Chris' k-rad Dance Dance Revolution pad
 
 
 
inspired by the fact that i had gotten into the habit of paying $1 at the arcades to suck at dance dance revolution, i built this pad.  i don't have a psx, so i decided to be cheap by playing the game on the computer (with delight delight reduplication, i think, all those clever names are too confusing).  now that the thing is sort of done, and i got my credit card bill, i realize that i could have bought a psx and two pads for less money, could have been playing the game for the last 3 weeks, and i would have actually done some schoolwork.

the thing actually plays pretty well.  the plexi flexes a tad more than the arcade, but with shoes on, you don't really notice.  Some day i'll shell out the $5 to print some nice arrows at kinko's.  the main difference i can tell from the arcade is the tactile hints that your feet get to keep you oriented correctly on the pad.  the arcade has those corner tiedowns, which bump up a little.  everything is flat here, so if you're not used to the pad, you might wander off and end up stomping the center panel instead of up, for example.  also, my monitor is a 17" and is far away, so the whole experience isnt quite as engulfing as the arcade, but beggars can't be choosers.  someday, i'll scrounge up a tv out card.

this awful mess of screwed-up solders used to be a cheapo SNES controller, that i had wired a long time ago to work with the directpad pro driver (at ziplabel.com).  I don't own a soldering iron, so i used on from a CURTIS mac repair kit.  i dont think you'd ever need to solder something on a mac, which is a good thing, because this was far and beyond the crappiest soldering iron in the world.  so, the burnt circuit board and barely-stuck wires aren't my fault.

the acrylic pads ($5 a piece at TAP plastics) rest on the 4 corner supports.  when you step on them, they bend up to 1/8 inch, and rest on the pine pieces.  2 microswitches are nailed to the sides of the diamond (i bought ones with the little metal arm, but that needed too much travel, so i ripped them off, and the pad just pushes the little switches down).

if yer dying to know the wild and wonderful story of this thing's construction, i'd be more than happy to spout: cmcgraw@stanford.edu.

home depot was my blessed provider for this project.  and fry's electronics, TAP plastics, and palo alto hardware.  and jameco too.  third floor mirlo provided many many tools.  at first, i was provided with a hacksaw with a metal blade.  then, a jigsaw was found and chris was made very, very happy.