Second hand pad - make and model? Issues?

I purchased a pad on craigslist for a reasonable price. I confirmed everything seemed to work fine before buying, and that is true - all the buttons do work. But one of the buttons sticks - which isn't something I noticed until playing for a while. In any case, I'm hoping for a simple fix - some part wore out and needs replaced or something, but I haven't quite brought myself to open it up yet. Anyone who could tell me who made this, and what might be wrong would be awesome. Even just who made it, so I can go ask them, would be nice.

Here's what I have (Sorry about the image quality - my camera was an ipad):

Other images

I just bought one of those, personwholives. I realise this is a thread where you're looking for help, but I'd appreciate it if you could answer one or two question to help me with my own problems!

Firstly, how are you connecting it to your system? And what operating system are you running?

In exchange, I'll tell you that the model you're looking at is a Multi-platform Metal Dance Pad - Blade Series. :)

Cheers!

Mine came with a control box that had a USB connector, so I just connected it with that. I'm hooking it up to a macbook air running OSX Yosemite. The control box I have seems fine, but I'm not sure if that's the original box or not.

Thanks for the info. I went a looked that one up, and it appears to be designed for a max player weight of 250. It seems possible that the issues I'm having could be related to the fact that I'm putting too much weight on the pad. Not sure about that, though.

I'd think that if it was a case of player weight, they'd all be sticking instead of just the one, so you can probably rule that out as an explanation.

I just took a look through the rest of the photos, and you're using the same control box as me, but I'm trying to get mine to run on Windows 7. *sadface*
Thanks for the answer though.

That's a good point. I guess it's time to break out the screwdriver and have a look inside.

Sorry the pad doesn't work with your OS. Have you tried using like a linux thumbstick? It could give you some idea if the controller is bad or if it's the drivers. If you were close by, we could arrange a meetup and experiment, but given the global nature of the internet, odds are slim.

Alright then. Five minutes with a screwdriver and I know what the problem is, just not how to fix it.

The sensor board is coming up. Rather, the foam under it is warped, lifting it up. It's probably pretty close to touching the top surface all the time, but when weight is added to the board, it shift just enough to start actually touching. (For me right now, the down arrow also triggers the left half the time. So does the left half of the center space, if I put my full weight on it). I see two options, though I don't know which one would be better:
1) Remove the sensor, remove the foam, replace with new foam. This is obviously the most correct solution, so long as I don't accidentally break the sensor board while removing it.
2) Apply electrical tape to those parts of the sensor board that are sticking up. This solution runs the risk of reducing the functional arrow space, but would be the most straightforward solution. Some experimentation would be needed to ensure the taped off area is as small as possible for correct operation.

I'd like to do option 1, but I don't know what I'm doing (not really anyway). I don't really want to have to replace the sensor board, if I can help it. but so long as I don't crack it, it shouldn't be a problem, right? Time to break out the putty knife? Anyone done this operation before and have any advice for me?

Well, I finally had some time to pull the pad apart again and pull the sensor. The bad news is, the damage isn't to the foam - the wood underneath it is separating. I guess they used really cheap plywood for this one. I extracted the foam, sensor, and 1/8" or so of the wood, which got me a flat surface to work with. Now, I just need to get some foam tape that I can use to hold the sensor the correct distance from the surface. I thought I had some, but it is just a little too thick, so I have to go get some thinner stuff and try that. If that fixes it, though, well, all the better.

This is proving to be an obnoxious project. Fortunately, I laid my hands on another pad I could use in the meantime, though I had to build a control box for it first. In the meantime, I've been working on this. It seems that the amount of wood I removed from the top layer is insufficient - I need to take out some more to make this work right with even the thinnest foam I could lay my hands on. Still, I like the feel of this pad more than my other, so I'm going to continue to work on it. Besides, having two pads would be a good thing - I just need to make it work right when I stand on it.

A fun project. Glad I got into this.