Zee Sim Rig
- Thread starter Zeeflyboy
- Start date
So here is the little removable wheel system, just slots in and out. I may add some little latches but I'm not sure it's necessary as when loaded up with the weight of the rig they are held firmly in with friction anyway.
And the other rear actuator now fitted... the observant may notice that the motors aren't facing the same way - still playing with position to try and find the best wiring route. You may also notice the 3D printed floor cups for the actuators to sit in. These will be mounted to an 18mm plywood square which will then have some 20mm vibration mat mounted to the underneath, should help reduce noise and will keep my floor from getting messed up with constant motion.
So what's left to do? A bit of wiring in the control box to get all drives powered, and I will be shortening some of the DB25 cables to neaten it all up, but that isn't a priority. I need to switch all the servo power cables over to shielded which is a bit of a faff, I've already done the seat belt tensioner and one actuator, rest still to do... then obviously I need to mount the front actuators and make some more wheel mounts for the front.
Then it's pretty much done outside of a few finishing touches, so should be operational this week I think.
And the other rear actuator now fitted... the observant may notice that the motors aren't facing the same way - still playing with position to try and find the best wiring route. You may also notice the 3D printed floor cups for the actuators to sit in. These will be mounted to an 18mm plywood square which will then have some 20mm vibration mat mounted to the underneath, should help reduce noise and will keep my floor from getting messed up with constant motion.
So what's left to do? A bit of wiring in the control box to get all drives powered, and I will be shortening some of the DB25 cables to neaten it all up, but that isn't a priority. I need to switch all the servo power cables over to shielded which is a bit of a faff, I've already done the seat belt tensioner and one actuator, rest still to do... then obviously I need to mount the front actuators and make some more wheel mounts for the front.
Then it's pretty much done outside of a few finishing touches, so should be operational this week I think.
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So got an unexpected day to play from the wife, so been a productive one!
Made and mounted up the front wheel mounts, got the actuators fitted and added a piece of aluminium angle at the front to add some rigidity (since it lacks the upper cross bar that the back has).
Almost ready to rock - just need to swap 3 more servo side power cables over to shielded, and then finish the wiring in the control box itself.... oh and the foot pads. Few more hours work maybe.
Made and mounted up the front wheel mounts, got the actuators fitted and added a piece of aluminium angle at the front to add some rigidity (since it lacks the upper cross bar that the back has).
Almost ready to rock - just need to swap 3 more servo side power cables over to shielded, and then finish the wiring in the control box itself.... oh and the foot pads. Few more hours work maybe.
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- 21 Jul 2007
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- 1,287
- Location
- Newcastle upon tyne
Love the wiring job nice and clean. Great idea to have the wheels slide in place when you need to move it round.
Cheers 
got it all done and working, still some bits to tidy up at some point but it’s fully functional currently.
Spent a couple of hours playing around with settings on ACC, one nice thing about sim racing studio is that I can tune from the mobile phone while live in the sim which is good for experimenting with.
I also got the witmotion accelerometer to be able to use the motion compensation built into SRS so currently getting my head around the finer details of that but seems to be working pretty well already. I think the virtual controller it uses for motion compensation is fixed in reference to the room, so to avoid having to reset it everytime I think I’ll be making some “stage marks” on the floor so I always roll the rig out to the same spot.
Once I’ve tidied up the mess from getting it all sorted I’ll try and get set up to make a decent video of it.
got it all done and working, still some bits to tidy up at some point but it’s fully functional currently.
Spent a couple of hours playing around with settings on ACC, one nice thing about sim racing studio is that I can tune from the mobile phone while live in the sim which is good for experimenting with.
I also got the witmotion accelerometer to be able to use the motion compensation built into SRS so currently getting my head around the finer details of that but seems to be working pretty well already. I think the virtual controller it uses for motion compensation is fixed in reference to the room, so to avoid having to reset it everytime I think I’ll be making some “stage marks” on the floor so I always roll the rig out to the same spot.
Once I’ve tidied up the mess from getting it all sorted I’ll try and get set up to make a decent video of it.
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Here is a quick video of range of motion (set to about 75% max here iirc) operating in simple joystick mode.
mostly using this mode to test motion compensation (which is working great btw!) but it’s also theoretically good for games that don’t support motion natively like squadrons.
mostly using this mode to test motion compensation (which is working great btw!) but it’s also theoretically good for games that don’t support motion natively like squadrons.
