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BluemeanieTrader
Trick Member
Joined: 25 Apr 2003
Location: NY |
620.  Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2003 2:23 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2003 8:04 pm Post subject:
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BluemeanieTrader wrote:
Here's my situation...
My pad worked perfectly...
I made a new setup in the garage, moved my pad, and got a mad catz 7ft extension cable..
Plug in the pad to play and all the arrows ghost step...sometime extremly bad...
I thought it may be the madcatz cable so i tried it without it, same thing..
I took the arrows off one at a time, checked all the connections with a continuity tester....added a little more weather stripping...
Same thing, still ghost stepping...
Took off an arrow panel with the game still running, bam, ghost stepping with no connections touched, WTF??????
Is the burned out controller symptom, what do ya think caused it, the move, or the madcatz extension cable....
Thanks
-Blue
Im sorry to say, but controllers most likely fried. Just because you said that when the arrows werent even close, and it was still ghost stepping, that gave it away. Im also going out on a limb and guessing it was not a sony controller because im telling you, they are very hard to fry!
my only guess is if it was a mad catz controller, they fry out of no where, when i had mine, it fried when i put my 5 metal panels to the frame, lol
Just double check the controller board to make sure no wires came undone from the solder, mabey the move knocked some wires loose?
by the way, howcome u needed a 7 foot extension cable?
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You're right it wasn't sony, it was a performance pad...I tried to solder sony controllers on 2 seperate occassions and have no luck what so ever, i can never get it to stick despite drilling right next to the connection and screpping it down to pure copper, what wind up happening for me is the copper connection ge4ts so hot the little circle of copper actually falls out of the controller....
I need the 7 foot cable as we got an extra big screen in the garage with a surround sound, but the psx/ps2 are to the far left of the room, as i don't wan't cords dropping in front of the stereo or screen...the extension allows all wires to be on the ground out of the way....And i tried the mad catz extension cable on my modded soft pad and it works fine, leaving me to believe its gotta be just a fried controller....Arggg, what a pain in the buttocks....
-Blue |
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Andreq
Trick Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2003
Location: Quebec foreva |
| 621. Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2003 4:30 am Post subject: |
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| BluemeanieTrader wrote: | | Quote: | Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2003 8:04 pm Post subject:
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BluemeanieTrader wrote:
Here's my situation...
My pad worked perfectly...
I made a new setup in the garage, moved my pad, and got a mad catz 7ft extension cable..
Plug in the pad to play and all the arrows ghost step...sometime extremly bad...
I thought it may be the madcatz cable so i tried it without it, same thing..
I took the arrows off one at a time, checked all the connections with a continuity tester....added a little more weather stripping...
Same thing, still ghost stepping...
Took off an arrow panel with the game still running, bam, ghost stepping with no connections touched, WTF??????
Is the burned out controller symptom, what do ya think caused it, the move, or the madcatz extension cable....
Thanks
-Blue
Im sorry to say, but controllers most likely fried. Just because you said that when the arrows werent even close, and it was still ghost stepping, that gave it away. Im also going out on a limb and guessing it was not a sony controller because im telling you, they are very hard to fry!
my only guess is if it was a mad catz controller, they fry out of no where, when i had mine, it fried when i put my 5 metal panels to the frame, lol
Just double check the controller board to make sure no wires came undone from the solder, mabey the move knocked some wires loose?
by the way, howcome u needed a 7 foot extension cable?
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You're right it wasn't sony, it was a performance pad...I tried to solder sony controllers on 2 seperate occassions and have no luck what so ever, i can never get it to stick despite drilling right next to the connection and screpping it down to pure copper, what wind up happening for me is the copper connection ge4ts so hot the little circle of copper actually falls out of the controller....
I need the 7 foot cable as we got an extra big screen in the garage with a surround sound, but the psx/ps2 are to the far left of the room, as i don't wan't cords dropping in front of the stereo or screen...the extension allows all wires to be on the ground out of the way....And i tried the mad catz extension cable on my modded soft pad and it works fine, leaving me to believe its gotta be just a fried controller....Arggg, what a pain in the buttocks....
-Blue |
That so sad... (rofl......jsut kidding)
Ill please god that my "softpad" controller will not fry.
Its a "topway" softpad controller and its designed for a soft pad... any got problem with that ?? (I dont want to rewire my pad in 1 month or ...)
