My homebuilt DDR pads and PC control boxes

[Dusso Janladde]

The pads: http://web.njit.edu/~ara5/pads.jpg
The pads are a modified version of ddrhomepad's design. The differences are:
-3/4" plywood instead of 1/2" plywood for the non-arrow panels. In order to save money, these were not covered in sheet metal.
-1x3 lumber instead of MDF for the rails. Each arrow panel has 3 rails instead of 4.
-The base is 1/2" plywood instead of 1/4" pegboard.
-The sheet metal contacts for the arrows is the same size as the plexiglass and pegboard, in my case 10 5/8" square (it may be different for different pads). The upper contacts are full squares, the lower contacts have the corners cut out to correspond with the brackets.
-The upper panels, rather than the lower ones, are the ground connection. This was necessary, as the bracket screws ended up electrically connecting the upper panels to each other.
-Weatherstripping was NOT used at all. The only thing keeping the upper and lower contacts separated is the foam core corners, which were called for in the original design. Still works fine.

The PC control boxes: http://web.njit.edu/~ara5/cboxes.jpg
The interface between the pads and boxes is standard cat5e network jacks and ethernet cables. Only 5 of the 8 wires were used (ground and the 4 buttons). Each box contains the circuit boards of a Logitech Dual Action PC gamepad. The pad's buttons are soldered to buttons 1-4, the buttons on the box to buttons 5-7. As this is for the PC, it doesn't really matter which buttons are used.

Not including tools, the cost was approximately $100 per pad and $50 per control box.

I plan on making PS2 and Xbox control boxes soon, but for now they're only for PC.

Questions/comments are welcome.

[Shinmizu]

Comment: "My homebuilt DDR pads and PC control boxes"--->"My home built metal DDR pad (Part IV)
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