Zee Sim Rig

Zeeflyboy · 25 Jan 2021 at 12:48

Thanks again gents!

to address more specifics:

mikehhhhhhh said:
Apologies if you've covered it and I missed it, what do you do for a living?

I really want to add butt kickers at some point, is an amp that size a requirement?

I’m an airbus pilot normally, but I’m off for the winter thanks to the virus...

re the buttkickers no, the amp is arguably overkill but I picked it up much cheaper than the official single channel buttkicker amp, and it’s a 2 channel beasty with really useful USB connection to the PC for some handy settings.

I can massively recommend the buttkicker route, it adds so much immersion in VR that the sim feels broken now if they aren’t turned on.

Jay85 said:
As always mate, incredible work. You could make a serious killing out of these if you ever decided to manufacturer them. I'm sure the Sim boys would die for something like this even if you charged £££££.

Opisflap said:
If you didn't want to go to the effort of manufacturing it you could sell blueprints, stls and dxf files.

Are you chaps referring to the pedals? I must admit I’ve considered the idea of making at least one limited run batch and seeing if anyone wants to buy, but obviously there’s a not-insignificant upfront investment in materials and time required and the market isn’t short of pedal options.

I also really need to nail down a clutch design, even though I don’t really use one at the moment (need to build a shifter!).

Speaking of the pedals though I’ve just oiled up the plywood pedal plate up and it’s looking much better - just need to decide what to do for a foot rest. I can’t decide if it should be grippy (eg grip tape) or slippy (eg aluminium plate).

I also got the new chunky shock damper for the brake.

Flippy · 25 Jan 2021 at 13:40

Your build is looking amazing so far!

Zeeflyboy · 2 Feb 2021 at 16:59

Gracias!

So here’s a quick little sneak peek of the brake tactile feedback, you can see and hear the resonance motor braaaap as the ABS kicks in or wheels lock under braking.

Mr Mcgoo · 3 Feb 2021 at 09:21

That's awesome zee. coming along nicely

Zeeflyboy · 7 Mar 2021 at 11:10

Been enjoying my pedals a bit too much so been slacking on making the clutch....

This is the design I've come up with. Basically the idea is it has a little module with a cam profile that bearings will ride along, as you first press the pedal it's going up a ramp and expanding the expansion spring making the pedal require extra force to press. As you break over the crest of the cam profile it stops trying to expand tyhe spring and becomes easier to press... This should give a feel of a bite point to the clutch, and it'll be adjustable where that occurs by sliding the module back and forth in the slot.

On top of that I can make different modules to experiment with feel until I arrive at a cam profile I'm happy with.

What do you guys think, good approach?

Adam Tench · 7 Mar 2021 at 17:53

The attention to detail in this build is amazing. Hats off to you for having the patience to do it properly. Massive well done

mikehhhhhhh · 10 Mar 2021 at 13:58

That looks fantastic!

Trunkey · 14 Mar 2021 at 16:05

This is simply amazing! Taking hobbying way beyond anything I've ever encountered before, brilliant!

Toothy1911 · 15 Mar 2021 at 15:56

Real interesting approach to the bite point / over cam feel. I guess the only problems I could see are dirt and wear. Dirt could make the pedal feel gritty, perhaps create a sealed cover for it? Wear you can fix with the materials you use.

john_smith · 21 Mar 2021 at 19:32

Incredible build. Congrats at being awesome.

dannywaugh1 · 23 Mar 2021 at 10:56

Wow what a build and amazing workmanship. I really like the use of wood give it a nice warm look!

Zeeflyboy · 23 Mar 2021 at 12:52

Thanks for all the kind comments guys, you'll make my head grow too big!

Toothy1911 said:
Real interesting approach to the bite point / over cam feel. I guess the only problems I could see are dirt and wear. Dirt could make the pedal feel gritty, perhaps create a sealed cover for it? Wear you can fix with the materials you use.

Might be a little tight to cover in terms of clearance with the mainspring, but certainly something worth considering for future iterations.... I tend to find that you have to go to one extreme or the other though from experience in CNC - either you want something to be really well sealed, or open and easy to access for cleaning. Something in between just gets dirty and is difficult to clean lol.

Been making some progress on turning the clutch from polygons to something more tangible.

