, I think it might be because the weatherstripping there is too big.

Other than that the pad works great though, this is definitely a step up from my Afterburner. It's so much easier to move between arrows, but it's still a technique that I'm far from perfecting

Special thanks goes to slvrshdw, marq, and marcan (sorry if i missed anyone else) for giving me help along the way

*EDIT* Here's my plan for now. I'm going to take off all of the plexiglass with the sheet metal contacts and clean the bottom. I spilled a lot of spray adhesive over the edges and should probably take care of that. Also, I'm goign to check up on the weatherstripping to make sure it's going down straight, I had a little trouble with this before

petricore · Basic Member Joined: 04 May 2006

Quick question for you gurus. Im almost finished with my pad and am working out one last bug. Every now and then when I plug her in to test (have the arrows done but nothing else yet) the controller doesnt respond or anything. If I connect the solder points on the controller it responds, and sometimes when I unplug the controller and back in it works for the rest of the night.
I am using mostly stolis design with a little bit of custom buttonry (more on that later). I have soldered a wire between the dead button and one of the bottom ones to make sure Im not having static problems.
Anyone have any ideas on this ?
Once it is all done I will post a thread explaining everything I did and the design we chose.

vesper · Trick Member Joined: 06 Dec 2005

Ughh, I keep getting random misses, mostly with my down arrow. Maybe I just need to let the weatherstripping wear in, but I think I'll have to tinker around with this a bit before I get it working like it should.

Does anyone have any suggestions to remedy random misses? Maybe I need to give the plexiglass a little more room to wiggle around, or maybe my weatherstripping isn't holding up and a connection is being made all the time

the_brent · Basic Member Joined: 17 Apr 2006

If you guys don't mind another question added to the list can someone tell me how long this project takes. I know it varies but can I get the average amount of time it will take for a novice with no experience.
_________________

My high score: 100million-infinity. If you don't beleive me your just jealous

marcan · Trick Member Joined: 28 Jul 2005

It varies way too much. IF you have chosen a definite design with step-by-step instructions, and IF you already have all of the materials or buy them in one go, and have the tools, and IF you don't encounter any major showstoppers, and IF the design you chose isn't too complex, and IF you put a decent amount of time into it each day then yes you can build it fairly quickly (days).

On the other hand, I've been on this for several months now because I am not working on it every day, I've made my own design, which is also very complex, and is not definite, and has evolved, and I've made mistakes, and had to borrow some tools, and hade to redesign things along the way, and have to make many trips to buy stuff from different places. But that's just me. OTOH, I've learned a lot more building this pad than I would have building one of the simpler and predesigned ones.

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

marcan · Trick Member Joined: 28 Jul 2005

Here's an arrow design in SVG format (scalable graphics, unlimited resolution). This one is blue, just edit the color of the inside arrow and the background rectangle to make it any color you want. It's vector graphics, so you can edit it however you want (change the text font for example, or change the borders on the arrow shape, or remove the dithered background, or add gradients, etc).

If you have firefox with SVG support it should be able to open it straight from the web. I recommend you get a proper SVG editor though, since you will likely want to make changes or resize it (it's NOT at the appropriate size - you'll have to resize it to whatever size you plan to use).

http://marcansoft.com/subidos/images/sgdp2/varrow.svg

If you don't have an SVG editor/viewer, get inkscape (it's free and quite good, it's what I used to make it). http://www.inkscape.org

Note: if you resize it with Inkscape make sure all the resizing toolbar buttons are pressed, so that border widths etc go along with it (last four buttons on the second toolbar, while you have things selected).

SnookayDcc · Trick Member Joined: 23 May 2006

i've read three tutorials a couple times each. I just dont under stand HOW these pads work when i step on them. What is making the the signal send. I was thinking ppl made these metal pads simply by building around a soft pad.

BTW anyone who has built one of these pads, how heavy do they turn out?
_________________

http://www.myspace.com/31105198

Konami FLAT pad... damn my foot hurts.

marcan · Trick Member Joined: 28 Jul 2005

two metallic surfaces, wires, nails, or whatever touch. Same thing as on a gamepad (a small carbon button connects two metal traces together), and a softpad(two layers of metallic or carbon surfaces touch). They are usually built around (the electronics of) existing softpads or gamepads. Except mine, of course (I made the electronics myself for mine).

MinN_Limited · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 6:37 pm Post subject:

geckoinc99 · Trick Member Joined: 11 Feb 2005 Location: Chattanooga, TN

Pad weight depends on what you build with. They can get around 40-60 pounds for the thicker types made of plywood and 2x4s. However, the weight is a good thing because it does keep the pad stationary.
_________________

Life is very different 3000 feet above the earth with only a wing to hold you up....
Can't wait to be there again. Wanna join me? Visit http://www.hanglide.com

Shaggy7728 · Trick Member Joined: 28 Aug 2005 Location: Nashville, TN

im planning on making my pad for PS2, XBox, and PC. how do i do that though? im also planning on making the control box, but yet again for all 3 of those systems.
_________________

I once said to a friend of mine, "I want to make a song that dosn't end..."
He looked at me for a few seconds and asked,"Why don't you?"
He got smacked for that one.

ceraf · Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 1:07 pm Post subject:

make a control box that has both an xbox controller and ps2 controller circuit board. for it to work on pc, have a usb connector on the xbox line and use the XBCD drivers.

broken_reel · Basic Member Joined: 06 Jun 2006

Has anyone designed their pad to function easily with linux and if so what's the best way to go about it?

marcan · Trick Member Joined: 28 Jul 2005

Shaggy7728 · Trick Member Joined: 28 Aug 2005 Location: Nashville, TN

i have another question. my computer dosnt support riptides videos but i have a supply list that explains the specifications for each thing that is required (height, width, ect). does the DDRhomepad and riptide websites both use the same things? i have riptide's list of stuff but only ddrhomepad website to make the mat.
_________________

I once said to a friend of mine, "I want to make a song that dosn't end..."
He looked at me for a few seconds and asked,"Why don't you?"
He got smacked for that one.