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| Midway threw this project we
reached a major detour. My little girl was sent to the emergency room with a
rather severe illness. After a few days of mending she started to act more like
her old self and was able to get her IVs removed. When we got home all she
wanted to do was dance on the dance pad. To this day she loves the dance pad.
But it stood as an important reminder of what matters in life. So geeks. Don't
forget there's more to life than geeking. Trust me. |
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| Step one after the deck is all
welded up and painted is to install the cap ends. Using a rubber mallet pound
the caps into the deck. Make sure they are good and tight. Depending on the
metal you used for your deck when they weld up the square tube it can leave a
bump at the seam inside the tube. If you have a bump that interferes with the
cap being inserted use a set of snips to cut some of the plastic away so the
cap can seat into the tube. Finally if the cap is loose just use a couple drops
of super glue. |
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| The Next step is to drill the
holes for the wires. Now something we learned is that there are some holes in
the corners especially that would have been a good idea to drill before we
welded the frame. But seeing that we didn't we just drilled right threw the
outer walls. It doesn't look as pretty, but it works. Center the holes in the
middle of the tiles when it is drilled. Also a trick we learned... if we
drilled the holes with our super duper fast drill it took about 2 min to drill
threw the material. But if we drilled at a moderately slow speed it took
seconds. Just a tip we learned your more than welcome to try to be a jock... |
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| Once all the holes are drilled use
a bit of kite string and a vacuum cleaner to fish the wires. Basically your
sucking the string threw the hole and then taping the wire to the string and
pulling it back threw. Leave a bit extra at both ends just in case, cut, trim,
repeat. |
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| A helpful tip in construction is
to tie a loose loop in the wire ends. This will reduce the chance of the wire
getting bumped and falling into the deck and thus help prevent the spontaneous
cursing in front of relatives moment as well. |
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| Using a self tapping screw attach
the terminating block the deck. A flat head screwdriver helps in the install of
the rubber grommets. By threading the wire threw it, then retying the loop in
the wire and cinching it down you once again may avoid wire fishing again. |
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| Strip the leads and screw them
down to there terminal. Tuck the knotted wire threw the grommets. I chose to
tin the wires for durability sake as well as so they dont fray when you screw
them down. But its not required. |
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| The next step is to mount the
controller box. To do this we just used a self taping screw and in the extra
space in the control box drilled threw the box into the bar below it. Next step
is to connect the appropriate tile wires to the control boxes terminal block.
There should be 2 wires to each terminal for each side of the tile. Use a self
taping screw and a bit of wire to connect the grounding block to the deck. a
little tip we used was to strip the wires and twist them nice and tight. Then
wick some solder into the wire ends and let it cool. Using some pliers and a
screwdriver shaft bend the tined wire into a hook. |
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| So with the deck fully assembled
here is what you get. Make sure to trim the wires to length so you aren't
trying to hide tons of extra wire in the deck. |
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| One of the most important steps
both cosmetically but functionally as well is to strip and buff off the tops of
the supporting rails. Paint overspray, rust, grease, blood..... well it will
all interfere with the sensors, look horrible with the clear plexy, and the
shiny metal is just more cool looking than oxidized bare metal. |
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