Aluminium extrusion cockpit base - making your own

[Mr_Sukebe]

I'm assuming that a number of your have made your own racing/flight sim base using aluminium extrusions.
Have to say that I really fancy one.

Short of going to monstertech or similar, is there a recommended supplier of aluminium extrusions and the joints that you'd suggest, preferably in the area of south london?

 

[Dwaindibbly]

I got all mine initially from motedis, they do have a UK base but everything comes from Germany.
They seem to have the biggest selection of connectors and the like, and seem to be cheap compared to UK suppliers.
The delivery is steep but I found everyone is tbh. Another thing is that they don't do things quickly! Everytime I ordered anything it was at least one week turn around and that was well before Brexit.

If I just want a few bits I order from https://www.aluminium-profile.co.uk/ mainly because they are local and I can collect. Quality and finish of the connectors are much better than motedis but they are much more expensive and the selection is nowhere near as extensive.

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

My thanks. I'll go take a look at both

 

[Wangle]

Dave Cam did a good couple of videos on this. I think this is the one I first thought of.

https://youtu.be/rIWOEJ-OVZI

 

[RevBillyG]

I got all mine initially from motedis, they do have a UK base but everything comes from Germany.
They seem to have the biggest selection of connectors and the like, and seem to be cheap compared to UK suppliers.
The delivery is steep but I found everyone is tbh. Another thing is that they don't do things quickly! Everytime I ordered anything it was at least one week turn around and that was well before Brexit.

If I just want a few bits I order from https://www.aluminium-profile.co.uk/ mainly because they are local and I can collect. Quality and finish of the connectors are much better than motedis but they are much more expensive and the selection is nowhere near as extensive.

Did you buy the premade cockpit from Motedis or order the parts seperately? Been looking at this site lately, looks like it could be the one to go for.

 

[Greboth]

I’ve used Aluminium-Profile.co.uk for a few bits but for the rig I got a SimLab for one. I priced up the parts DIY and didn’t find the price much different.

 

[V F]

Wow! The jump in price for black.

https://www.aluminium-profile.co.uk/product-ranges/sim-rig-frame

 

[Dwaindibbly]

Did you buy the premade cockpit from Motedis or order the parts seperately? Been looking at this site lately, looks like it could be the one to go for.

I did originally buy the s dream due to space constraints but it wasn't long before I modded it quite heavily and it is nothing like the S dream anymore.

Knowing what I know now I wouldn't have bought the S dream and designed one from scratch.

Saying that though, I probably wouldn't have designed one like I've now got. I found it a bit of a process to get things exactly how you want and I'm still tinkering now a couple of years on.

 

[bjmnz]

I used Dold Mechatronik around 12 months ago and actually placed another order with them last week. They're another German company - so likely VAT and clearance to pay before delivery. They have a good range and the website seemed a bit nicer than Motedis. Not much in the prices between the two.

Some of the profiles I wanted weren't available from Al Profile UK, and some others were quite a bit more expensive. Would have preferred to buy from the UK.

 

[Brun]

Details of mine here. Really happy with how it turned out, especially the slidey pedal thing. Even without the necessity to make it compact for for the sake of storage, having the flexibility to easily adjust distances between seat, wheel and pedals independently is very useful.

Transforming it between driving and flying takes about 20 mins. I keep trying to speed up the process but then add more stuff which slows it down again.

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

Details of mine here. Really happy with how it turned out, especially the slidey pedal thing. Even without the necessity to make it compact for for the sake of storage, having the flexibility to easily adjust distances between seat, wheel and pedals independently is very useful.

Transforming it between driving and flying takes about 20 mins. I keep trying to speed up the process but then add more stuff which slows it down again.

That’s really smart, love it.
Excluding the seat, what was the rough cost?

 

[Brun]

Cost for all the hardware listed in this post was £465 from Motedis (Oct 2019). That would build you what's in the first image on the first post, minus the two pieces (and fittings) for the shifter mount.

If you wanted to save some cash I reckon you could do it using 40x80 (rather than 120) profile for the base and 40x40 for the pedal section. Still think it would be perfectly solid, even with load cell pedals and a direct drive wheel.

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

Nice one, very much appreciated

 

[Brun]

Did a render of what it would look like with the thinner profiles. Could be significantly cheaper and still sturdy enough.