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Frosty555
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Joined: 14 Jun 2003
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0.  Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:42 pm Post subject: My girlfriend's birthday present! (Yes it was a ddr pad) |
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Well, this is my third riptide pad I've built in my life so far. I made this one as a birthday present for my girlfriend! I think it came out amazing, hehe.
I've sort of perfected riptide's design as I've gone through the learning curve for these things. My latest version sports a bar, and lights! Also a slightly modified sensor design which makes it FAR more sensitive with almost no calibration necessary. I think I've really got it down good now. The sensor design is probably the most important change. I connected all the screws together (not every other screw). Then, I made the metal contact itself one side of the switch, with the screws the other side. It took a bit of planning to make the metal contact for the underside of the plexi since allfour pieces must be connected together somehow, but it was worth it.
The completed DDR Pad! I used white aluminium normally used for signs. It looks pretty  . The bar is made of galvanized aluminum fencepost, hand cut with a saw and connected using APC elbow joins normally used for plumbing.
A close up of the pad itself. My sister designed the decals, I think they came out really well!
A closeup of one of the decals, sporting my wonderful girlfriend's logo!
Demonstrating how the pad lights up
And in the dark it just looks awesome 
Inside an arrow well. I used four DC 6v light bulbs bought at Radio Shack (well, nowadays it's called "The Source By Circuit City", but it used to be Radio Shack).
Inside an arrow well. It's a bit of amess. The switches change the pads from being the up/down/left/right buttons on the PS2 pad to being the L1/L2/R1/R2 trigger buttons. That lets me use it to play stepmania and not have to worry about those stupid joystick axis problems most ps2->usb adapters have.
This is the OTHER side of the pad. Don't confuse this with the above picture. This is what makes the lighting work. The breadboard there has a network of diodes that lets me control the lights and the pad using the same switch (so when you push down the pad, the lights come on as well as the ps2 button being triggered)
A closeup of that magic breadboard. It took me forever to design this circuit but it works amazingly.
Now for the bar!
I wired pushbuttons into the bar to make for easy navigating inbetween songs. These four are X, Square, Circle and Triangle
Start and select
The bar is completely detachable. It is connected to the pad using four metal brackets, and some wooden dowel. The bar itself was inserted into the wood and glued with enormous amounts of superglue. Amazingly it is holding together and is very solid!
I'm really happy with this pad. I think this one will mark my retirement of ddr pad building. So that means my girlfriend's ddr pad is a one of a kind XD.
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Last edited by Frosty555 on Tue Jan 23, 2007 8:07 pm, edited 1 time in total |
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ChilliumBromide
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Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Location: Beaverton, OR |
| 1. Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:10 pm Post subject: |
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Wow, that's a good piece of work there. =D
I suck with crazy technical stuff like circuit boards; I just use and alternate wiring for the LED's.
Seriously, I fail at life, come to think of it.
I'm a good engineer and a decent musician, but otherwise, I'm pretty useless.
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I used to be active here lol |
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trob xD
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Joined: 18 Jul 2006
Location: Ohio |
| 2. Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:28 pm Post subject: |
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Thats an amazing looking pad. I'm jelous, really.
I hope you got laid for it  |
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ChilliumBromide
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Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Location: Beaverton, OR |
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trob xD
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Joined: 18 Jul 2006
Location: Ohio |
| 4. Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 11:02 pm Post subject: |
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Lol me too, that is a FANTASTIC looking pad. I hope she likes it alot
She'd better  |
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Frosty555
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Joined: 14 Jun 2003
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| 5. Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 8:42 am Post subject: |
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Hahaha! Trust me she absolutely loved it 
| DancingTofu wrote: | Wow, that's a good piece of work there. =D
I suck with crazy technical stuff like circuit boards; I just use and alternate wiring for the LED's.
Seriously, I fail at life, come to think of it.
I'm a good engineer and a decent musician, but otherwise, I'm pretty useless. |
Yeah the alternate wiring method is the way most people do it. I never liked it since it meant the lights didn't necessarily reflect the state of the arrow. If the light is on, the pad should be down, always. The circuit was great for testing the pad and calibrating it.
Here's the circuit for two arrows. It involves using four regular diodes per arrow. I used 1N4007 diodes (they're huge, they could like, handle powering a kettle. It was overkill but who cares, they cost the same ). For several arrows, you would of course duplicate the circuit:
Replace "B1" with the playstation leads, and replace B2 with your lighting power source (it must be DC, AC won't work).
That resistor named "switch" in the middle is the contacts for the pad. Ignore the little "G" triangle, it's just ground, I needed it for 5Spice Circuit simulator which I used to design the circuit.
The right side of the circuit demonstrates how you would "expand" out the circuit to accomodate more arrows. This one accomodates two, you could easily expand it to accomodate four (or five for PIU)
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AA Bob
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Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Alllll right! |
| 6. Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 9:50 am Post subject: |
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Wow, that pad looks amazing. Putting the non-arrow buttons on the bar was a cool idea.
