Zee Sim Rig
- Thread starter Zeeflyboy
- Start date
Thanks. Yeah I think the wheel has been the most pleasing so far from a level of finish standpoint... really happy with how it came out.
The wife disappeared off with the sprogs today for a bit so got a chance to finish off the belt tensioner. Still waiting for the motor mount to arrive to be able to fit it to the chair, but other than that it's basically done. Seriously chonky unit, weighs over 5kg!
The wife disappeared off with the sprogs today for a bit so got a chance to finish off the belt tensioner. Still waiting for the motor mount to arrive to be able to fit it to the chair, but other than that it's basically done. Seriously chonky unit, weighs over 5kg!
So I've knocked out a design for the motion actuators.... still needs a little refining but the idea is there.
I was originally just going to go with the well known SFX-100 style, but I don't massively like the square look and while they clearly work great I think they were designed very much with the idea that all you need to be able to make them is a 3d printer and no other special tools. Clearly I'm not lacking in tools so have gone with my own design.
Some advantages to this approach - I'm using 80ST motors which are a bit cheaper (about 30-40 bucks per unit which adds up) than the 90ST, give the same power and torque, but have lower inertia so should be more responsive. I've also upped travel from 100mm in the SFX-100 to 170mm which should be useful for flight sims. Finally I can use 3" stainless exhaust pipe as the actuator body which cost me 30 quid vs the £200-300 the profiles would have cost.
So here's the design (WIP!!):
And I took delivery of the steel for the actuator body today... needless to say the exhaust place didn't manage precision cuts so I had to come up with a way to finish the ends nice and square and get the lengths accurate. Actually a bit of a challenge when you are looking at a large steel pipe!
I came up with this 3d printed addition to my live centre on the lathe, which allowed me to hold the pipe solidly in place while machining on the lathe. This allowed the use of my lathe's linear scales too so we can get the tubes to within tenths of a mm of where we want them too.
Raw tube, I think it's safe to say we are pushing the size limits of my little lathe lol:
Both ends squared away and quick polish with some scotch pads
All 4 done - nicely matched lengths which will make construction of the other parts easier.
Roughing out placement on the rig:
And if anyone isn't familiar with the SFX-100 style rigs, here is one in action which gives an idea of what the target is.
I was originally just going to go with the well known SFX-100 style, but I don't massively like the square look and while they clearly work great I think they were designed very much with the idea that all you need to be able to make them is a 3d printer and no other special tools. Clearly I'm not lacking in tools so have gone with my own design.
Some advantages to this approach - I'm using 80ST motors which are a bit cheaper (about 30-40 bucks per unit which adds up) than the 90ST, give the same power and torque, but have lower inertia so should be more responsive. I've also upped travel from 100mm in the SFX-100 to 170mm which should be useful for flight sims. Finally I can use 3" stainless exhaust pipe as the actuator body which cost me 30 quid vs the £200-300 the profiles would have cost.
So here's the design (WIP!!):
And I took delivery of the steel for the actuator body today... needless to say the exhaust place didn't manage precision cuts so I had to come up with a way to finish the ends nice and square and get the lengths accurate. Actually a bit of a challenge when you are looking at a large steel pipe!
I came up with this 3d printed addition to my live centre on the lathe, which allowed me to hold the pipe solidly in place while machining on the lathe. This allowed the use of my lathe's linear scales too so we can get the tubes to within tenths of a mm of where we want them too.
Raw tube, I think it's safe to say we are pushing the size limits of my little lathe lol:
Both ends squared away and quick polish with some scotch pads
All 4 done - nicely matched lengths which will make construction of the other parts easier.
Roughing out placement on the rig:
And if anyone isn't familiar with the SFX-100 style rigs, here is one in action which gives an idea of what the target is.
Last edited:
Associate
I wish I was younger, and had your toys.
Bit of an update!