Your choice of team colours would be?? 
Thankfully in VR it looks like whatever car you are driving!
For now the plan is to enjoy it for a bit.
I do have some future plans around building a DIY gearbox, maybe some DIY warbird style throttle/mixture/prop/trim unit, and on the motion front I want to add a movable pad in the back which will give better feeling of acceleration (powered by the same servo that does the belt tensioning)… other than that though it’s reached a pretty happy place to just put in some hours playing in it!
For now the plan is to enjoy it for a bit.
I do have some future plans around building a DIY gearbox, maybe some DIY warbird style throttle/mixture/prop/trim unit, and on the motion front I want to add a movable pad in the back which will give better feeling of acceleration (powered by the same servo that does the belt tensioning)… other than that though it’s reached a pretty happy place to just put in some hours playing in it!
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Cheers
Too hot to play VR at the moment so I'm back to making a mess.
I've decided to crack on with adding a better feeling of acceleration with a G-seat style actuator tied to the belt unit - so where in deceleration the belt tightens and gives you a feeling of sustained G-force, this will instead loosen the belt and push your back to give a feeling of sustained acceleration. In theory.
Here's where I'm at so far...
This is the design for the addition to the belt unit, the basic idea is that the linkages will tie the belt arms and the upper assembly, then linkages from the upper arms to the seat pad. Centre section of the upper arms is free to move downwards so as not to jam and prevent belt tensioning, but when the belt arms move upwards it will simultaneously release belt tension while pushing the pad into your back to simulate acceleration surge...
Order of the day was to make the seatback piece, so I laid up some fiberglass and cut it to shape. While I wore my fancy new full face respirator, I completely forgot to wear long sleeves in this heat and now I'm itchy!
Next up will be making the actuator assembly!
Too hot to play VR at the moment so I'm back to making a mess.
I've decided to crack on with adding a better feeling of acceleration with a G-seat style actuator tied to the belt unit - so where in deceleration the belt tightens and gives you a feeling of sustained G-force, this will instead loosen the belt and push your back to give a feeling of sustained acceleration. In theory.
Here's where I'm at so far...
This is the design for the addition to the belt unit, the basic idea is that the linkages will tie the belt arms and the upper assembly, then linkages from the upper arms to the seat pad. Centre section of the upper arms is free to move downwards so as not to jam and prevent belt tensioning, but when the belt arms move upwards it will simultaneously release belt tension while pushing the pad into your back to simulate acceleration surge...
Order of the day was to make the seatback piece, so I laid up some fiberglass and cut it to shape. While I wore my fancy new full face respirator, I completely forgot to wear long sleeves in this heat and now I'm itchy!
Next up will be making the actuator assembly!
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That’s more or less the plan… there’s plenty to do!
Off the top of my head already for future consideration:
- Wind simulation
- Extra axis x2 for dual traction loss/yaw
- Further g-seat elements for sway
- F1 style wheel rim
- Warbird style throttle quadrant
- Quick detach joystick with multiple positions (side/centre mountings)
- Lebois H-pattern and sequential gear shifter (he’s made an awesome design so for once I don’t need to design my own, just make it!)
- Electric motors for seat position
- DIY force feedback joystick
I’m sure there’s more too… Between all those and the endless ability to tune the rig itself and different software options there’s enough to keep me busy over the next decade!
Off the top of my head already for future consideration:
- Wind simulation
- Extra axis x2 for dual traction loss/yaw
- Further g-seat elements for sway
- F1 style wheel rim
- Warbird style throttle quadrant
- Quick detach joystick with multiple positions (side/centre mountings)
- Lebois H-pattern and sequential gear shifter (he’s made an awesome design so for once I don’t need to design my own, just make it!)
- Electric motors for seat position
- DIY force feedback joystick
I’m sure there’s more too… Between all those and the endless ability to tune the rig itself and different software options there’s enough to keep me busy over the next decade!
So finished off the g-seat paddle... I trimmed the fiberglass in a velcro friendly material (like the seat already uses) and built in two velcro tabs at the bottom to act as a hinge.... then the cushions simply attach as they did before to the seat back, just with this pad inbetween... basically invisible now it's done.