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| Emptyeye wrote: | | So um, is it bad that awhile ago I was watching Family Guy, and when Quagmire came on, I thought something to the effect of "Whoa, It's AA Bob!" (I don't remember if the exact thought was "It's AA Bob" or "It's AA Bob's avatar", but I don't think it matters in this case)? |
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Travelsonic
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Joined: 08 Oct 2005
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| 7. Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 10:02 am Post subject: |
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(Minus the panel decals) I would definately kill to build a pad like that - it looks incredible.
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I'll believe that when me **** turns purple, and smells like rainbow sherbet. |
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Edible Bondage Tape
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Joined: 26 Jan 2002
Location: Kerri |
| 8. Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 10:08 am Post subject: |
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| Frosty555 wrote: | | 5Spice Circuit simulator |
ugg how can you stand useing that
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MasterInuYasha
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Joined: 09 Nov 2006
Location: Columbus, Montana |
| 9. Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:12 am Post subject: |
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| Nice! I can tell the arrows are even reassessed a little bit too, You really did kick-buttocks on this one! |
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pui-puni
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Joined: 15 Dec 2004
Location: Montreal |
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Flound3r
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Joined: 19 Oct 2006
Location: âªâ«â¬ââ®ÒIndiana |
| 11. Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 12:21 pm Post subject: |
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That's really nice looking! If you were to sell it, how much would you sell it for?
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Wow my sig got messed up. |
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dropoutextreme
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Joined: 28 Sep 2004
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| 12. Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 2:23 pm Post subject: |
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| how much does it cost to make a pad like that one? |
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Mariogirl
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Joined: 09 Sep 2005
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| 13. Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 5:27 pm Post subject: |
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I'd hit it.
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Flound3r
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Joined: 19 Oct 2006
Location: âªâ«â¬ââ®ÒIndiana |
| 14. Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 5:57 pm Post subject: |
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Could you post where you got the directions, and anything you did special about your pad? I really like the way yours came out, and I'm considering building it.
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Wow my sig got messed up. |
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ChilliumBromide
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Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Location: Beaverton, OR |
| 15. Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 8:26 pm Post subject: |
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| Frosty555 wrote: | | [stuff I may only ever begin to understand] |
I wish I knew what half that stuff meant. xD
Anyway, with my alternate line, here's what I do:
The 5 red dots are connected copper or gold-plated contacts (screws, generally). The greenish waffle grid is the panel sensor, generally steel or copper. The panel sensor is larger, but uses a weaker conductor, while the LED's have smaller sensors using high-power conductors. The idea is that, when made properly, the sensitivity of the two will even out without costing more than necessary. The design is used top and bottom. The black squares push the panels apart, when there's no weight on them.
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I used to be active here lol |
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slvrshdw
Trick Member
Joined: 05 Jan 2005
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| 16. Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 8:32 pm Post subject: |
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that looks great!
now build a cab for stepmania and your set...oh, and another pad
i have to redo my pad sometime...and then finish my cabinet STILL
anyway, great pad
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Matrlx
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Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| 17. Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 9:34 pm Post subject: |
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The pad looks great! Good job!
I'm wondering about the white aluminum because it looks so darned slick, how is it to work with and how's the cost compared to the standard galvanized sheet metal?
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mistercow_pnoy
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Joined: 17 May 2005
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| 18. Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 5:59 am Post subject: |
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I want your pad.  |
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Frosty555
Trick Member
Joined: 14 Jun 2003
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| 19. Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 7:07 am Post subject: |
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Hehe thanks everyone!
| pui-puni wrote: | | EDIT: Oh, sweetie you messed up one of the images again XD haha same one! <3 |
Darnit I messed that one up again . Fixed now.
| dropoutextreme wrote: | | how much does it cost to make a pad like that one? |
Well considering that it was a gift, I can't say how much it cost . But it is around the same ballpark as Riptide's pad design. A little higher for the bar/lights/extra wood/thicker plexi.
| Flound3r wrote: | | That's really nice looking! If you were to sell it, how much would you sell it for? |
The labour makes the price a lot higher though, the amount of work I put in, the only way to make a profit off of it would be to sell it for like $800
| Flound3r wrote: | | Could you post where you got the directions, and anything you did special about your pad? I really like the way yours came out, and I'm considering building it. |
Hmm, well, I did a *lot* of things different, but it is basically a Riptide pad. You can check out his design at www.digitaltorque.com/mydancepad . If you can get a hold of his instructional videos they're very very useful. I changed a lot in how th sensors work, and a lot of other minor tweaks, like, for example, I countersunk the sensor screws so that the panels could go down a little more. I needed that to accomodate the thicker plexi. I'll post more on what I did differently later
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