First things first The VRS Direct Force Pro came into stock, so I snapped one up. It was hand delivered by Matt who is the UK distributer since it turns out he lives just down the road from me! Have to say he's a top chap and we ended up having a chat for the better part of an hour
I machined up a mounting plate for it, the idea being it will be easy enough to hot swap this out for eg a Yoke if I want to add one in the future. It fits like a glove, almost as though it was made for it
Next job will be installing the control box under the rig and running the wires properly. I have to say I'm extremely impressed with the quality, they use good quality connectors and shielded lines to the motor. The control box is compact and very dense, a revelation compared to something like the open wheel control boxes if you are familiar.
In other news the motor mount I was waiting for arrived and I got it attached to the seat with a small printed part to adapt to the curvature.
Which then allowed me to mount my belt "backpack" (ignore the red tape holding the straps, I'll be making some clips to hold those)
And beyond that I've been prototyping my actuators, including how they'll mount to the rig. I've designed a system that uses cheap stainless steel strap and tightens with a little cam piece to grip the tube. I've mocked one up and it seems to work well.
I just took delivery yesterday of all the servo motors, but still waiting on many of the internal parts such as ball screws to arrive but I've made most of 1 actuator. Quite long 3d prints involved as I'm printing the parts fairly dense for strength. This is just a prototype and I'm not sure yet whether I will end up machining the main end pieces out of aluminium as it would be quicker and stronger, but takes more effort and material cost. I'm sort of interested in how well the 3d printer parts will hold up to the abuse so I'm tempted to go for all 3d printed for now.... certainly more accessible for others if they want to copy the design so would be good to know how well it works.
First things first The VRS Direct Force Pro came into stock, so I snapped one up. It was hand delivered by Matt who is the UK distributer since it turns out he lives just down the road from me! Have to say he's a top chap and we ended up having a chat for the better part of an hour
I machined up a mounting plate for it, the idea being it will be easy enough to hot swap this out for eg a Yoke if I want to add one in the future. It fits like a glove, almost as though it was made for it
Next job will be installing the control box under the rig and running the wires properly. I have to say I'm extremely impressed with the quality, they use good quality connectors and shielded lines to the motor. The control box is compact and very dense, a revelation compared to something like the open wheel control boxes if you are familiar.
In other news the motor mount I was waiting for arrived and I got it attached to the seat with a small printed part to adapt to the curvature.
Which then allowed me to mount my belt "backpack" (ignore the red tape holding the straps, I'll be making some clips to hold those)
And beyond that I've been prototyping my actuators, including how they'll mount to the rig. I've designed a system that uses cheap stainless steel strap and tightens with a little cam piece to grip the tube. I've mocked one up and it seems to work well.
I just took delivery yesterday of all the servo motors, but still waiting on many of the internal parts such as ball screws to arrive but I've made most of 1 actuator. Quite long 3d prints involved as I'm printing the parts fairly dense for strength. This is just a prototype and I'm not sure yet whether I will end up machining the main end pieces out of aluminium as it would be quicker and stronger, but takes more effort and material cost. I'm sort of interested in how well the 3d printer parts will hold up to the abuse so I'm tempted to go for all 3d printed for now.... certainly more accessible for others if they want to copy the design so would be good to know how well it works.
Associate
- Joined
- 24 Sep 2020
- Posts
- 319
Just read this from start to finish. Love the attention to deal.
Associate
Cracking project this. Would love to have a bash at something similar if I had the space!
Make some space and have a crack!
Printed the main slider parts for the actuators in Ninjatek Armadillo which is a mostly Rigid TPU... very tough stuff and probably overkill but I figured this part is probably subject to a fair bit of force where it is joining the ball nut and the linear rod.... First I chucked them up in the lathe to just give them a small finish pass and then smacked the steel linear rods into them with a mallet.
Waiting for some more filament to arrive before I can start printing more of the actuator parts, in the mean time my next job is to make something vaguely presentable out of all this stuff:
Printed the main slider parts for the actuators in Ninjatek Armadillo which is a mostly Rigid TPU... very tough stuff and probably overkill but I figured this part is probably subject to a fair bit of force where it is joining the ball nut and the linear rod.... First I chucked them up in the lathe to just give them a small finish pass and then smacked the steel linear rods into them with a mallet.
