Tutorial 2DOF ( in future + Yaw ), based on Arduino Motoshield Windshield, 3d printed elements

Hi,
My name is Andrew. I work in a web programming industry, but privately I am a huge enthusiastic of all racing and flight simulators [ from 2 years in a VR ], and R/C hobby [ Traxxas, Trex, fuselages, etc ].

My current RIG is as follows:
- Flightseat [ Playseat ],
- Logitech G29 wheel + shifter,
- Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog,
- Thrustmaster 2 MFD
- VR - Oculus Rift CV1

IMG_1380.JPG

Great for all sims [ preferred PC games: Project Cars, Assetto Corsa, DCS ],
and from about 3 years I`m constantly thinking about having a motion platform, but can never afford a 3-4k$. Hopefully I found a XSimulator, and after many weeks of searching and reading informations, tutorials and posts - in this great forum - I am now planning to build ( or at least try ) my own RIG,

The plan is to create a 2 DOF solution and if/when succeded, to add additional Yaw option.
[ not expensive project - after calculations and first orders, should fit in a total of around 150$ - also trying to proof that it is possible and not as expensive as people may thought + a lot of own work ]

Electronical parts:
- Arduino Uno R3 clone ( 1 * 10$ )
- MotoShield VNH2SP30 ( 2 * 15$ )
- 10k Arduino potentiometer 300 ( 3 * 2$ )
- used Bosch Windsheld motor 12V ( from VW Golf 3, 40W ) ( 3 * 7$ )
- LED Power 350W 12V ( 2 * 10$ )

Frame:
- Based on a metal profiles, [ 20x20 / 30x20 / 60x30 ]
- used Mercedes W203 kardan holder ( 7$ ),

S/W:
- 4DOF arduino code from the XS forum, Sim S/W + 3 plugins

[ Later will add other pictures ]

Till now I have some basic 3d projects [ mostly in Win10 3D builder ] of the RIG + couple of ABS elements ( 3D printed potentiometer holder for windshield ) + metal and electronical parts in house.

Noorbeast - thank you for the tips ! I will definitelly look at the motors to check it`s ground [ didn`t know about this and would probably make a mess if + reversed - to motor shield ],
also I made a little progress on the frame part - basically changed a 40mm profile instead of 60 mm for a driver wheel and pedals holder - to make less weighted,
and till late yesterday evening I cut most of the profiles.
Sharing my conception of potentiometer mount to motor [ already 3D printed from ABS - for a 19 pin on potentiometer - with 13MM nut of the motor, around 50mm long ],
Will try to weld some things next couple of days...

The Frame [ after melting / before polish and painting ] - looks promises and can`t wait to test this...
I still can use a FlightSeat Left/Right/Wheel - holders, so all measurements made to fit the chair and peripherals, thats why I didn`t finally melted the front profile holder to the mainframe ( still need to reconsider which better to use, if FlightSeat then nothing to do, but has central profil for a wheel which makes impossible to mount the HOTAS in front... ),
+ 3D printed TT Hotas extension ( 10 cm ), but needs a DIN5 plugs / cable, or customised DIN 6 ( like PS2 ) cable to work
At the weekend hope to make some progress in electronical parts.

Also ordered a Transport Ball up to 40KG for the "Traction loss" module [ from local Castorama shop, insterad of Aliexpress - because really don`t want to wait another 3 weeks, or have Customs Office problems like with bearings to Erevo at last time... were returned to China ] - and 3 of them should be fine - I think.
https://www.castorama.pl/produkty/u.../kolka-meblowe/kolko-meblowe-15-mm-20-kg.html

@RacingMat - can you please help me ? I don`t understand the order of motors in inAPin[] - since I`m planning to do a 3-4DOF and to use 2 x MotoMonster shield, which has 2 pins Dir HBridge, and according to tutorial I cannot use nor 2DOF, or 4DOF Arduino source code ( since 4 DOF is working on 1 pin solution only... ),

"if you have a 2 pins Dir HBridge (like Sparkfun Motomonster),
INA1 INB1 PWM1 -> motor #1 OUTA1, OUTB1
INA2 INB2 PWM2 -> motor #2 OUTA2, OUTB2
use the original code here in resources section"
[ but works for a 2 DOF ]

Logically I planned to take the original 2DOF for 2 pin Dir Hbridge code, and add additional 3(Yaw) and 4(Wind) motors - like shown on configuration from tutorial picture,

but all 4 MOTORS in inAPin[] and PWN[] + are in ASC order [ so first variable in table is motor 0, second variable is motor 1, etc - so OK, but:

/* VNH2SP30 pin definitions*/
int inBpin[4] = {
8, 9, 12, 13 }; // INB: Counter-clockwise input [ motor, 0,1,2,3 ]
int pwmpin[4] = {
5, 6, 3, 10}; // PWM input [ motor, 0,1,2,3 ]

Q1: Cannot understand why inA[] has DESC order, [ like inA[0] is MOTOR 2 with pin 7, and inA[1] is MOTOR 1 with 4 pin... ( instead of ASC order like elsewhere: 4,7 ) ??
int inApin[4] = {
7, 4, 11, 2}; // INA: Clockwise input

Q2: those are not used anywhere - so assume that are left just to be aligned to MM documentation ?
int cspin[2] = {
2, 3}; // CS: Current sense ANALOG input
int enpin[2] = {
0, 1}; // EN: Status of switches output (Analog pin)

My 4DOF for 2 pin Dir Hbridge code [ most should work as is, but not really sure about this inA def... ] please check the attachement, due to limits to ino ext. I also changed to .txt to upload.