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mogbert
Basic Member
Joined: 24 Apr 2003
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| 622. Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2003 8:55 am Post subject: |
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I have a few comments regarding those tact switches:
1. The "travel" is only .25mm. This means that the distance the button moves when you push on it will be one-quarter-of-a-millimeter. That's pretty small and if you are using 4 per arrow panel, it'll be a pain in the a** to get everything level and just right.
2. What are you going to mount the tact switches on? Those 688-SKHHPK's are PCB mount, but if you aren't going to mount them on a PCB, are you going to bend the legs?
3. Although the operating life is stated to be (*said in a Dr. Evil voice with pinky at mouth*) 1 million operations, it will probably break long before that. A tact switch wasn't meant to support or be placed underneath as much weight as will be seen by a ddr arrow panel.
This seems to be the one case where technology will not triumph over ingenuity. Simple is better. I recommend ddrhomepad's sheetmetal contacts or my screw with sheetmetal contact modification. I recommend that you forget trying to implement microswitches since they probably won't last as long as you think they will, and when they do wear out, they are more difficult to replace. I tried the microswitch design many moons ago and even though the switches I used were rated for (*said in a Dr. Evil voice with pinky at mouth*) 1 million operations, they didn't last more than 2 days! The microswitches also made a really annoying "clicking" noise that would have eventually driven me insane!  Good luck, though, if you plan on trying to use them anyway. |
Aha! But I have already forseen those troubles and have a design that answers each one of those issues.
see, I'm using foam rubber that is about half an inch. It is pretty sturdy stuff and only compresses a little when you stand on it.
I'm going to mount the switches on a $3 pc board from Radio Shack (cut into 16 pieces) and then mount that onto a piece of foam rubber that is just thick enough to make it .5" thick. So that when you step on the pad, it only goes down a little, quietly, and once the switch is pressed, it can also be pressed down. Now, alternating with foam rubber will probably be something akin to spacers, that will represent the maximum safe depression to keep the switches from being damaged. So even if you stomp on the switch, everything should be safe (there is also a support that goes through the step wells that will keep the step from breaking.
Because the step will only be going down a short distance, the .25 mm travel should be perfect, extrasesitive, but safe because of the foam.
I'm planning on this being a nigh indestructible platform (as long as it doesn't get wet).
No possibility of it breaking down the middle, the steps cracking, the wires coming undone, the cord conductors breaking (stranded controller ext cord) or the controller burning out (I hope).
Can anyone tell me where I can upload some of these pictures?
And I have enough conductors for three more buttons, which ones should they be? (I'll worry about how to make them.) |
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-joe-
Trick Member
Joined: 08 Jan 2003
Location: lv |
| 623. Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2003 11:09 am Post subject: |
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| BluemeanieTrader wrote: | | Quote: | Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2003 8:04 pm Post subject:
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BluemeanieTrader wrote:
Here's my situation...
My pad worked perfectly...
I made a new setup in the garage, moved my pad, and got a mad catz 7ft extension cable..
Plug in the pad to play and all the arrows ghost step...sometime extremly bad...
I thought it may be the madcatz cable so i tried it without it, same thing..
I took the arrows off one at a time, checked all the connections with a continuity tester....added a little more weather stripping...
Same thing, still ghost stepping...
Took off an arrow panel with the game still running, bam, ghost stepping with no connections touched, WTF??????
Is the burned out controller symptom, what do ya think caused it, the move, or the madcatz extension cable....
Thanks
-Blue
Im sorry to say, but controllers most likely fried. Just because you said that when the arrows werent even close, and it was still ghost stepping, that gave it away. Im also going out on a limb and guessing it was not a sony controller because im telling you, they are very hard to fry!
my only guess is if it was a mad catz controller, they fry out of no where, when i had mine, it fried when i put my 5 metal panels to the frame, lol
Just double check the controller board to make sure no wires came undone from the solder, mabey the move knocked some wires loose?
by the way, howcome u needed a 7 foot extension cable?
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You're right it wasn't sony, it was a performance pad...I tried to solder sony controllers on 2 seperate occassions and have no luck what so ever, i can never get it to stick despite drilling right next to the connection and screpping it down to pure copper, what wind up happening for me is the copper connection ge4ts so hot the little circle of copper actually falls out of the controller....
I need the 7 foot cable as we got an extra big screen in the garage with a surround sound, but the psx/ps2 are to the far left of the room, as i don't wan't cords dropping in front of the stereo or screen...the extension allows all wires to be on the ground out of the way....And i tried the mad catz extension cable on my modded soft pad and it works fine, leaving me to believe its gotta be just a fried controller....Arggg, what a pain in the buttocks....
