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Travelsonic
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Joined: 08 Oct 2005
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5720.  Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 11:15 am Post subject: |
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I am bginning the plans for building my own arcade style (design, dimensions) game pad but was wondering since I was unsure whether or not (1) using leftovers from foam pads will actually work fine, and 2) if it does, what should I do to keep the wires securely and correctly connected to the points on the foam pad chip where the flat circuits went?
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ChilliumBromide
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Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Location: Beaverton, OR |
| 5721. Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Weston wrote: | | Great! However, all that exists now are pictures, and writing the guide will take some time (I also may need to find webhosting). However, I could send you a zip file of all the pictures of the frame so far. |
I'll gladly set your tutorial (anyone's tutorials, really) up on our website, once I get it set up.
I've talked to a friend who runs a webhosting site, and I'll be getting everything for an annual cost of $30-$50 with lots of premium features. There will definitely be a portion of the site dedicated to homebrews of all sorts of controllers.
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slvrshdw
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Joined: 05 Jan 2005
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| 5722. Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 6:37 pm Post subject: |
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weston: i'm rebuilding my design thats almost the same thing as yours
did u use the CAT5 cable for the quick disconnect?
(and please send me your zip of your pics too  )
anyway, im working on a tutorial as well, and it does take some time.
i'm going to host my tut on my side once im done, but im unsure if im going to renew the site or not when the 1 year subscription ends
that being said, Tofu, could i host my tut on your site when its done as well?
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Weston
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Joined: 17 Feb 2003
Location: Minnesota |
| 5723. Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 10:51 pm Post subject: |
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Tofu: That'd be great! I'll remember that when you get it set up.
slvrshdw: Yes, it is a CAT-5 cable, which works perfectly with a connection port. I'll send you the zip (assuming it's still the one you used to register your username). |
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slvrshdw
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Joined: 05 Jan 2005
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| 5724. Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:36 pm Post subject: |
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forgot to say, thanks for the zip: i got them 
ok guys, any tips on making reliable sensors that actually HOLD on the freeze arrows 
ive spent the past few hours trying to tweak my sensors, and they just arent working.
click for full size
the setup is really basic, and like the martix design, just slightly altered:
i used the L braces instead of the straight ones
BUT, the mousepad i used i guess is too thin (whats the correct size?), cause the mousepad was too easy to register the step, and i used a THICK foam thing i had: that was WAY too thick, now im using 3/6" (i think) weatherstripping and its fine except for the freeze arrows..and doubles occasionally mess up
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ChilliumBromide
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Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Location: Beaverton, OR |
| 5725. Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 10:06 pm Post subject: |
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slvrshdw: yeah, of course!
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Weston
Trick Member
Joined: 17 Feb 2003
Location: Minnesota |
| 5726. Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 11:20 pm Post subject: |
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| The mousepad I used was just slightly larger than 1/8". I bought it at Radio Shack, which wasn't really the best deal. |
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shariyakugan
Basic Member
Joined: 14 Feb 2007
Location: Netherlands |
| 5727. Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:27 am Post subject: |
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Hi, I'm new here.
The name is shariyakugan, nice to meet you all.
I'm gonna start on my DDR pad soon once I get myself some wood and sheetmetal. However before I start I need to get things sorted out.
so I have a few questions you might be able to answer.
1: What sheet metal to use for the contacts in the switchpads?
2: How do I connect all the groundcables that should come to the common point to eachother?
3: Can I use single and multistrand wire in the same pad?
I'm a noob electrician, Just learned how to solder.
That's probably it I guess.
Once I got it finished I will post pictures also I will document my building process post it somewhere.
T.I.A. |
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Weston
Trick Member
Joined: 17 Feb 2003
Location: Minnesota |
| 5728. Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:16 am Post subject: |
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1. Since most home pads that use a sheet metal switch design use the same sheet for the metal panels, 26 guage is common.
2. Solder them, use a wire nut, twist them all together, or whatever. There's many ways to do it.
3. Yes, but I recommend using only stranded for wire flexibility. |
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ChilliumBromide
Trick Member
Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Location: Beaverton, OR |
| 5729. Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 4:08 pm Post subject: |
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Gold > Copper > Steel > Aluminum
Most people use steel.
22 to 30ga. is what I recommend.
You can get 30ga. sheet steel pretty cheap at Home Depot.
