Making your own "Hard" pad!

Good and "other" hard pads are outrageous in price so why not make your own?

I've seen some people with homemade hard pads made from a soft pad and plexiglass that worked well.

Couple of questions though.

If you place something hard on top of the pad that covers the entire thing, will all the buttons activate at once?

What's a good thing to place on top of the pad that is clear and won't mess up when you step on it (other than plexiglass)?

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If you place something hard on top, and it's a single solid piece, then it will cause problems with stepping. Basic physics, this is why all hard pads have a separate block for each panel. Lexan works well.

Don't listen to me though, I took the lazy way and bought a CF pair, then waterproofed it by putting a sheet of plastic under the lexan.

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Well, it's a ton of work, so you had better be devoted to building it if you wanna make your own pad. Costs would probably exceed $100.

If you want a totally flat dancing surface, you could probably construct the pad in such a way that the buttons themselves are raised (instead of depressed, as it is at the arcade), and then add a square yard of thin sheet metal to the top. It should work if the buttons don't have to move too far down to activate, but the surface would probably also dent easily.

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It takes awhile, you may end up spending alooooot of money, and plenty of work. Something interesting to do overtime when you're bored though.

one of my friends took a soft pad, but it on a piece of wood & covered it with something (i forgot tho) & it worked

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