-Blue |
aha, have i got the solution for you 
follow what im about to say and you will have a perfectly soldered sony controller
ok, first off. We all know that the sony boards are harder to solder than the other boards out there. This may be a different type of copper or the fact that the points are much smaller. Now, you were trying to solder onto the pcb with cat-5 wire. That is the biggest mistake people are making. Cat-5 are single stranded copper wires, which means that it takes alot more to heat up than stranded wire (the light should go off in your head right about..... NOW) Beings that you have to have it heat up longer, thats causing you to leave the soldering iron on the board longer which leads to fried electronics!
ok, cut about 7 inches of the fried controller wire. Now, strip the outter insulation so your left with about 6 or 8 strands of colored wire (red, blue, orange, brown, black, green (may be other colors, not quite sure))
strip the ends of the six or eight 7 inch stranded copper wires. Solder them to up down left right and if you have in your pad design x, o, start, select (etc...) Now, simply solder all the cat-5 wires to the ends of the stranded wires instead of directly to the board
i had a mad catz controller as my first board. We soldered the cat-5 right to it and bam, fried after 30 seconds of playing! My 2 dance pads now are soldered to the sony controllers with the stranded wire technique, and after 3 months, there still great ;-)
also, if there is a capacitor on your board, snap alligator clips on each of the 2 metal bars going to the board. That way when you solder to the board, instead of the heat going to the capacitor, it will diisipate into the alligator wires
^^^^^^^
anyone reading this thread, take that into consideration when your soldering your next dance pad ;-) 
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BluemeanieTrader
Trick Member
Joined: 25 Apr 2003
Location: NY |
| 624. Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2003 2:14 pm Post subject: |
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Joe I tried that method a few times, i believe it is either my solder or gun that cause me such a problem....Reguardless, i have a few extra mad catz controllers, got one up and running, been playing for a few hours no problems....I have an extra soldered for the next time it happens, once both are fried then perhaps i'll try the sony controller.
Blue |
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-joe-
Trick Member
Joined: 08 Jan 2003
Location: lv |
| 625. Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2003 4:08 pm Post subject: |
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| BluemeanieTrader wrote: | Joe I tried that method a few times, i believe it is either my solder or gun that cause me such a problem....Reguardless, i have a few extra mad catz controllers, got one up and running, been playing for a few hours no problems....I have an extra soldered for the next time it happens, once both are fried then perhaps i'll try the sony controller.
Blue |
yeah man, if those fry, then def go to a sony board
what gun are u using?
we (me and my friend) used a weller soldering station, those things are beautifulll (40 bucks, not bad)
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good times, good times. |
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BluemeanieTrader
Trick Member
Joined: 25 Apr 2003
Location: NY |
| 626. Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2003 5:07 pm Post subject: |
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I use a cheap o' radio shack 5.99 soldering pen...
-Blue |
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Zarcom
Trick Member
Joined: 03 Apr 2003
Location: nowhere to be found. |
| 627. Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2003 5:59 pm Post subject: |
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| BluemeanieTrader wrote: | I use a cheap o' radio shack 5.99 soldering pen...
-Blue |
lmao I havnt heard the phrase "cheap-o" in ages lol.
anwyay soldering pens are ok to use, but wouldnt it be easier using a soldering iron/gun?
anyway ill see you guys laterz, see yaz bye. |
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Andreq
Trick Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2003
Location: Quebec foreva |
| 628. Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2003 6:10 pm Post subject: |
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| BluemeanieTrader wrote: | Joe I tried that method a few times, i believe it is either my solder or gun that cause me such a problem....Reguardless, i have a few extra mad catz controllers, got one up and running, been playing for a few hours no problems....I have an extra soldered for the next time it happens, once both are fried then perhaps i'll try the sony controller.
Blue |
Im not sure what im talking about but :
Did you remove the stupid black material over the solder point ??? (I got this strange material over the solder point of my "softpad controller"and I know that its the same on the Sony Controller
that was my 5cent (2US cent to canadien cent...im dumn...)
