Vinyl flooring for modding - plastic dance mats

[ddrenthusiast]

Edit. Final mod:



Next time, I'll use a larger piece, so no join (I occasionally trip on it). And I'll mark the panels with duct tape, so I can see where my feet are.

But I no longer worry about repairing my metal pad - this works!

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I've been thinking that vinyl flooring (the type that rolls up, and is pretty thick) would work well for modding the floppy kind of dance mats.

For covering only the panels, you could use sample packs, cut to size and duct taped in position over a plastic covering.

But maybe vinyl flooring could also be used instead of the plastic covering, in countries where hardwood floor covering or similar is hard to come by?

And if you then cut out more pieces, maybe you could build up the panels you don't use to make a height difference, so you don't loose your place?

I'm thinking, maybe this will be reliable and feel good enough (haven't tried, so don't know for sure) that it could be used instead of the devout stealth?

Just thinking out loud.[/img]

[DAVE101]

Vinyl flooring is used in a popular soft pad mod already.

http://www.ddrfreak.com/library/faqs-modding.php
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poop

[ddrenthusiast]

Then maybe I didn't use the right words. I'm not in the US, so I have to translate terms. What I was thinking of was stuff that comes on a roll. It has pattern and color - usually tree or stone patterns. It has felt on the other side. It's slightly soft to step on, and your foot might stick slightly with shoes.

The link is for something that I can't find in this country. I would use it if I could find it, but I can't.

[ddrenthusiast]

I bought some flooring yesterday. It might be linoleum, not sure. I was looking for vinyl, but took what they had, which might be old. It's quite thick, with felt on the back. No structure on the front, which is great for dancing!

What I bought was something left behind, probably from a longer width roll. 60 cm and maybe 3 meters long. Got a great price, and so happy about what I happened to buy!

With that piece, I realized I could cover the whole pad instead of cutting out panels. One length would cover two thirds, and one length was cut in two to fit the top part of the pad.

It's fantastic to dance on! It's stable, no noise (just very small taps from the shoes), works great with shoes, and I keep my place fairly well (probably because it's not one piece, but two, and I know the join is where the top pad starts). The pad is a Konami pad. Very thin. Carpet taped to a thick plywood sheet that's just slightly warped in one corner. It sits right on pine flooring. With the linoleum on top of the pad, you can't hear the noise one floor down. Some odd creaking occasionally, but the person who checked it out for me didn't realize I'd even started dancing. The noise is considerably less problematic on the same floor even.

I duct taped the linoleum to the pad, but it does come loose eventually, so I have to reset it now and then. Might want to consider a staplegun, if that'll hold on linoleum on plywood?

I used to have some kind of plastic that slipped. It didn't feel good at all. Then I duct taped on panels cut out from a camping mattress. Didn't like that, so I ripped it off.

With the linoleum, you can't see the arrows, so this might not work for newbies. And I think the sensitivity might be less than for instance a devout stealth. But I'm thinking the linoleum might make a devout stealth feel better underneath your feet, so that might be a good addition even to that. I don't think there's much difference in sensitivity between this and the Logic3 metal pad, which has been my favorite up until now (it malfunctions a bit, so I might switch it for this now).

[ddrenthusiast]

I wonder...

If you have one piece of linoleum, and somehow fasten that directly on to a floppy mat. Maybe that would be enough of a mod, without the plywood base? Say if you store the mat flat on the floor under something, or somehow manage to store it hanging flat along a wall? Maybe if you cut the piece of linoleum so it's longer on one side (longer than the pad) and cut holes in the linoleum to allow for hanging?

The problem would be attaching it securely to the pad. How would you do that? I guess if you had a second piece of linoleum behind it, you could attach the linoleum pieces to each other? I guess it all depends on if that's more convenient/cheaper than a plywood base.

[ddrenthusiast]

The flooring came loose when I went to store the pad upright. The duct tape couldn't hold it. Looks like I'll need to glue it (a bit hesitant to do that, so will look for alternatives) or staple or hammer it to the plywood.

[ddrenthusiast]

I've had this mod for a long time now, and I'm very pleased with it. I could use a few more staples on one strip of flooring (the piece I had wasn't broad enough, so I've got two pieces, with the join being below the first row of panels), because I occasionally trip on it when it stretches too much.

But this really works for me. It's comfortable under my shoes, I keep my place on it (after getting used to not using the metal mat with its corner screws), and the plastic mat is actually holding up without malfunction.

Recommended!

[8ftmetalhead]

We require pics!
The more information people provide the more choice people have when modding their own equipment
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The Zenius - I - Vanisher homepad building and modding thread!
http://zenius-i-vanisher.com/v5.2/viewthread.php?threadid=3350&page=1

[ddrenthusiast]

OK, I uploaded a picture of my pad - I edited it into the first post in the thread here. It's a first try, and I'd do it differently today. It needs a few more staples, but you need a really heavy duty staplegun, and I'm still looking for something to borrow ;-)