Project - Gaming Chair

[Zeeflyboy]

Soooooooo,

Hi again!

I am, as I am sure are many of you, currently eagerly awaiting my Oculus Rift. Now that I own a gaming PC again I also went and bought myself a Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS (for star citizen mainly, but also for whatever else takes my fancy!) and a Thrustmaster 300 GTE wheel (Project cars and DiRT).

A lot of people talk about the walking experience in VR, to me the really exciting stuff is when you combine good VR with a motion sim

To that end this is stage one in what will no doubt prove to be a long and expensive journey... ultimate goal is to build a decent motion sim!

First things first though, I decided to keep it simple and build a nice chair platform that will be easy to then take and mount to a motion platform that can come later.

So to that end, this is where I've got to so far... I would certainly welcome any input and thoughts as to design direction. Materials are mostly Carbon Fibre and Aluminium.Main goals are to keep weight down (while remaining extremely solid hopefully) as it all counts when thinking towards the future and going down the motion route, and to have it able to stow away in a respectable footprint.

Needless to say this is still early concept stuff and some refinement is needed. Next job is designing some sort of height adjustable arm rest attachment for the side mounts.

Bit of a cheeky render:

So if you have any fantastic ideas or suggestions that I should incorporate then please shout out! To save any confusion, the bottom tubes will have quick release clamps (think bike seat post) to hold them in place once the distance is set.

 

[Cenedd]

The only thing that worries me is where you're going next and when it'll stop! World domination isn't seeming so many steps away now!
Looks good to me. Is this the answer to what fits in the other corner of the man cave or would this be a permanent computer chair?
With the raised sides of that chair would they get in the way of your forearms or elbows when you've got your hands on the controls that will presumably be mounted on the little platforms?

 

[Zeeflyboy]

Haha, I'll be looking for world domination in 2018... too busy at the moment.

Yeah this will find a home in the corner of the man cave

I think the sides are slightly deceptive - that is just the platform height (so where the base of the joystick and thrust lever will be). There will be a raised arm rest platform and of course where your hands actually interact with the joystick and thrust levers are significantly higher than the mounting base.

We'll see though! I probably won't go with that exact seat - I think the headrest area, while great for preventing spine snapping during high speed crashes, would be a nuisance with oculus when trying to look around.

I'm currently keeping an eye out for a used one of these:

http://www.sparcousa.com/product/pro-2000

 

[Cenedd]

Used one? Make sure it's driver's side. You want the one that's been driven in, not thrown up in! (or worse!)

 

[Zeeflyboy]

well I''ll undoubtedly end up buying new, but let me delude myself a little in the mean time

Whipped up a quick arm rest idea (it's only brown because for some reason I don't have any black leather textures). I think this bit needs further work as I'd like more adjustability.

 

[Cenedd]

Looks good. You might, as you say, want height and possibly pitch adjustment. If you made the diagonal uprights separate you could then have the friction adjustable (tighten or loosen nut at worst) and then you could adjust both.

 

[Hukkel]

Cool project!