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Soyokaze
Basic Member
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| 629. Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2003 4:26 pm Post subject: |
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Hey im an australian, and i cant find the corner braces would anyone like to help me??
ive got everything else |
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Andreq
Trick Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2003
Location: Quebec foreva |
| 630. Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2003 4:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Soyokaze wrote: | Hey im an australian, and i cant find the corner braces would anyone like to help me??
ive got everything else |
go to a metal shop with the corner braces plan and they should do it for you (I did that)
or buy another sheetmetal and do it yourself...
for the plan.... try to search for the chromas ddr pad and search on his website
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marsman57
Trick Member
Joined: 16 Jul 2002
Location: North Augusta/Columbia, SC |
| 631. Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2003 7:17 pm Post subject: |
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| I find the best way to treat sheet metal is to have a dad who is a sheet metal fabricator cut it perfectly in the right size squares and then mark and put the sheet metal in a metal bend to make perfect bends.... Oh, and getting the metal for free is a nice bonus. Maybe that's just me though ^_~ |
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marsman57
Trick Member
Joined: 16 Jul 2002
Location: North Augusta/Columbia, SC |
| 632. Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2003 7:26 pm Post subject: |
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| I have a question, what makes the 'newer' designs better than ddrhomepad's design. That's the design I used on my pad and the wiring of it was easy and it works beautifully. I'm passing Catas (which passing Catas is definitely a new thing for me) and everything is fine. I don't notice any missed or ghost steps anymore. It seems sensitive enough for me, is the other design more sensitive or what? I really don't understand exactly how the other designs do contacts... but I kinda can tell. Of course, it's obvious the screw contact is a must if you're using lights, but I don't see why a full sheet metal contact is bad otherwise... |
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Soyokaze
Basic Member
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| 633. Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2003 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Andreq wrote: | | Soyokaze wrote: | Hey im an australian, and i cant find the corner braces would anyone like to help me??
ive got everything else |
go to a metal shop with the corner braces plan and they should do it for you (I did that)
or buy another sheetmetal and do it yourself...
for the plan.... try to search for the chromas ddr pad and search on his website |
Umm i tried to search for it and i come up with a disease thats totally unrelated to ddr |
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Andreq
Trick Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2003
Location: Quebec foreva |
| 634. Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2003 3:12 am Post subject: |
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| Soyokaze wrote: | | Andreq wrote: | | Soyokaze wrote: | Hey im an australian, and i cant find the corner braces would anyone like to help me??
ive got everything else |
go to a metal shop with the corner braces plan and they should do it for you (I did that)
or buy another sheetmetal and do it yourself...
for the plan.... try to search for the chromas ddr pad and search on his website |
Umm i tried to search for it and i come up with a disease thats totally unrelated to ddr |
http://ddr.cromas.net/Custom%20Bracket%20Drawings/brace.gif
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-joe-
Trick Member
Joined: 08 Jan 2003
Location: lv |
| 635. Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2003 11:21 am Post subject: |
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| marsman57 wrote: | | I find the best way to treat sheet metal is to have a dad who is a sheet metal fabricator cut it perfectly in the right size squares and then mark and put the sheet metal in a metal bend to make perfect bends.... Oh, and getting the metal for free is a nice bonus. Maybe that's just me though ^_~ |
yaaay
i got my 8 pieces of plexiglass, 5 aluminum squares for the frame, plywood and the sheet metal contacts for free (a friend hooked me up)
go me
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statikeffeck
Basic Member
Joined: 02 May 2003
Location: Neptune, NJ |
| 636. Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2003 1:55 pm Post subject: |
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Joe, do you mean Solid Aluminum squares! very nice!!!
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Soyokaze
Basic Member
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| 637. Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2003 6:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Andreq wrote: | | Soyokaze wrote: | | Andreq wrote: | | Soyokaze wrote: | Hey im an australian, and i cant find the corner braces would anyone like to help me??
ive got everything else |
go to a metal shop with the corner braces plan and they should do it for you (I did that)
or buy another sheetmetal and do it yourself...
for the plan.... try to search for the chromas ddr pad and search on his website |
Umm i tried to search for it and i come up with a disease thats totally unrelated to ddr |
http://ddr.cromas.net/Custom%20Bracket%20Drawings/brace.gif |
Thank you so much im going to a metal shop on monday THANKS! |
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Zep
Trick Member
Joined: 16 Apr 2003
Location: in the darkest cave on Thunder Cat Island |
| 638. Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2003 3:33 am Post subject: |
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If I had alot of money then I could make good Pads Of metle (sp) 
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sokochan
Trick Member
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
Location: Easton, Massachusetts |
| 639. Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2003 8:33 am Post subject: |
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Just a question...
I've yet to begin building my pad...but from what I can tell controllers tend to "fry" often. Is there a reason behind this, they don't fry when they are being used normally so what is it about being on a DDR pad that causes them to?
Does anyone know? Do they "fry" or just stop working? |
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