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Devout Stealth homepad
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rlpowell
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180. PostPosted: Sat May 03, 2008 10:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

pooface wrote:
Compared to the Riptide design, how much easier is this to build? And how much time does it take to make? I know the site says in about 6 hours, but can anyone attest to this?

I was building a Riptide mat and got about 80% done with it and realized that I got the measurements all wrong and that it was hopeless.

The design is far simpler but the thing that worries me about it is the use of epoxy. I've never dealt with it and it looks like something that if you screw up, you're hopeless.


Well, I can't make any guarantees, but my variant doesn't require any epoxy. http://www.ddrfreak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=8862015

-Robin
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devout
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181. PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2008 10:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

pooface wrote:
Compared to the Riptide design, how much easier is this to build? And how much time does it take to make? I know the site says in about 6 hours, but can anyone attest to this?

I was building a Riptide mat and got about 80% done with it and realized that I got the measurements all wrong and that it was hopeless.

The design is far simpler but the thing that worries me about it is the use of epoxy. I've never dealt with it and it looks like something that if you screw up, you're hopeless.



The site says 6 hours cause that's how long it took me to build one.... I would describe myself as "handier than most people, but far from professional" with tools. Your mileage of course will vary. The biggest factor is probably having a large, organized workspace so you can quickly grab what you need and have everything laid out at once without having to put things away and get them back out.

As for the epoxy, you're right that it is important to get it right, but at the same time it would be kind of hard to screw up. Really it's no different from any other glue, it just dries really fast. The key part of course is putting the foil on. If you're not happy with your epoxy job and you can tell it's no good before you put the foil down, just let it dry, sand it flat (if necessary) and try again. Also using a slower epoxy like 20 minutes might make it easier. I may have also gone overboard on the epoxy safety warnings, but that's just a liability thing.
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the world's most refined homepad: devout stealth

Almost-finished non-Stealth homepad for sale, just add sensors! see here: http://www.ddrfreak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=8921579#8921579
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pooface
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182. PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2008 1:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm going to be building one of these mats over the summer. However, I don't like the idea of not having buttons other than the arrows.

How do you select a song?
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rlpowell
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183. PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2008 1:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

pooface wrote:
I'm going to be building one of these mats over the summer. However, I don't like the idea of not having buttons other than the arrows.

How do you select a song?


If you do the controllers right, all the buttons on the controller itself still work.

-Robin
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pooface
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184. PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2008 1:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm planning on using the controller from my Ignition 3.0 so that the pad is compatible with PS2, Xbox, and PC, and there are no buttons on the controller, just metal contacts that the Ignition's sensors are taped onto.
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pooface
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185. PostPosted: Sun May 25, 2008 8:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry for the double post, but a friend and I started building 2 of these pads today. It's been super easy so far, we're almost done epoxy-ing the pennies down.

So far this has been much much much easier than the Riptide design that I tried to use about a year ago. I'll post some pics and mabye some video once I finish, which should be tomorrow if all things go well.

EDIT: Here's a picture of it, but its still not soldered to the controller.


Also, I haven't soldered it yet, but I've hooked it up to a meter and all of the arrows are always closed. The down arrow was always open for a while, but not is suffering the same problem. All I should have to do is add more cardboard, right? They sometimes work, but they are nowhere near consistent. Can anyone with experience with this design help me out here?
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devout
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186. PostPosted: Thu May 29, 2008 7:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

pooface wrote:
Sorry for the double post, but a friend and I started building 2 of these pads today. It's been super easy so far, we're almost done epoxy-ing the pennies down.

So far this has been much much much easier than the Riptide design that I tried to use about a year ago. I'll post some pics and mabye some video once I finish, which should be tomorrow if all things go well.

Also, I haven't soldered it yet, but I've hooked it up to a meter and all of the arrows are always closed. The down arrow was always open for a while, but not is suffering the same problem. All I should have to do is add more cardboard, right? They sometimes work, but they are nowhere near consistent. Can anyone with experience with this design help me out here?


