The progression. DIY Pedal system from scratch

This building bug. It bites and doesn't let go.... My poor wife. She is ever so patient....

After modifying my Thrustmaster TPA3 Pro pedals, I loved the feel I acquired from those mods but it still wasn't quite what I was looking for. And looking at all the pedals on the market, I was quite convinced on the ProtoSimTech PT-1 or 2's but for the love of god or / and money I was informed that the waiting list was enormous to say the least and chances of acquiring a set anytime soon was somewhere between not now and possibly not for the next 6 months.

Thus I looked at the PT pedal designs, the heusinkveld and a couple of others and took a whole bucketload of inspiration to build my pedals. The clutch pedal is borrowing Chris from Proto's design (though he seems to not use this mech anymore) and the brake pedal is going to be built around a msater and caliper slave as per my previous mod on the TPA3 Pro because it feels nothing less than awesome! So I drew up the plans to scale and went to work at it...



Started with 5mm alu...



cut out the main housings...



cut out the bracket wall (12mm) for the master cylinder and getting ready to bore the 35mm centre hole....

I painted the main pedal housing assemblies in satin black...



designed and 3D printed a few parts using PLA+ and annealed all of these in the oven for 5 minutes @ 110c to strengthen them (yes, it works, I ahve doen various tests on these and they come out damn close to ABS qualities without the absolute hardness ABS offers of course)



the clutch mech 3D printed with bearings installed... (it was a fastr print to see if it works well, and if it does I'll print out a high quality version or make it out of alloy)



assembled the main housing.

I cutout the pedal assemblies themselves, polished them and then assembled them with the help of the 3d printed parts...




I'm using 8mm id flanged bearings for the pivot points of the pedals inside and on both inner and outer sides
Got the spring assembly together...



then assembled the unit.




Throttle pedal done. I'm working on the clutch pedal now with the mech and after that I'll start on the brake pedal. I'll keep you guys posted....

Nice work and workshop . Annealing plastic - yep just like metal to remove stresses etc in the manufacturing process (use to do it to lots of different parts from big Power station turbine parts and submarine pressure hulls when I use to work in a dockyard)- some more info re-plastics for members who are interested. http://www.substech.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=annealing_of_plastics. Be careful, the process can fractionally shrink the plastic.

Thanks @SeatTime
Yes indeed. I did a whole heap of tests in the beginning when I got my i3 and my Kossel and upon probably a series of say, maybe 60 or so data points, I found a 90-95% consistency on the fact that depending on the PLA used of course, one observed a shrinkage along the X & Y axis and a growth along the Z axis of the layered part. I now take these into consideration when designing the files and also very important is how you lay your object down to be printed. Structural strength matters for this eg, if you are threading screw holes into the plastic make sure they layers runs perpendicular to them....

congratulations an exceptional work

Thank you for your kind words sir.... @dualclick76

Clutch pedal now done. Experimenting with different spring rates and types




Now onto the Brake Assembly...

did more work on the pedals today. Pics are below

I worked on some Pedal assembly brackets. Printed them in PLA+, annealed and layered @ 0.15 with 1.5mm x 4 walls. So, it's strong... like really strong...





Printed some pedal faces out of gray PLA+ ...



And made higher impact resistant spring stops for the throttle and clutch @ 0.2 resolution @ 90% infill. I also tapered the hole to 5% from an initial dimension of 18mm so that it helps with the movement of the spring shaft when depressed (less chance of binding)

I designed and printed the caliper bracket ...



then mounted the caliper onto the brake housing..

printed a bracket for the pressure sensor and had the brake lines installed...





And this is the completed brake pedal assembly!

Awesome prints Kanuk,

One fear i have is the printed mounting feet on the pedals, With how heavy we STOMP on our pedals, Annealed or not, i feel that will be a weak/flex point.

pedal face plates, i also fear with a small foot print mounting the faces, Be sure to keep us posted on how things hold up.

Keep it up, We all look forward to seeing your progression.

Thanks @Nick Moxley
I have the same doubts on the mounting feet sir. But I thought I should try it anyway and it won't be too much to reproduce them out of aluminium blocks if I had to.
The pedal faceplates I have done before on my previous set and they held up with ease over a year or so. I must say though I am in the process of making a set out of aluminium as we speak...

Really nice work . Although maybe it is just me, but I have never understood the reasoning for these hydraulic brake systems on sims, as hydraulic fluid does not compress, so all you really feel is any slack in the system and the spring inside the master cylinder, I can do the same with a spring and different density rubber spacers on a shaft. What would be interesting is if the rotor in the caliper spun .

I was very much of the same opinion as @SeatTime
Until I felt a set of emerys at a friends The best way I can put it is the elastomers have a nice feel but there's a little something more with a hydraulic. I know there's a whole heap of arguments against these variants but personally I love the feel of them. I managed to reproduce the squish however by removing the sintered material of the pads and using nitrile sway bar bushes in place of the pad. It feels wicked! Lol. Well to me anyway
It's possible that I'm mentally challenged

And dont say anything to anyone yet. I'm actually looking at a way to integrate ffb on the brake system using a spinning rotor. I've been in mad scientist mode employing the use of my collection of brushless motors from my collection of RC cars and helis

Interesting on the method your using, I got to try a set of Ricmotech GT1 Pro's with Dual master cylinders and agree with Seat Time in the fact that your not actually pressing on the hydro fluid but rather the Bushings....I look forward to hearing how your setup comes out, Looks pretty cool ill give ya that. What do you think you got into the pedals so far ?

Shaker motor's on the brake pedal has been done already, The threads on Race Department, Im at a loss for the name right now, but there's a big ol thread on it.

@Nick Moxley
its probably cost me about 400 or more. Those brake lines cost quite a penny (Pirtek's) and really its more laborious than anything. And I'll be sure to keep you posted on the outcome
In terms of the ffb project I've started on, it isnt based on a rumble motor. I'm actually in the throes of designing and building an axle drive system with a small brake rotor and caliper (motorcycle) coupled to a brushless motor using a brushless esc controlled by an Arduino replicating the speed data from the game (but scaled down of course) and mechanically interfacing that axle to the brake pedal. This is the bit that needs careful consideration...

I also love pushing boundaries and trying something a bit out of left field. Some things work, some don't. You although always need to stay self critical and know when to pull the plug on your 'baby'. It often helps to have a third party try/critic your work.

really nice, please tell me since i have never understood, were or how you ask for this hidraulic parts at the car shop... it is just that, "please sell me a master and sleave cylinder system"??? or exactly what parts are thise??