Sensors for homemade pad

Green Tea · Post by **Green Tea** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 2:03 pm

I was building a homemade pad a year ago and got stuck when I got to the sensor part... I was using two screws that'd be hit when the metal on the bottom of the arrow came down; thus completing the circuit. The screws were very shoddy and using weatherstripping proved very inefficient for the needs... I want a quick response so I can actually do fast songs... By the way, where could I buy this switch tape? I've been looking for it for a while. If anyone else has some input for how to do a strong, reliable sensor (and cheap)... please let me know if you have any solutions

Mosh_Mosh_Revolution · Post by **Mosh_Mosh_Revolution** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 4:08 pm

If sensors were strong, reliable, and cheap, we wouldn't ever have any problems with dance pads. =D

I've never built one of my own, though, so carry on while I go make pie. ^-^

WhiteDragon · Post by **WhiteDragon** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 2:01 am

I think your best bet is to use sheet metal on both the top and bottom, and separate them in the corners with a thin padding. It's a simple design, but it's quite durable.

seveneleven · Post by **seveneleven** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 4:53 am

the padding woudlnt be.....after some playing on it "arcade" style it ould most likely go to shit in a handbasket.....but we are stilll tryin to figure out a well minded conductor for using a squishy pad for less cost :\

Mosh_Mosh_Revolution · Post by **Mosh_Mosh_Revolution** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 9:00 am

I'll give you the solution that I gave somebody before for a similar question...

You should just go steal the sensors out of the TnT machine. Nobody'll miss 'em. =D

Green Tea · Post by **Green Tea** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 12:50 pm

WhiteDragon wrote:I think your best bet is to use sheet metal on both the top and bottom, and separate them in the corners with a thin padding. It's a simple design, but it's quite durable.

the only problem with that is the cost of sheet metal

after buying the sheet metal for the pad I can't really afford more

plus the time it takes to go down and up needs to be really fast... I will brainstorm on the idea though it could work.

Riot · Post by **Riot** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 12:57 pm

Perhaps we could capture lightning bugs and harness their power?

Green Tea · Post by **Green Tea** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 1:00 pm

no... that's just magic. You can't harness their power~!

Riot · Post by **Riot** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 1:31 pm

Watch me, baish! *Hooks up electrodes to lightning bug abdomens*

Screw this, I'm gonna go play Earthbound.

WhiteDragon · Post by **WhiteDragon** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 3:51 pm

It's true that all sheet metal contacts would be fairly expensive. However, response time wouldn't be a problem. The reason I suggested it in the first place is because it's the same design used on Cobalt Flux pads.

hascoolnickname · Post by **hascoolnickname** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 8:38 pm

tin foil = sheet metal on the cheap

try using it until you can get enough money for all of the sheet metal

Post by Ho » Wed Jul 06, 2005 8:50 am

Back when I was considering building a stage, I requested a sample of these:

http://www.tapeswitch.com/products/contflex.php

They are quite similar in design to what's actually used in a DDR stage. They're not exactly cheap, but they would likely give you a very arcade-like stage (if that's what you're going for).

Green Tea · Post by **Green Tea** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 1:44 pm

that's actually exactly what I was looking for

, I'll see if they'll let me sample several of these and compare it to a tin foil sensor. thanks a million!

Zash · Post by **Zash** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 3:34 pm

Wow, those tapeswitches are quite nice. I'll have to look into those for my next pad. The sensors for my current pad started out the same as yours. Screws with sheet metal on the bottom of the arrow. That's hard to manage though. So I designed a new type of sensor that's basically using the same components/principal but is much easier to maintain and is quite durable. Basically, I screwed 3 screws into the wood under an arrow *for one sensor*. I left enough room on each side for another screw *equally spaced*. I put weather stripping between the 3 screws and a piece on the outside of the screws. After that, I bent the sheet metal so that it would screw into the wood and still stay over the screws. Here's a graphic that I drew up in paint to give you an example...

It takes a little work to get it working well but if you have patience, you can get VERY great response. I play ITG mostly and I can hold hand freezes/hit hands without even putting much force behind it. Also, there's VERY little shadow stepping. If you do decide to use this sensor system, play a few songs on the pad before you decide to change your settings *if there's shadow stepping*. There usually will be a little shadow stepping after you change a sensor. After playing for a few minutes though, it smooths out.

Green Tea · Post by **Green Tea** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 1:46 pm

That's actually fairly similar to what I did... but I did a little differently... I used adhesive spray to get the metal to stick to the acrylic arrow. I attempted to draw a diagram of my pad

here it is:

the screws I actually screwed into the weather stripping to try to make it have less compression. The problem I had was with the screws being pushed down and stripping (dirty whores(sorry random guttermind tangent)). I see your design provides more support... I will probably experiment with sometime similar to your idea next.

One thing though... did you attach the ground wire to the sheet metal above it, or did you use the screws like I did?

PS: yes I know I draw like a 3 year old... I don't like paint and I didn't feel like putting it in autocad