Waiting for some more filament to arrive before I can start printing more of the actuator parts, in the mean time my next job is to make something vaguely presentable out of all this stuff:
Got the belt tensioner up and running, it’s pretty awesome. When added to the full motion I think it’ll give a lot more depth to the experience with some proper braking sensation.
Here’s a lap of Oulten Park showing it at work - excuse the vertical video again, this time it’s my fault… it was the only way I could prop the camera up and fit everything in frame. Forgive me.
Here’s a lap of Oulten Park showing it at work - excuse the vertical video again, this time it’s my fault… it was the only way I could prop the camera up and fit everything in frame. Forgive me.
Associate
- Joined
- 5 Oct 2007
- Posts
- 353
you sir are a genius.
Certainly not… I feel persistent idiot is closer to the mark. In all honesty all the hard work of such stuff (like the thanos controller or the SRS software that I’m running to interface with the games) is done by much smarter people than I. By comparison I’m the monkey banging on the typewriter.
I think it’s an important point to make that I truly am no genius though - All this stuff is so much more accessible than even just 5-10yrs ago. Not only is there so much info and help out there but also top kit easily available like the bodnar boards, the BlueHID and the Thanos I’ve used in various things here. Not only that but 3D printers normal people can afford, hobby lathes and CNCs, Incredible design software like Fusion that you can use for free. I got into all this stuff in around 2010 with FPV and drones, even the change since then has been incredible.
All that is to say to anyone reading I’m nothing special in that regard. If I can do any of this stuff then so can you… I’m mostly fortunate that I’ve been able to build up a nice selection of kit to play with over the years, but as mentioned this stuff is getting ever more affordable. You can buy a decent 3D printer for a few hundred notes these days - when I bought my makergear M2 10 or so years ago it cost me £2k and had to be shipped from the states! Don’t write any of it off as being above your abilities, it just takes some time to teach yourself what you need to know… all the info you could ever want is a click away and so many truly talented people share their expertise, ideas and experience freely. It’s an incredible time to be into this sort of hobby.
I think it’s an important point to make that I truly am no genius though - All this stuff is so much more accessible than even just 5-10yrs ago. Not only is there so much info and help out there but also top kit easily available like the bodnar boards, the BlueHID and the Thanos I’ve used in various things here. Not only that but 3D printers normal people can afford, hobby lathes and CNCs, Incredible design software like Fusion that you can use for free. I got into all this stuff in around 2010 with FPV and drones, even the change since then has been incredible.
All that is to say to anyone reading I’m nothing special in that regard. If I can do any of this stuff then so can you… I’m mostly fortunate that I’ve been able to build up a nice selection of kit to play with over the years, but as mentioned this stuff is getting ever more affordable. You can buy a decent 3D printer for a few hundred notes these days - when I bought my makergear M2 10 or so years ago it cost me £2k and had to be shipped from the states! Don’t write any of it off as being above your abilities, it just takes some time to teach yourself what you need to know… all the info you could ever want is a click away and so many truly talented people share their expertise, ideas and experience freely. It’s an incredible time to be into this sort of hobby.
Associate
But you are good at it
Cheers 
So a little hiatus as I've been away for a bit. Back at it now though and some important parts have arrived - namely ball screws and linear guides.
With that I've been able to get an actuator up and running to test, all looking very promising. Not sure what speed it is running at during this test mode but it's certainly not full tilt... in a perfect world at 3000rpm (ignoring the brief time period for acceleration and any slow down due to load) it should travel the full length in about 0.6 seconds, as it parks in the middle that'll work out at 0.3 seconds to move to either extreme.
Anyway all looks promising so just need to build another 3... I've printed out a lot of the parts but still have several days worth of printing left. Need more printers so I can have several going at a time!
Almost a shame to hide these mechanics inside a steel tube... perhaps I should have gone with plexiglass!
So a little hiatus as I've been away for a bit. Back at it now though and some important parts have arrived - namely ball screws and linear guides.
