/diy/ - Do It Yourself

Hey, /diy/ers. Anybody out there familiar with DDR pads? I bought this one for 40 bucks under the pretense it worked and it ended up not working when she showed up. When pressing the buttons, it'll only register some of the time. I don't believe it's the contacts themselves, and I've tested the control box on its own and it works fine then. I talked to Kon, a prominent DDR player from the area, and he said it would probably be the serial cable, connecting the pad to the control box. Does anyone know how I might replace that? I can open it up and take pics if anyone needs some reference. Maybe I should give it up? How feasible would it be to just gut the insides, and put a PS3 controller in there, wiring it to the pressure pads? After all, the main thing stopping me from making one myself was the metalworking aspect.
Otherwise, DDR Homepad thread.