- Wipers motors had ground (-) in case ( like @Noorbeast said ) - need to cut the plate, solder new cable and seems to work ( tested on 12V LED bulb to frame ),
Arduino ( changed to Uno - finally arrived, first S/W tests were done on Nano - also working ),
- Cut plates for mounting the motors and drilled holes [ used M6 screws, but another mistake: I took M6 for push rod and is seems too soft, had tendency to flex and now need to upgrade to M10 ( new pull rods should arrive in couple of days, but also ordered a pipe 6-8mm to cover ),

- The motors [ BOSCH 40W from wipers - G3 / A3 ] do not have really huge power, but still manages to hold / move construction with me on it - if this won`t finally work, then probably will need an upgrade to 12V 200W motors 180 RPM - [ 50$ ] - http://www.magma.sklep.pl/product-pol-4521--Silnik-elektryczny-z-przekladnia-12V-200W-7716.html
but [ 24A will definitelly destroy my clone of MM 16A... so requires something like Sabertooth x 30A - and motors are 3 * 50$ + 2 * 100$ and will be more cost than I expected ]
- Another issue doing hardware configuration [ of potentiometer alignment ] it moved in circle and destroyed my 3d printed holders - now I made another from metal plate...
Tried to print the base for electronics, but had a problem with extruder / filament ( another difficultie and now need time to fix my printer... ehhh ),
I connected DOF via USB ( COM / serial ) and installed demo of SimTools 2 [ configured like in tutorial ].
Now need to go throught all tutorial: https://www.xsimulator.net/simtools-quickstart/

40859

man, i see that you are connecting your motors to your seat using a threaded rod, i use that for a sim and they got bended during the first ride... consider use something stronger

fer

Yes, it was my mistake at the planning stage, so plans were changed and upgrade is pending.
First option to check: 6-8mm pipe around this 6mm, and second: upgrade to M10 threaded rod with push ending M10 - now just waiting for a packages just to exchange the elements and try with bigger load - that I am not as concerned.
Bigger problem is still with ground of the motor [ factory is from metal case like most of them, but different hardware and method than in tutorial - I looked at this BOSCH and found 2 thread - so cut the connection and solder new wire for them, but still after mounting and tests with different directions seems to block - and can see a short circuit... also hard to work without taking it completely apart - maybe something else inside the plate I didn`t found... I had enough of this mass situation, so even thinking about upgrading to a better motors, also with more power than 40W, now considering 200W 180RPM 12V with BTS7960 IBT-2 43A ]
Some first test of movement [ not Serial movement, but using potentiometer - S/W seems to work with Arduino and MM ]

Another hard week of work on DOF project [ till late hours, there is always not enough time... ]
What was made / accomplished:
- New 2 Motors 200W ( 24A ), 15nM 180RPM upgraded [ some work with mounting, need to cut new plates for them - CHRL ],

Need to build a 12MM shaft - I used a 12 x 20mm big screw, but after welding, drilling and mounting I noticed a small leeway... they were actually 11,95 so in next couple of days need to buy good one, and build another shaft.
- New Potentiometer HALL BI 6127V1A180L.5FS 180 5V [ bought in USA, an wow - were delivered in 2 days to PL ! After some reading - they really have many advantages
1) not risking that will break in rotation over 180 - those are magnetic 2) should be OK after a long time - due to no mechanical part,

- New 2 * BTS7960 IBT-2 43A [ CHRL - if are really 43A then it is worth to try / also radiator is installed - I had seen them on @Saftari project and got inspired ]

- New electrical cables/pin installation [ lost couple hours working with pins for arduino Uno R3, having strange behavior like all starts and is working for 5m when suddenly stops for no reason. I checked the cables many times without success, but also noticed it was problem in some pins inserted directly to arduino, some connection issue - so in the end the ultimate solution was migration of the main board to Arduino Nano with fast mounting plate - which finally solved my issue ! [ really good solution an more reliable ].

Software: finally changed program to: SMC3 - Arduino 3DOF [ and is great ! ] https://www.xsimulator.net/communit...3dof-motor-driver-and-windows-utilities.4957/
[ #define MODE2 - important ! ]
installation accordingly to diagram:


- M6 thread push rods with 6-8mm pipe around were OK - even on fast movements with sit, me and SimTools in "motion test" is holding very good ], so finally didn`t need to change to M10 solution [ but already bought all it needs and will have them just in case ],
- Mounted RIG to FlightSeat [ PlaySeat uses 8mm screws, but fitting and drilling those holes was a disaster, actually high precision measurements was not as easy as I thought, but now are really tight ] ,
- Successfully connected to PC and SimTools 2.1 [ wired to PC with some basing settings accordingly to tutorial, like KP, PWN, limits, etc ] - great tool ! to set and test in motion [ live ].
- New paint job of the RIG [ actually completed with primer, and is in black mate = good looking in home, or at least I thinks so my fiancee didn`t completely agree, but what to say -for me is more like beautiful ]

+5% for my printer [ 6,35 -> 6,66 / 12 -> 12,25 ] project in Windows 3D builder -> can use as is, or work with it.