With that I've been able to get an actuator up and running to test, all looking very promising. Not sure what speed it is running at during this test mode but it's certainly not full tilt... in a perfect world at 3000rpm (ignoring the brief time period for acceleration and any slow down due to load) it should travel the full length in about 0.6 seconds, as it parks in the middle that'll work out at 0.3 seconds to move to either extreme.
Anyway all looks promising so just need to build another 3... I've printed out a lot of the parts but still have several days worth of printing left. Need more printers so I can have several going at a time!
Almost a shame to hide these mechanics inside a steel tube... perhaps I should have gone with plexiglass!
Associate
Still awesome loving the updates !
Thanks, and yeah I hope so! He's always asking questions about it, and I know parents are biased about their own kids but he's as bright as a button (the three year old, the 10 month old can't even talk... pathetic... 
) so perhaps it'll ignite an interest for him in engineering or at least something more productive than what his Dad does!
In terms of progress I've got one actuator completely done, well apart from attaching the foot, and have done innumerable hours of printing so have most of the components for the others done. Just 3 more 10-12 hour prints left I think.
Revisited the design ever so slightly, extending the receiving piece at the top of the actuator to help add even more resistance to torsion and made some firmer bump stops for the ball nut... also added a small trim detail piece between motor mount and actuator body to give a little visual interest
New bump stop:
Extended top cap, along with cut out for grease nipple
Finished Chonky Boi 5000TM, orange trim piece and with child for scale:
You may recall I had a server rack and a bunch of electrical components to try and put together. Well I've made some progress there too but it's still very much WIP with more wiring and tidying up to do:
Individual breakers and EMI filters for each drive, a further filtered IEC inlet and an earthed steel shield for the thanos controller itself to try and protect it from any disturbances that close to the power (Hadn't noticed issues thus far but was recommended by Thanos himself... not the purple one). Not sure why I decided to make it out of 2mm stainless steel plate, but for anyone else do something sensible and get a thinner or easier to bend material! My son watched my struggling to get it to bend (I have no metal brake!), he tried and then said we needed Hulk to help.
) so perhaps it'll ignite an interest for him in engineering or at least something more productive than what his Dad does!In terms of progress I've got one actuator completely done, well apart from attaching the foot, and have done innumerable hours of printing so have most of the components for the others done. Just 3 more 10-12 hour prints left I think.
Revisited the design ever so slightly, extending the receiving piece at the top of the actuator to help add even more resistance to torsion and made some firmer bump stops for the ball nut... also added a small trim detail piece between motor mount and actuator body to give a little visual interest
New bump stop:
Extended top cap, along with cut out for grease nipple
Finished Chonky Boi 5000TM, orange trim piece and with child for scale:
You may recall I had a server rack and a bunch of electrical components to try and put together. Well I've made some progress there too but it's still very much WIP with more wiring and tidying up to do:
Individual breakers and EMI filters for each drive, a further filtered IEC inlet and an earthed steel shield for the thanos controller itself to try and protect it from any disturbances that close to the power (Hadn't noticed issues thus far but was recommended by Thanos himself... not the purple one). Not sure why I decided to make it out of 2mm stainless steel plate, but for anyone else do something sensible and get a thinner or easier to bend material! My son watched my struggling to get it to bend (I have no metal brake!), he tried and then said we needed Hulk to help.
Got the actuator mounted up today, along with coming up with a removable wheel system for the rig - idea being I can roll it out to where I want it, place pads underneath the actuators to protect the floor, raise the platform and then slide the wheels out so they don't interfere with low travel.
So first I mounted the actuator to the rig to test out how my plan will work... seems rigid and strong so time will tell!
Some brass I was waiting for in the post then arrived so I made a small snug fitting piece to mount an m8 thread in the bore, sleeve locked it in and printed some feet out of flexible TPU
And I wanted to see how it would lift the rig... effortlessly is the answer lol
So first I mounted the actuator to the rig to test out how my plan will work... seems rigid and strong so time will tell!
Some brass I was waiting for in the post then arrived so I made a small snug fitting piece to mount an m8 thread in the bore, sleeve locked it in and printed some feet out of flexible TPU
And I wanted to see how it would lift the rig... effortlessly is the answer lol