Page 5 Metal
Dance Platforms - Final Assembly

Time to cut	The pegboard cutting makes good practice for getting the sizes right. The cut peices work well for bracing and protecting the acrylic.
	Chad cut the plastic sheet into 10 3/4 inch strips on a table saw with a carbide finish blade. It works if you are careful, but there were a few minor chips on the edge. Then we scored the plastic stuff almost half way through and snapped it apart. Brace one side between two boards, and apply even downward pressure along the seam.
	I finally found some of the high density foam! There was a pack with one roll of black foam, and this one with two white rolls. Not sure what the difference was, but I think one roll would be plenty.
	The peices of foam are about 1.5 inches long, and I ended up cutting the diagonal ones much shorter than shown to make the pad more sensitive. It sure does not stick very well, but gravity and pressure will hold it in place. Also notice the wire from the metal is hot glued and covered with tape. I did break and redo one solder during this process.
	Time to attack and brutally mutilate my mousepad. Go for the GLORY! The small corner foam cores are cut from a mousepad. I liked these perfectly, but they make a big distance between the metal, so most light people have to stomp to get it to fire. The little kids could not even trigger the step. I am going to put something thinner in there now.
	Adjusting the sensitivity is required. I used duct tape (blue of course) to hold the steps together between adjustments for testing. The graphics here are from riptide's design, but sweet metallic teal and magenta on white. I think mine will be classic black with white kanji.
	This is the EMS Joypad PS2 to USB connector. It has two ports and treats the buttons like buttons rather that axis. I am still trying to adjust to DWI and getting my step file gaps adjusted, so I am not sure how well this works. All indications seem good so far.
UPDATE!	The thing people have said about a button firing constantly happens occasionally! It has something to do with standing on a direction occasionally.. It happens on store bought pads also, just replug the controller and no worries.
Another UPDATE!	The kids just could not trigger the pads. I replaced the foam corner core things. I placed the weatherstripping on the very edge of the metal. Now the step fires well, and only is dead around the edges, if you don't stomp. This might be a good thing since it teaches you to step in the middle of the pad. I am still contemplating how to build supports for it.

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