Alright folks, today I finally tackled that pad dancing engineer board project I’d been eyeing for weeks. Grabbed my dusty toolbox from the garage and spread everything out on the living room floor. Had this idea to use wooden flooring pieces since I had leftovers from last year’s renovation.
Stuff I Used
- Six oak floor planks (the super thick ones)
- Wood glue that smells like chemical death
- My crusty old circular saw
- Measuring tape with half the numbers rubbed off
- Bunch of clamps that never clamp right
First disaster happened right away – measured wrong and hacked off two planks too short. Rookie mistake. Had to dig through the shed for more wood while tripping over my extension cord. Cut eight pieces this time (extra for screwups) and sanded the edges til my arms burned. Sawdust got everywhere – in my coffee, in my hair, probably in my lungs too.
The Sweaty Glue Battle
Squeezed that toxic glue like it owed me money. Slapped planks together crooked, panicked, and ripped them apart with bare hands. Glue goop stuck to my fingers like alien snot. Took three tries to line them up straight. Used every clamp I owned plus six heavy books from my college days. Spent 20 minutes wiping glue globs with a rag that just smeared it worse.
While waiting for it to dry, I tested the weight limit by stacking encyclopedias on it. Bad idea. Middle part sagged like a tired hammock. Reinforced it with scrap wood strips underneath, drilling screws so hard the wood split. Two splinters deeper, I just filled the cracks with more glue. Sanded the top again until it felt smooth as butter.
Final Test Drive
Waited overnight (kicked the board every few hours “to check stability”). Next morning, plugged in the engineering pad, stood on it barefoot and tried a basic tap routine. HOLY COW – no squeaking! No cracks! Did a terrible cha-cha slide to celebrate and almost wiped out on a glue smear I missed. Added rubber pads on the corners so it won’t slide during spins.
Final thought? Wood flooring makes a surprisingly decent dancing board if you ignore the sawdust cough and glue-induced rage. Might add LED strips next week if my blisters heal.