Adding more cardboard should fix it, or try really cranking down the corner screws which should cause the center to pop up more. If neither of these helps, it's probably a different problem, like not scraping all of the foil off the edges or around the screws. For x/o buttons I bought large pushbuttons from radioshack and stuck them on one corner of the pad (which is what most people do for any homepad design). You could also just use the controller, or add more arrow-type sensors in the corners if you want to play solo style.
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the world's most refined homepad: devout stealth

Almost-finished non-Stealth homepad for sale, just add sensors! see here: http://www.ddrfreak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=8921579#8921579
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pooface
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187. PostPosted: Fri May 30, 2008 7:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah I figured out that it was extra foil along the edges that I didn't scrape off. I just put lots of masking tape over it. I'm still having issues with 2 or my arrows being stuck, and I think it's just a spacing issue so I'm going to double up on the cardboard. Thank you sooo much for this design, it's brilliant, took me only a few days to build 2, and it performs wonderfully!
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cbarbera
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188. PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 5:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is probably the first homepad I'm going to build before attempting something on a larger scale.

Does anyone know if the Devout Stealth would be able to work with double stomps from Hottest Party on Wii or the similar triple stomps that are planned for Hottest Party 2?

I imagine the sensitivity would need to be just right for it to work.
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Maliciant
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189. PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 6:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I built 2 controls way back... sadly both have issues right now, one has a button stuck and the other has a button that rapid fires but won't stay on... I don't have the tools or space handy to work on them in my own house and have been too lazy to drag them to my brothers where the tools are handy. I will say that the controls work very well, and got a lot of mileage on them... and I'll be getting more when I get around to fixing them (most likely just a matter of puttin some more cardboard in on one and the other... maybe taking some out or finding a ding that needs smoothed or soemthing).

What I did notice is that the left arrow which was closest to my sliding glass door during winter... seemed to go out quickly... I think there may be some humidity susceptability here. Both controls started to give me some issues when they were close to the sliding glass window, it might also be that the steel was colder there, I don't know, maybe the rapid firing control will work normally now and it was just a temp issue. Just thought I'd update everyone on my controls, though they are both in disrepair at the moment.
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cbarbera
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190. PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Maliciant wrote:
I built 2 controls way back... sadly both have issues right now, one has a button stuck and the other has a button that rapid fires but won't stay on... I don't have the tools or space handy to work on them in my own house and have been too lazy to drag them to my brothers where the tools are handy. I will say that the controls work very well, and got a lot of mileage on them... and I'll be getting more when I get around to fixing them (most likely just a matter of puttin some more cardboard in on one and the other... maybe taking some out or finding a ding that needs smoothed or soemthing).

What I did notice is that the left arrow which was closest to my sliding glass door during winter... seemed to go out quickly... I think there may be some humidity susceptability here. Both controls started to give me some issues when they were close to the sliding glass window, it might also be that the steel was colder there, I don't know, maybe the rapid firing control will work normally now and it was just a temp issue. Just thought I'd update everyone on my controls, though they are both in disrepair at the moment.


So are you suggesting that it would be better for me to invest in a more complex design like a riptide or DJ3 style pad from the beginning?

I thought about that, but since I'm a complete noob at building homepads and wasn't sure how easy it would be to build a homepad for beginners.
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Pezzle
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191. PostPosted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 7:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I like this design a lot, it's very nice. However, I've never built anything in my life on this scale (miniatures...different story) and I'm thinking of using this as my first big project. How easy is this to screw up, really? riiight.gif

And also, could you theoretically use the blueshark diy kit foot sensors instead of the foil and penny? Just curious, I mean if I had the money to invest in pressure diodes I figured why not?
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slvrshdw
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192. PostPosted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 11:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

if you are going to go with the blueshark sensors, i wouldnt use this design. instead, i'd go with the riptide.

if you do decide to work on this, feel free to PM/AIM me, i'll help if you need it
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devout
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193. PostPosted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

FYI: I update the site a little with some pictures showing the back of my pad and how I added x/o buttons (which are nothing special.)
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the world's most refined homepad: devout stealth

Almost-finished non-Stealth homepad for sale, just add sensors! see here: http://www.ddrfreak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=8921579#8921579
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Lawrencesss
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194. PostPosted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 8:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As a testament to the durability of these pads. I thought I would put up a photo of mine.

I built this over a year ago, and it has done some serious hours.

I play 6-7 hours a week, and it shows on the pad. Keep in mind I cleaned the pad before I took the photo. All the black spots is where the laminex has worn through, and you can see the areas my feet frequent from the polish on the zincalume.

