God, why is this happening to me.
Well, waffle, I hope you don't take offense, but you've presented what's called a "teachable moment".
First off, to answer your question: "Why is this happening to me?"
The answer is, "Because you cheaped out when buying a metal pad." Metal pads are simple, yet amazingly delicate instruments, that have to be able to handle a metric ton of abuse. You'll be jumping up and down as hard as you can on this thing for years (if it lasts). Spending an extra $50 or $100 on a quality metal pad is one of the better investments you can make (if you decide to go the metal pad route in the first place, that is).
Let's a take a moment to look at the advertising on the website for this pad:
This seems to be standard for all metal pads these days, since Cobalt Flux first started using it for their pads. It's a piece of wood and metal on the floor, it d**n well better be able to hold 300 lbs.
copying other pad's advertising -1 pointUnless, of course, you put more than 300 lbs on it, right?
self-conflicting advertising copy -1 pointDDR arrows are 11"x11", making the minimum dimensions of a proper pad 33"x33"
Improper sizing of pad -5 pointsOoh, this one's bad. Acrylic, while being transparent, is very stiff and not very flexible. Why is that bad? The stiffer the material, the more likely it is to crack or shatter. Plexiglass is better, but almost too soft, and will scratch easily. Lexan or other polycarbonate is ideal, hard enough to not mar, but soft enough to flex.
Constructing the pad from improper materials -10 pointsTranslation: We have a lot of these get damaged during shipping.
And note the notable lack of a few features:
-No mention of warranty
-No mention of quality control or testing process
All of this adds up to setting yourself up for a bad experience. But we can't change that for you now, so let's look at what we can do (now that we know you, and anyone else reading this, won't make the same mistake again).
First things first, have you cleaned your pad? Playing in shoes, while it gives you that "arcade" feel, can cause a lot of dirt and grime to build up under your arrows. If you can, carefully unscrew the corner brackets on your pad, and vacuum out the areas under the arrows, maybe even get in there with a dry scrubbing sponge to shake loose the dirt and grime. Reassemble and test, better?
No? Not better? Does the arrow never work, or only work sometimes? If it works sometimes we may be dealing with a loose connection. If never, it may be a broken connection. If it's always reading down, we may be dealing with a short circuit. Try manually pressing the arrow (or shorting the contacts while you've got the arrow disassembled). Look for loose wires, or solder connections that are cracked.
Depending on what you find, we may be able to help you. Pictures are good too, if you can get a good shot of the interior of an arrow.
Also, you can pick up Lexan at Home Depot (or your hardware megastore of choice) and cut new arrow panels to replae your old ones.
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