SHOX-PAD's

Alright, I’ve decided to make my own thread about this great response pad idea I came up with a while back. I have been talking about it in other response pad related threads so I finally got the time to make a thread of my own ;P These response pads are pretty easy to make, really cheap, play great, and they last forever

And to those select few of you- Before you start make sure you are o.k.’d to use the glue gun/scissors/etc, and have an adult around. You know who you are. ;/


What You Need

-A couple sheets of printer sticker paper (The kind I use is made by 'AVERY')-Pic-
-A hot glue gun --With PLENTY OF GLUE STICKS--
-A rolling tool (round pencil/highlighter/pen etc)
-A flat surface (smooth counter top/tile floor)
-You will also need something to put on top of the hot glue while you roll it flat. It has to be something that the glue won't stick to. I recommend using the Non stick protective peel off of one of your sheets of sticker paper. (Explained Below, "Getting Your Supplies Ready")-Pic-

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Basic Idea:
What you are doing is relatively simple but with this amount of steps involved some people may get confused. What you are doing is squeezing out hot glue onto the top of a sheet of sticker paper. While it's hot you flatten it out so it's thinly distributed over the non stick side. When it's dry (give it a good 30 seconds or so) you are going to cut it into pad size. Then you can take the protective peel off of the bottom of the pad and stick it in your yoyo

I wish I could make this thread shorter but I know there would be a lot of questions if I’d just leave it at that ;/

-Getting Your Supplies Ready-
What you'll want to do first is plug in your hot glue gun and get all of the supplies ready. One of the problems with working with hot glue is that it dry’s pretty fast and it sticks to almost anything. What I recommend is that you make yourself various stickers on 1 sheet of sticker paper first. The idea is to fill the sheet with as many pictures as you can so you won't waste it. Make sure you put it in your printer the right way (blank side down or else This Could Happen| So yeah, my brother had to learn the hard way X/ ). The reason I need you to do this is because the peel off side of the sticker paper is the only thing I have been able to find that the hot glue won't stick to. If you don't mind sparing a sheet then just take off the protective peel and throw the sheet away. But if you do decide to use it and print yourself the stickers you will have to save the peel first and cut out your stickers with the sticky side uncovered.

Just so you know so far I have tried nearly everything.. wax paper, suran wrap, and aluminum foil, just to name a few. But in the end they all end up sticking to the hot glue... So DO NOT try to use these or anything else as substitutes to what I have recommended. If you want to test something out just squeeze some of the hot glue on it and see if it sticks. You wouldn't want to risk ruining a whole batch of pads right?


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Cutting guide/layout-

There's actually one more thing you can do that will make this a heck of a lot easier. I didn't have the time to add this in yet until now, but what I did was make this sweet layout.(Right click the picture when it comes up and select 'save image as') Everything is sized right according to a standard setup for your printer. So far i've tried it on my friends printer and on all three of our printers XD If it doesn't work right for you or if the size is off let me know. ;/ If you'll notice on the sheet there are many round formations of the pads (seven each). When you start putting the hot glue on them make sure you are putting it in the center of the said groups that way you will be able to cover them all. I find it best to cut them out first and then start on gluing them. And just a tip put a regular piece of paper under it since some glue might run off the sides. In my pics used to represent the steps below notice one last thing, when you cut them you cut no further than to make no white appear on the pad. That means all of the jagged/blocky edges need to be cut off. When you're done it will be a perfect fit
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, now that that’s out of the way.. Here are the steps!

-Step 1-
Make sure all of your supplies are set out for you and be sure you plug in your glue gun. Lay down a sheet of sticker paper blank side up.(The sticky side has the protective peel that usually has some sort of printing on it) Once you are sure the glue gun has been heated long enough bring the gun over and squeeze the trigger about 5 full times in one spot on the sticker paper(Keep in mind that it will make a circle about 5 inches in diameter once it is flattened out)DEPENDING on what size glue gun/glue sticks you're using. Mine is the full size, if yours is mini then i'm guessing about 7. I'd suggest some expirimenting on notebook paper.

-Step 2-
Next you must quickly grab the sticker peel you got earlier and lay the smooth side onto the hot glue. After that pick up your round pencil or pen, etc, and roll the glue as thin as you like. I prefer making them pretty thin because they are pretty grippy if you use a thick one. You should never have to use two in your yoyo. One should be good but feel free to do what works best for you. It's all preference.

-Step 3-
Once the hot glue is dry (30 seconds or so as stated earlier) you can carefully pull off the peel you used to flatten the glue. At this point you have the sheet of sticker paper with a circle layer of glue on top of it.(If you'd like you can repeat everything that you just did and make multiple circles of glue on the sheet) What you want to do next is cut out the section(s) of paper with the hot glue on them.

-Step 4-
Finally the last step!  All you need to do now is cut them into pad size. The best way to go about doing this is with a small pair of scissors that are on a swiss army knife for instance, or a compass circle cutter. If you don't have either of these just cut them out with a regular pair of scissors. You can first make some squares out of the sections of hot glue covered sticker paper using an old response pad as a guide so you don't cut them too small(if you're not using the layout, I just do this
). Then simply take one of the squares and cut out a circle.{Extra Pics: Top and Bottom} Make sure it's the right size, then fold it in half 'Taco Style'(hot glue side out) and then cut out a half circle. Unfold it and touch up the inside of the pad that way it's the right size and Voila! You've made your own SHOX-PAD!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Added a whole lot of helpful pics, including my layout. Enjoy ;/