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devout
Trick Member
Joined: 15 Dec 2006
Location: the atl |
| 5730. Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:15 pm Post subject: |
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| slvrshdw wrote: | forgot to say, thanks for the zip: i got them
BUT, the mousepad i used i guess is too thin (whats the correct size?), cause the mousepad was too easy to register the step, and i used a THICK foam thing i had: that was WAY too thick, now im using 3/6" (i think) weatherstripping and its fine except for the freeze arrows..and doubles occasionally mess up |
Question: what do you mean too easy to register a step? You step on it, it registers.... whats the issue there? I'm curious to know for some designs i'm working on.
'fraid I cant do much to answer your question though... never built a matrix sensor 
ps just to throw my 2c in the conductor debate, silver is the best conducting metal, period. Much like copper however, it oxidizes. This is why people like gold... no oxidation. As far as ddr pads are concerned however, metal is metal (except when it's not): the contact areas are huge compared to the signal strength you're trying to send. I vote galvanized steel... cheap and no rust. |
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ChilliumBromide
Trick Member
Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Location: Beaverton, OR |
| 5731. Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:15 pm Post subject: |
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| devout wrote: | | slvrshdw wrote: | forgot to say, thanks for the zip: i got them
BUT, the mousepad i used i guess is too thin (whats the correct size?), cause the mousepad was too easy to register the step, and i used a THICK foam thing i had: that was WAY too thick, now im using 3/6" (i think) weatherstripping and its fine except for the freeze arrows..and doubles occasionally mess up |
Question: what do you mean too easy to register a step? You step on it, it registers.... whats the issue there? I'm curious to know for some designs i'm working on.
'fraid I cant do much to answer your question though... never built a matrix sensor
ps just to throw my 2c in the conductor debate, silver is the best conducting metal, period. Much like copper however, it oxidizes. This is why people like gold... no oxidation. As far as ddr pads are concerned however, metal is metal (except when it's not): the contact areas are huge compared to the signal strength you're trying to send. I vote galvanized steel... cheap and no rust. |
Ghost steps.
They're a problem a lot of people have with pads like Cobalt Fluxes.
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wrecktified
Basic Member
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
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| 5732. Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 11:07 pm Post subject: |
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| slvrshdw wrote: |
ok guys, any tips on making reliable sensors that actually HOLD on the freeze arrows
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The only thing I can tell you is to just try using less weather stripping and/or position it in different places. I had a similar problem when I first built my pad. I could hold freezes but my brother couldn't (I weigh about 150 he's 125). I just cut my mouse pad into smaller pieces and used 2 pieces instead of 3. I also moved them closer to the center of my mending brackets. Keep in mind you may want them pretty sensitive if you play ITG at all (hands and hand holds). BTW my mouse pad was about 3/16" thick. |
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shariyakugan
Basic Member
Joined: 14 Feb 2007
Location: Netherlands |
| 5733. Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 3:05 am Post subject: |
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Ok, people use steel sheetmetal often.
Galvanized with zinc right.
Hehe, guess what I found when I googled gauge.
Had to know what it would be within the metric system.
26 gauge would be .4 millimeter thick sheet. |
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daikenkai =[
Trick Member
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Joined: 01 Oct 2006
Location: 6:51AM getting Diet Pepsi max for keep wake up |
| 5734. Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:55 pm Post subject: |
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lol, youve got pedophile bear on your avatar, haha.
I have completed:
Phase one: design
Phase two: Main contruction
Phase three: wiring.
I still need to do:
Phase four: secondary constrution (bar, raise step panels, front "control/select" box)
Phase five: Finishing + Fine Tuning
He is me testing it:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=EskL7WA_MKU
(as of 12:53am ET 2/17, it may not work, wait like 30 mins till 1:23am ET2/17)
NOTE: I suck at it at the moment because the recess of it is, OMG!, 3/4 inches! I plan to add some thicker wood then some lexan. |
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nfok3
Basic Member
Joined: 13 Feb 2007
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| 5735. Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 12:47 pm Post subject: |
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Okay, this may be out of the blue, but...