It is looking incredibly tired these days, but I still cannot remember the last pad miss that it had. It performs exceptionally, there were a few initial problems, which were solved easily (Drilling a hole for air to escape, connecting the top steel together for good ground) but now it is flawless.

I am currently in the middle of building a doubles pad from this design. This time with 9 active panels. I will post some photos of it when I am complete.

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kaosskratchet
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195. PostPosted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 7:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have just finished this design, and other than some blunders with the cat 5 and the demonic black adhesive on the konami soft pad control box, it has come together quickly and easily. I added 4 buttons onto the top of the konami control box, suitably far enough away from each other to step on individually, and the sensitivity is amazing.

Some advice with soldering is to use flux (especially if you don't want to scrape off the black stuff on the konami solder points). a caveat to that: wipe it off when your done, otherwise the connection between 2 arrows could be constant when the flux dries. Even when it dries, you can still wipe it off though. Remember, any sensitivity problems at all should be checked in the control box and wiring first, and the pad last.
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MyChemicalRomance
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196. PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 1:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, I'm getting ready to build one of these soon, but I just spotted a problem in the directions I'd like you to explain to me. Look at this section in the instructions:

Quote:
Cut four squares out of your remaining piece of plywood to form the steps. These should be slightly smaller than 11"x11"... 10 and 7/8" x 10 and 7/8" will be good.


and

Quote:
Cut 4 12"x12" squares out of your 26 gauge sheet metal. Also cut a .5"x.5"square out of each corner, and drill a hole that is 1"x1" from each corner


That means the steel is a whole inch bigger then the steps(or 1 1/8" bigger if you cut the steps 10 7/8"x10 7/8"). So when you cut the .5"x.5" square into the steel and try to bend it around the steps the steel will be to big. Wouldn't you have to make the steel only half and inch bigger then the steps, so when you cut the .5"x.5" square and bend it around the steps it will fit nice and snug?

I haven't seen anyone else mentions this though, so maybe I'm just missing something. Sorry if I didn't explain it to well.
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devout
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197. PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 8:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

MyChemicalRomance wrote:
Ok, I'm getting ready to build one of these soon, but I just spotted a problem in the directions I'd like you to explain to me. Look at this section in the instructions:

Quote:
Cut four squares out of your remaining piece of plywood to form the steps. These should be slightly smaller than 11"x11"... 10 and 7/8" x 10 and 7/8" will be good.


and

Quote:
Cut 4 12"x12" squares out of your 26 gauge sheet metal. Also cut a .5"x.5"square out of each corner, and drill a hole that is 1"x1" from each corner


That means the steel is a whole inch bigger then the steps(or 1 1/8" bigger if you cut the steps 10 7/8"x10 7/8"). So when you cut the .5"x.5" square into the steel and try to bend it around the steps the steel will be to big. Wouldn't you have to make the steel only half and inch bigger then the steps, so when you cut the .5"x.5" square and bend it around the steps it will fit nice and snug?

I haven't seen anyone else mentions this though, so maybe I'm just missing something. Sorry if I didn't explain it to well.


You may or may not be confused. The measurements are all correct. When you cut .5" squares out of EACH corner you are left with an 11"x11" piece of square steel with .5" wide flanges on each side. You bend those flanges down over the edges of the wood. The 10-7/8" is because the steel has some thickness so if you make the wood a little smaller the finished, covered pieces will be closer to 11"x11". Like I said this is the "classic" way of making corner panels so if you read other tutorials you might find a better description there.
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the world's most refined homepad: devout stealth

Almost-finished non-Stealth homepad for sale, just add sensors! see here: http://www.ddrfreak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=8921579#8921579
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MyChemicalRomance
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198. PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 12:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh! Now I see! Ya, when you cut the squares out of EACH corner they add up to an inch. Thanks, devout.
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MyChemicalRomance
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199. PostPosted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 2:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's done! I finished it at 3:00 AM last night. Took me about 6-8 hours to build it. I've been doing 9, 10 and 11's all afternoon and it's working perfectly.

Only had a few initial problems, one step was constantly making contact so I took the steel of, couldn't find anything wrong, screwed it back on and it worked fine. Still don't know what was wrong with it.

I didnt' bother added x/o buttons, I'm just using my keyboard to select songs. Might add some later.

I'll post pictures as soon as I find my usb cable for my camera disturb.gif
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