Thought this might be interesting - wanted a much faster and easaier way to make this rear roller part so whipped up some 3d printed jigs for the lathe to avoid the need for slow and painful alignment on the 4 jaw... After making the initial part I then just plop the piece into Jig 1 and do a quick face and drill/ream:

Then pop in Jig2 which has a locater pin and a flat base, then run a quick face on the back side:

Rest of the pedal is taking shape too, only a few bits left to go (still using some temporary parts like the 3d printed side brackets)

Cam Module:

Pedal:

AyeAyeAhoy! · 25 Mar 2021 at 21:27

This is a great thread, thanks for all the details you've gone into

DD_Crash · 26 Mar 2021 at 17:06

You like toys dont you! Excellent work

PS I used to build A380 wings and parts of the Hawker 125

Dunners · 27 Mar 2021 at 13:32

Stunning work - Thanks for sharing this. Fascinating to read and it puts my DIY sim rig to absolute shame.

Zeeflyboy · 30 Mar 2021 at 13:58

Thanks chaps!

@DD_Crash yup, I like toys... I find that as you get older the toys just get bigger and/or more expensive! You in Broughton then? I have seen some pictures of 380 wings being moved, pretty impressive stuff.

Managed to get a few more bits made for the clutch, this time doing the additional operations on the CNC instead:

M8 Coupling:

Clutch cam roller, slight redesign here to use rod ends:

More or less finished, just a couple of 3d printed parts to replace on the mainspring section and a new pinion to print for the potentiometer. Happy to say it seems very promising withthe cam design - I need to get it installed in the pedal plate to test how it really feels under foot but the overall design works great so I'm confident that if needed any changes can be quickly achieved by tweaking the cam profile.

Bonus video:

Zeeflyboy · 5 Apr 2021 at 13:56

Decided the ABS needed a bit more chutzpah, I've burnt out 2 trying to get sufficient feedback, so after some searching I came across this 40w puck from Dayton Audio... the one it replaces is 25w

I had to make a small mounting adaptor for it as the way it mounts is different, and it's not quite as pretty but hopefully the feedback will be better - will give it a try this eve!

DD_Crash · 5 Apr 2021 at 15:18

@Zeeflyboy I worked at Broughton for about 35 years. When I started there the Mosquito used to fly regularly low over the factory and we could hear it roaring past even when the rivet guns were going flat out. what you have achieved is a work of art

Zeeflyboy · 5 Apr 2021 at 18:30

Nice, and thanks!

Just managed to have a few laps of Oulten park, the Dayton audio puck is a big upgrade for the ABS effect - more pulsing, less buzzing and significantly stronger. Happy days!

Just need to have a play with some stronger springs and a few different cam profiles for the clutch until I’m completely happy and we’ll be able to draw a line under the pedals and call them done for now.

Next up I think I’ll probably be looking into adding a harness and belt tensioner system for braking force simulation.

Zeeflyboy · 10 Apr 2021 at 09:54

So after stepping up to a beefier spring and tweaking the cam profile the clutch is feeling pretty good with a tangible bite point, but I feel it needs a hydraulic damping element to it for perfection. I've ordered an adjustable slap damper which I'll integrate into the design when it arrives.

I decided to zig rather than zag and before going to the belt tensioner I thought I'd get around to making a new wheel. I want to add a direct drive wheel base with quick connect, but before I do I need a wheel rim I can use with it. I've designed this new shifter/button box around an OMP knock-off wheel I got a while ago from aliexpress... for electronics it'll be using a BlueHID which gives a wireless interface for the shifters/buttons so no need for any dangling wires like some of the direct drive wheels have.

Plan currently is for a hat switch for menu navigation, 7 buttons (for lights, rain lights, wipers, pit limiter etc), rotary encoders for TCS, ABS, BIAS and Map... and of course two magnetic shifters.

Here's the current state of the design, still largely WIP:

The base is a big 3D print, about 17 hours. I set it off yesterday afternoon and it looked like this:

And this morning it's looking like this, still trucking:

Plan will be to fill/sand and paint the rear same as the FCU style button box so it all matches. I'm using a new material for this which is a modified "tough" PLA - it is tougher than ABS but still very low warp and easy to print... looks like there may be some more tweaking to do still as you can see there are some spider web like wisps but those will easily clean off during post processing.

edit - and done... very impressed with the strength of this material, especially in layer bonding... no matter how hard I try to twist it I can't hear any delamination cracking and it's extremely rigid.