Has anyone ever tried to make one of those corner brackets out of sheet metal? I hear the stuff they sell at home depot is kinda expensive, and I don't mind doing a little bit of work to save some money. |
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penguinxtreme
Trick Member
Joined: 17 Feb 2007
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| 5736. Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 2:13 pm Post subject: |
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| OrangeJuiceAssassin wrote: | http://www.tashinc.com/catalog/s_ribbon.html
You mean like these? I seriuously hope ribbon swithces aren't 95$ for one... O.o |
They are, but if you can figure out how they work I would wager you could create them yourself (look through patents (uspto.gov)). I don't exactly know how they work though, so can't help. As for those looking at tapeswitches, I can tell you that though expensive to buy, they're just conductive strips separated by spacers, which flex to close the circuit when pressured (i've read a few patents for those). Ripetide's new design for switches is basically a tapeswitch design. I personally think it could be a great choice for a sensor (once fine-tuned) as it can be made to move very, very little, have the potential to be used in a lighter and more compact design, would be cheap and easy to make, and would make much less noise than the original Riptide design, which I know from the experience of building a riptide based pad creates a lot of loud banging (though the pad was otherwise excellent until I found out today that my control board from a cheap junky soft pad fried while fixing up some wiring that got screwed).
| riptide wrote: | | A downside to tin foil is if you had a bunch of creases when it was glued, it can cause random connections within the switch, but stuffing something like a strip of card stock paper folded in half down the length of the switch can put enough pressure on the foil to flatten those creases out and make the sloppy construction work as reliably as a better constructed switch. |
Just use either aluminum tape, or better yet copper tape (it is more conductive). That way you don't have to deal with gluing down foil, and as it's inherently adhesive, if you tape it well, there will be no crinkles. I was actaully going to experiment with similar ideas after looking at the tapeswitch patent (after seeing tapeswitches used in an excessively expensive pad). I was thinking of using rubber, as its nice and springy, but this sounds better (cheaper)
| nfok3 wrote: | Okay, this may be out of the blue, but...
Has anyone ever tried to make one of those corner brackets out of sheet metal? I hear the stuff they sell at home depot is kinda expensive, and I don't mind doing a little bit of work to save some money. |
I actually did do that for my riptide-like design, but didn't end up implementing them, as I found that the buttons stayed in place well enough with a piece of packaging tape, and I really didn't feel like putting in another 48 screws for the brackets (2 per bracket times 6 buttons). The way to do it is just cut out metal triangles from the extra sheet metal, and then drill 2 holes (do it slowly using progressively bigger drill bits), and use them like the stanley brackets. |
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devout
Trick Member
Joined: 15 Dec 2006
Location: the atl |
| 5737. Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 2:38 pm Post subject: |
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| nfok3 wrote: | Okay, this may be out of the blue, but...
Has anyone ever tried to make one of those corner brackets out of sheet metal? I hear the stuff they sell at home depot is kinda expensive, and I don't mind doing a little bit of work to save some money. |
Its been suggested, but i dont think it's ever been done. Its certainly doable, but unless you're really poor its probably not worth the trouble.
You can get a dimensioned drawing here:www.mcmaster.com (search for item 1088A21 and click on technical drawing)
Unless you have access to some real metal working tools, you'll probably have to make it out of the crappy 26 gauge stuff you get at home depot (dont think you could bend anything thicker than that by hand... maybe 22 gauge, but that's getting comparably expensive). I'd recommend drilling all the holes before you cut out the individual brackets... its dangerous to drill on something that tiny. After you cut them you could tap the edges down with a hammer/vice.
If you're just using them for looks this might work, but if you want them to provide structural support you should probably just buy real ones.
You can buy them for $1.20 a piece + shipping =~$30 per pad... minus $5+ you'd need to spend on sheet metal to make your own is only a $25 difference. It'll probably take 6 hours to make that many, and they wont be as nice as what you'd buy in a store. So if you can make more than $4 an hour doing something else you're better off buying. Considering thats less than minimum wage..... yeaaahhhh..... |
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ChilliumBromide
Trick Member
Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Location: Beaverton, OR |
| 5738. Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 4:12 pm Post subject: |
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Corner brackets seriously aren't that hard, especially if you don't bother with the folded down tabs. Even with the tabs, if you have a good mallet and a strong vice, you can make 16 of them in around an hour. Also, most of the ones you'll find will be aluminum or tin. If you make them yourself, you can pick up a 6"x6" sheet of steel (22ga. is probably a good way to go) for $8 to $12 and make some actually decent brackets.
Cavy: looks a lot like the DT600 base. Did you use fir?
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daikenkai =[
Trick Member
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Joined: 01 Oct 2006
Location: 6:51AM getting Diet Pepsi max for keep wake up |
| 5739. Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 4:46 pm Post subject: |
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Dancing Tofu: LOL, Great minds think alike! Actually, I used Pine.
I will update with pics of my ultraghetto current bar (which i dont use actually), the benjamin controller, and some actual pics, no movies. |
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