There are some minor tweaks to make to the servo driver setup and controller configuration to make sure I'm getting the most out of it, but it works well as is. The feeling of slamming the throttle open in a powerful plane now causes quite a lot of pressure to appear on your back, and feathering the throttle in a racing car gives you immediate acceleration feedback. I have to say it's at least as good as the belt tensioner was on it's own, so now it's 2x as good! Obviously you simply can't really simulate sustained g-forces in a motion sim, but it makes the games all the more involving none the less and a good facsimile.
There are some minor tweaks to make to the servo driver setup and controller configuration to make sure I'm getting the most out of it, but it works well as is. The feeling of slamming the throttle open in a powerful plane now causes quite a lot of pressure to appear on your back, and feathering the throttle in a racing car gives you immediate acceleration feedback. I have to say it's at least as good as the belt tensioner was on it's own, so now it's 2x as good! Obviously you simply can't really simulate sustained g-forces in a motion sim, but it makes the games all the more involving none the less and a good facsimile.
Yeah that's a lot haha! I remember asking you this last year regarding building parts for sale for people who want to make their own but don't have the machinery or knowledge to do so. Is it something you're still considering in the future? Could possibly see this becoming a bit of a brand name as its quite unique unlike the generic stuff that's available now.
@Jay85 sorry missed your last post. I don’t think it’s likely to be a business I pursue, but I’m generally happy to enable people’s creativity where I am able to help… in terms of business I just don’t think the majority of the public are willing to pay the sort of money required to make a prototyping or low-run order financially viable in terms of time/effort reward ratio.
However I’ve made a few bits and bobs for people in the past on request but it’s very much just an adhoc sort of thing as time/motivation/capability allows… vastly different proposition than to make a viable living out of it.
If I were to win the lottery tomorrow, one thing I would set up right away would be a non-profit local makerspace… I don’t believe there are any particularly close to me.
However I’ve made a few bits and bobs for people in the past on request but it’s very much just an adhoc sort of thing as time/motivation/capability allows… vastly different proposition than to make a viable living out of it.
If I were to win the lottery tomorrow, one thing I would set up right away would be a non-profit local makerspace… I don’t believe there are any particularly close to me.
From what research I have bothered to do the patent troll aspect is largely overblown internet drama… see Brunner’s existence as a case in point.
Ultimately however it’s meaningless. Patents are ultimately irrelevant when you are building something for personal use… Under UK patent law:
“An act which, apart from this subsection, would constitute an infringement of a patent for an invention shall not do so if
(a) it is done privately and for purposes which are not commercial;”
Section 60(5) of the manual of patent practise. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/manual-of-patent-practice-mopp/section-60-meaning-of-infringement
If I were to try and commercialise it then that would be a different story, and I would have to make sure that patents indeed weren’t being infringed. I do however have zero interest in doing so anyway.
I believe your sidewinder is, by the way, usable in MSFS with certain addons. One such example (there’s at least one more but it escapes me at the moment) https://www.fsmissioneditor.com/product/xpforce/
Ultimately however it’s meaningless. Patents are ultimately irrelevant when you are building something for personal use… Under UK patent law:
“An act which, apart from this subsection, would constitute an infringement of a patent for an invention shall not do so if
(a) it is done privately and for purposes which are not commercial;”
Section 60(5) of the manual of patent practise. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/manual-of-patent-practice-mopp/section-60-meaning-of-infringement
If I were to try and commercialise it then that would be a different story, and I would have to make sure that patents indeed weren’t being infringed. I do however have zero interest in doing so anyway.
I believe your sidewinder is, by the way, usable in MSFS with certain addons. One such example (there’s at least one more but it escapes me at the moment) https://www.fsmissioneditor.com/product/xpforce/
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this might be of interest
https://forums.eagle.ru/topic/246873-honey-i-developed-ffb-joystick-diy/#comments
and this (same poster) https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/65777-honey-i-developed-ffb-joystick-diy/
Or you could but a new handle on a MS ffb stick
http://dangerdogz.com/forums/topic/14367-ok-hardware-modders/?tab=comments#comment-145139
http://dangerdogz.com/forums/topic/14367-ok-hardware-modders/?tab=comments#comment-145139